Is Social Security a good deal for anyone? I don't think so... Take a person at age 20 that makes $10,000 per year -- That's appx. $5.00 per hour. Assume that they work hard, and they get a $1,000 raise every year, so by the end of their 64th year, or 44th working year, they are making $54,000 per year -- This just happens to be the current cut-off maximum for Social Security. If this person were to invest all the money that he and his employer pay into the Social Security fund -- 15% of his gross earnings (the employee contributes 7.5% and the employer contributes 7.5%), into his own retirement fund, at 10% compounded interest (10% is not unusual for mutual funds), at the end of his 64th year he would have over $2,298,000 in his account! At that time if he wanted to withdraw a meger $100,000 per year from his account to live on, and he lived until age 75, his account balance would be over 4.7 Million Dollars. In the event that he would happen to make it to the ripe old age of 85, he would be worth well over 10 Million Dollars! Remember, it's the compounding that does the trick. By age 65, you (and your employer) will have only paid $216,000 into the fund, but the value of your investment is over 2.2 Million Dollars. When the Government says that a person gets more back from Social Security than they put in, what they mean is that you get back more than you, individually put in, without your employers' part, and, most importantly, WITHOUT ANY COMPOUND INTEREST that you would be entitled to, if the money were invested in a sane and ethical manner. Don't be fooled by Government Doublespeak. Please see the following table for details: Compounded Interest Rate: 10% Yearly increase in salary: $1,000 Yearly amount to take out of fund at age 65: $100,000 Yearly Yearly Total Age Salary Deposit Deposits Withdraw Balance ====================================================== 20 $10,000 $1,500 $1,500 $0 $1,650 21 $11,000 $1,650 $3,150 $0 $3,630 22 $12,000 $1,800 $4,950 $0 $5,973 23 $13,000 $1,950 $6,900 $0 $8,715 24 $14,000 $2,100 $9,000 $0 $11,897 25 $15,000 $2,250 $11,250 $0 $15,562 26 $16,000 $2,400 $13,650 $0 $19,758 27 $17,000 $2,550 $16,200 $0 $24,538 28 $18,000 $2,700 $18,900 $0 $29,962 29 $19,000 $2,850 $21,750 $0 $36,094 30 $20,000 $3,000 $24,750 $0 $43,003 31 $21,000 $3,150 $27,900 $0 $50,768 32 $22,000 $3,300 $31,200 $0 $59,475 33 $23,000 $3,450 $34,650 $0 $69,217 34 $24,000 $3,600 $38,250 $0 $80,099 35 $25,000 $3,750 $42,000 $0 $92,234 36 $26,000 $3,900 $45,900 $0 $105,748 37 $27,000 $4,050 $49,950 $0 $120,777 38 $28,000 $4,200 $54,150 $0 $137,475 39 $29,000 $4,350 $58,500 $0 $156,007 40 $30,000 $4,500 $63,000 $0 $176,558 41 $31,000 $4,650 $67,650 $0 $199,329 42 $32,000 $4,800 $72,450 $0 $224,542 43 $33,000 $4,950 $77,400 $0 $252,441 44 $34,000 $5,100 $82,500 $0 $283,295 45 $35,000 $5,250 $87,750 $0 $317,400 46 $36,000 $5,400 $93,150 $0 $355,080 47 $37,000 $5,550 $98,700 $0 $396,693 48 $38,000 $5,700 $104,400 $0 $442,632 49 $39,000 $5,850 $110,250 $0 $493,330 50 $40,000 $6,000 $116,250 $0 $549,263 51 $41,000 $6,150 $122,400 $0 $610,955 52 $42,000 $6,300 $128,700 $0 $678,980 53 $43,000 $6,450 $135,150 $0 $753,973 54 $44,000 $6,600 $141,750 $0 $836,630 55 $45,000 $6,750 $148,500 $0 $927,718 56 $46,000 $6,900 $155,400 $0 $1,028,080 57 $47,000 $7,050 $162,450 $0 $1,138,643 58 $48,000 $7,200 $169,650 $0 $1,260,428 59 $49,000 $7,350 $177,000 $0 $1,394,555 60 $50,000 $7,500 $184,500 $0 $1,542,261 61 $51,000 $7,650 $192,150 $0 $1,704,902 62 $52,000 $7,800 $199,950 $0 $1,883,972 63 $53,000 $7,950 $207,900 $0 $2,081,115 64 $54,000 $8,100 $216,000 $0 $2,298,136 65 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $2,427,950 66 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $2,570,745 67 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $2,727,819 68 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $2,900,601 69 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $3,090,661 70 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $3,299,727 71 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $3,529,700 72 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $3,782,670 73 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $4,060,937 74 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $4,367,030 75 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $4,703,733 76 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $5,074,107 77 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $5,481,517 78 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $5,929,669 79 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $6,422,636 80 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $6,964,900 81 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $7,561,390 82 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $8,217,529 83 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $8,939,281 84 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $9,733,210 85 $0 $0 $216,000 $100,000 $10,606,531