What is Social Security?
Social Security is a national program of income protection. It was never supposed to be a personal savings plan in which workers invest their money in hopes of developing a nest egg for retirement. Instead, Social Security is based on the idea that if workers pool a portion of their wages, they will be able to protect each other and their families against catastrophic wage loss due to death, disability or retirement. Benefits create a dependable income floor and are meant to complement pensions and personal savings. Social Security has succeeded—paying benefits every single month for over 60 years—because it is: • universal: nearly all American workers participate in Social Security, with contributions matched by their employers; • an earned right: benefits are directly related to lifetime earnings and are guaranteed by the U.S. government to all contributors who meet the eligibility criteria; • progressive and fair: the formula is weighted so that the lowest-wage workers receive benef
Social Security is a mandated supplemental retirement system in the US that was established in 1935 as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. It was motivated largely by the events of the Great Depression, which saw many Americans out of work and the nation’s retired elderly often left in the direst of poverty. The intent of the Social Security program is to ensure a threshold subsistence level below which any worker who had paid into the program cannot fall. Social Security is funded out of payroll taxes; that is, a certain percentage of a worker’s paycheck goes directly into the Social Security fund to help provide benefits to current Social Security recipients. This has in recent years become a bone of contention with some current workers, who complain that the system is unsustainable and that after paying into the system their entire working lives, there will be nothing for them to collect in their own retirement years. Social Security has long been the so-called ‘third rail’ of American po
Social Security in America is a system that acts as a safety net for all citizens of the United States. In addition to retirement benefits, those who are disabled, dependent for support upon someone who receives social security income, and those who are a widow, widower, or child of someone who has died are eligible for benefits – if they meet the requirements. Whether you are entitled to benefits depends on if your circumstances satisfy the system’s requirements. Today, more than 44 million Americans collect some kind of social security benefit. The basic structure is that when you work, you pay into the system. After you’ve paid into the system – when you retire or become disabled – you, your spouse, and your children can receive monthly benefits. On business days between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., you may speak with a service representative by calling 1-800-772-1213 – and information is available over this toll-free line on a 24 hour a day basis if you call from a touch-tone te
