The scene at the senior center was emotional, but it underscores the fact that those seniors don't understand that their contributions to Social Security probably ran out years before and they are no longer living on that money. The woman who said she had been working since age 16 is not being totally truthful because her monthly benefit would be higher than $724. The saddest part of that story is that so many of those seniors did not make retirement plans other than Social Security.
It is entirely possible for a person to work all her life and qualify for only $724 in social security -- if earnings were low all her life. It is also possible that she worked caring for her family (children, parents, etc) but was not paid for that. BTW, her contributions were used to support someone who was drawing social security while she was working -- with a promise that she would get social security when she retired. Her contributions didn't "run out", and she fulfilled her part of the social contract. If immigration reform ever passes, that will go a long way towards solving the problem of more workers paying into the social security trust fund. People who can barely buy food, shelter, transportation, and sometimes medical care, don't have disposable cash to save a lot for retirement. And, many who did save, lost significant sums in the crashes of the stock market and housing market. You are fortunate indeed if you have accumulated assets to fund your retirement independent of social security -- but most people cannot do that.
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The scene at the senior center was emotional, but it underscores the fact that those seniors don't understand that their contributions to Social Security probably ran out years before and they are no longer living on that money. The woman who said she had been working since age 16 is not being totally truthful because her monthly benefit would be higher than $724. The saddest part of that story is that so many of those seniors did not make retirement plans other than Social Security.
It is entirely possible for a person to work all her life and qualify for only $724 in social security -- if earnings were low all her life. It is also possible that she worked caring for her family (children, parents, etc) but was not paid for that.
BTW, her contributions were used to support someone who was drawing social security while she was working -- with a promise that she would get social security when she retired. Her contributions didn't "run out", and she fulfilled her part of the social contract. If immigration reform ever passes, that will go a long way towards solving the problem of more workers paying into the social security trust fund.
People who can barely buy food, shelter, transportation, and sometimes medical care, don't have disposable cash to save a lot for retirement. And, many who did save, lost significant sums in the crashes of the stock market and housing market. You are fortunate indeed if you have accumulated assets to fund your retirement independent of social security -- but most people cannot do that.
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