...after the NON-Federal, NO-Reserves, SCAM-System and it's useless paper-backed, funny-money, debt-induced "money" pyramid. When Social Security was first introduced by Rockefeller and closet-Communist (whose wife was more openly Communist) Frankin Delano Roosevelt with the promise that the funds would never be counted with the general budget or used for anything other than their "intended" usage. The purpose of the Social Security "Trust Fund" which purportedly backs these over-blown payouts on our forced contributions was to provide a bit of a "safety net" retirement addendum to our own careful retirement provisions and savings.
("Red" Eleanor "Roseyvelt")
We were also promised way back in 1935 when the cards were first issued that the Social Security Number was never to be used as "an universal identifier." Try opening a bank account, or getting a driver's license, or going to college, or seeing a doctor nowadays without--at some point-- being forced to produce your SSN. I managed for many years back in the 80s and 90s, but it wasn't easy then and I suspect it is nigh unto impossible today.
Now, my generation--the one that was the hardest squeezed for the longest period to support both the retirement of our elders and the bloated and always-increasing welfare of everyone else-- is learning that despite paying in to the Social Security Scam all our working lives, that there will likely be nothing there when we come to retire.
Consider the following:
While I have made it a point to try to be prepared to be able to survive without it, it still grinds my gears to think of how much better prepared I might be if I had been allowed to set aside those FICA "contributions" into some well-managed hedge fund, or physical precious metals, or real estate, or what have you. Here is an excerpt from the above-linked article:
"This data isn’t coming from me, it isn’t some wild conspiracy theory. It’s the most optimistic outlook from the Board of Trustees for Social Security. Unfortunately, many people will do absolutely nothing with this information. It’s easier to just Instagram your way to retirement. And these people will have their lives turned upside down—benefits cut, retirement age increased, pushed out of the system… Something has to give.
But when you see it coming, there is so much you can do. You can take legal steps to reduce your taxes, and funnel the savings into your retirement. Putting away an extra $1,000 per year can result in a difference of more than $100,000 when compounded over 30 years. Or, you could establish certain self-directed IRA structures or a solo 401(k).
These dramatically increase your contribution limits and vastly expand your investment options–real estate, cryptocurrency, private equity, etc. Or, learn how to be a better investor…"
Sadly, the attributes that all of the suggested solutions above require is woefully lacking in Amerika, c. 2018...discipline, willingness to delay satisfaction, and hard work. I see very little of any of that in the younger generations. People who are already on welfare--a huge percentage as compared to when I was growing up--are not going to have as much disposable income (on average, although sadly that is not always the case) as healthy, hard working and frugal people, and there are far too many now to support "the system."
So, we will muddle through the 2020s and see what happens.
If I am forced to give up the idea of having a decent vehicle to drive in old age, or the thoughts of traveling overseas a bit and seeing the world, or eating out once a month or so, I can give that up. God knows what I truly NEED, and no one needs those things.