Social Security in the United States today is being utilized in a manner never intended much different from how it was intended, with over 33 percent of retirees using the funds as a main source of income (“Many” para 1). While it appears to be a genuinely good and generous thing that the government provides a substantial income for senior citizens, the funds are drying up more quickly each year. They are expected to run out by the year 2033, but this is at a faster pace than expected; in 2011 the funds were expected to contribute to the elderly until 2036 (“Social” para 2). This leaves today's youth concerned as to whether they will be able to receive social security retirement benefits when they reach 62, the age when partial benfits first become available for citizens (Tannahill 28). They could face the option of independently saving for their retirement, unlike citizens approaching retirement today, of which only 12 percent had saved over 1 million dollars for retirement (“Many” para 3).
To calculate social security, the government follows a very specific procedure. First, a citizen's earnings are acquired and analyzed by noting their 35 highest earning years not exceeding 113,700 dollars before they reached the age of 60. Next, the total of all of these earnings are divided by the 420 months in those 35 years (Tannahill 27) and entered into a formula that generally averages about 44 percent of the monthly average calculated (Diamond 99). This is then typically the general amount of money that citizen receives per month after retirement until death from social security. The citizen may choose to begin receiving partial benefits of the 44 percent at age 62 or full benefits at 66 (Tannahill 28). It is then intended that the aid...
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Pino, Ariel, and Juan Yermo. "The Impact of the 2007-2009 Crisis on Social Security and Private Pension Funds: A Threat to Their Financial Soundness?" International Social Security Review 63.2 (2010): 5-30. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Tannahill, Bruce A. "Social Security Retirement Benefits--The Basics." Journal of Financial Service Professionals 67.6 (2013): 27-30. Business Source Premier. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. .
Can We Keep Our Promises? The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the article called “Can We Keep Our Promises?” by Robert D. Arnott, and to help better understand the three key risks facing each investor. Robert Arnott describes risk and return as “having two sides of the same coin” meaning risk is inseparable from return. Arnott points out the most important risks that are faced by managers of company pension plans: underperforming other corporate pension funds (their peers), losing money (mostly associated with portfolio standard deviation or volatility), and underperforming the values of pension obligations and therefore losing actuarial ground.
The push for Congress to pass legislation protecting the rights of employees and their retirement was inevitable. Retirement plans are extremely important for all working individuals. Having funds to keep or exceed ones current standard of living and to enjoy one’s life beyond expectations after retire...
In America’s early days before the kickoff of industry, there was little need for retirement savings for a few key reasons. First of all, people were dying at a much earlier age; most people didn’t live past 38, whereas in 1900, 60 years of age was common for about 40 percent of the population and 15 percent experienced 80 years of life. Another reason for the irrelevance of social security in the 19th century and earlier was that people were usually living rurally on farms with extended families to take care of them. Furthermore, the Civil War also didn’t allow the government much economic room to consider providing a service such as social security. However, after the Civil War, pensions were a form of social security for civil war veterans that carried into their retirement. Unfortunately these pensions provided support for only a very small portion of the population; not even one percent of Americans received these pensions. Despite a much lower need for social security in the 18th ...
Social security is a benefit program that was established in 1935 by Franklin Roosevelt. The program is a system in which workers pool a portion of their wages. These wages are paid to retired people on a monthly basis. The idea of the program is to protect each other and their families against wage loss when they retire. The ideas of social security benefits were intended to supplement pensions, and personal savings for retired people.
Social Security Administration, Social Security Programmes Throughout the World, Washington, 2008/2009; Heymann, J. et all, 2007.
The Social Security Act was enacted in 1935, and since then it has undergone numerous revisions and amendments. Today the act covers a wide range of benefit programs, including Medicare, unemployment compensation, and Supplemental Security Income. The major portion for which the Social Security Act has become known, however, is the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, or OASDI. While today the OASDI program is most frequently referred to as “Social Security,” it is only a thread in what has been called the “social safety net.” Therefore, throughout this paper, it should be understood that Social Security will be the term used to refer to all its encompassed programs as a group, as a matter of convenience.
providing retirement benefits to those who have reached the ages of sixty-two or age sixty-five,
Social Security is on the verge of taking care of the baby boomers generation. This means that it will be paying more benefits than taxes it receives. In lay-man’s terms it means it will be spending more money than it is making. I think that you should pay into your own private retirement account for you to reap the benefits in the future. Not for you to pay into a cluster of workers money for current elders to benefit from. You need to take care of your own future and not rely on other people’s responsibility. “…people began to think retirement funding as a right…and so…started saving less” (Klay & Steen). That being said, people of a certain age should be “grandfathered” into this meaning, people of the age of say 40, still get the normal social security retirement money but anyone younger must start abiding this new reform. If you get married, keep paying into your own unless your spouse is not working. If that is the case then pay the same amount BUT put half into your own and half into your spouses. If the other spouse is working however, they should pay into their own account and you into your own.
22. Kennith Davis, "The Birth of Social Security," in Visions of America's Past, ed. William Bryans et al. (Plymouth: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2011), 327.
Wheeler, Peter. "Social Security Programs in the United States." Programs in the United States. Social Security Administration, 1 July 1997. Web. 4 May 2014.
Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed.
Richard A. Gephardt, Being Careful with Social Security [article online], Newsweek Inc. Accessed 15 January 1997; Page A19. Social Security Administration. Available from http://www.ssa.gov
Rappaport, Anna M. "Retirement Risks And Solutions In The Middle Market." Journal Of Financial Service Professionals 66.1 (2012): 45-55. Business Source Premier. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
Financial Future: Where Will it be in 10 Years? Retrieved on November 20, 2013 from
Allers, Kimberly Seals. "How Fit Are Your Finances?" Ebony 68.9 (2013): 93-97. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. Bauer, Gabrielle, and John Southerst. "A promising retirement: your life, your way." Maclean's 18 Feb. 2013: 37+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.