re: $5 trillion in savings for social security buyouts?

I may be reading wrong or not understanding but … Some maybe good.. but for many this is idiotic

I am 67 and taking ss..
250k at safe 4 percent is 10 k a year
At a safe sp growth maybe maybe 16 k

Neither have inflation adjustments

Buy an immediate life long annuity with NO inflation and get 5-6 percent so 15 k

My ss has inflation and it is significantly more than any of those numbers..

The needs to be much lower than what is presented and scaled with Ang age factor … just Another person spitballing ideas …

I don't even want a lump sum payout, I'm 50 and have paid a bunch of money into Social Security and would gladly agree to not take any benefits in exchange for not having to pay another dollar into it.

FYI .. the qualification for ss also are required to get the Medicare supplement .. you can get Medicare without it but if qualify … 40 points for ss etc you get your supplement Medicare amount medical and pharmaceutical.. worth a few buck each month..

Social security is designed for those who don’t possess the ability to save.. we’ve deemed it necessary to provide a safety net that pays an adjustable amount with no timeframe to give people a base amount of funds.. like it or not, we have a society that needs this as we aren’t prepared as a country to simply allow hordes of destitute elderly die in squaller.

I do love the idea of transferring it to a pension type system (using the 250k for example as your base) where we can pool money to buffer the markets and continue to payout with probably a positive return..

Hell Id be willing to take a hefty haircut if it meant I didnt have to keep contributing towards it

Ive accepted I will never see a dime from social security, and money in market beats out SS by a country mile

at 42, you could put $250k into bonds and get 5% a year and it would beat out what SS would pay you. 25 years from now that 250k would be 846k

If you put into the market, historical returns (~10%) would suggest closer to 2.7 million

If Google did my math right my Ss in 25 years worth about 80 k . ( asked it to increase with inflation)

Who knows what your 2.5 mill will yield then.. 10 percent investment growth sounds good but lots of unknowns in the market but let’s go with that 2.5 million..
that would be 100k… with a a 4 percent yield ( yeah I know you may want to draw down more but if staying conserve) with no inflation adjustments.. ss gives you 80 k.. Medicare credits would give you another 6 k a year..

So guarantee 86 k with inflation built in..

I know that inflation add on is worth a lot !

Regardless if I was young I would rather have my own money and invest it also like most say.. problem is I know a lot of people that do/did not manage it and then we would have them looking for handouts and completely free medical..

And I really do not want to be paying for people’s medical and care as they age even more than we already do.

It is a tough problem..

For sure. The thing with the 2.5m (which is also roughly what someone making $50k a year for life would get in a 401k instead of SS), is that you would also have the principal - not just the interest - to live on and leave behind

SS is horrendous. No doubt most of the population has horrible savings tendency. There is a reason we are this much in debt... Gov reflects the voters. I dont like government intervention, but I would be OK with having forced retirement accounts that cant be accessed until retirement (or if untimely death, inherited) in lieu of social security

Another benefit if we put money in the market instead of SS is it would unleash investment and R&D in the US, causing wage gains

You be better shape than the guy who said he was 55 or so. He vowed to not retire until he was 68 and earn 8 percent a year those 13 years.

It would be 725K after he's worked until 68, so he'd have about 29K per year of dividends to live on


If you're 42, they're only going to pay you what you and your employers have paid in. If it's 210K, then you'd get 210K. No way they'd pay more.