Social Security (as originally envisioned) was essentially an individual retirement plan (i.e. you pay in each month, and over time accumulate enough savings to fund your retirement). It's no different (really) than our modern 401K plans.
Simple math is all it takes to determine the appropriate contribution amounts each month to provide a known retirement benefit at a given age.
As the years progress, that math can be adjusted to ensure all beneficiaries are fully funded (say in periods of high inflation, or low birth rate, when the math and the plan should be adjusted).
Again--it's just math.
What's happened is the US is that the program was a) mismanaged (i.e. bad math, with no / inappropriate adjustments over time) and b) political reallocation of the SS funds for other projects (which is the main reason we're in our current mess).
But the math is relatively simple--the program would just need to be properly managed (and good financial planners do this now every single day).
Just don't trust the government to do it--that's been the problem.
banjo
npub1jnm…k5lw
2024-05-27 00:28:00
in reply to nevent1q…tek4
Author Public Key
npub1jnmx5cfc5g8pyr80hc6rzqccdqzgg7kevxf3vas78em2qck4lmgqpsk5lwSeen on
wss://relay.noswhere.comPublished at
2024-05-27 00:28:00Event JSON
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"content": "Social Security (as originally envisioned) was essentially an individual retirement plan (i.e. you pay in each month, and over time accumulate enough savings to fund your retirement). It's no different (really) than our modern 401K plans.\n\nSimple math is all it takes to determine the appropriate contribution amounts each month to provide a known retirement benefit at a given age.\n\nAs the years progress, that math can be adjusted to ensure all beneficiaries are fully funded (say in periods of high inflation, or low birth rate, when the math and the plan should be adjusted).\n\nAgain--it's just math.\n\nWhat's happened is the US is that the program was a) mismanaged (i.e. bad math, with no / inappropriate adjustments over time) and b) political reallocation of the SS funds for other projects (which is the main reason we're in our current mess).\n\nBut the math is relatively simple--the program would just need to be properly managed (and good financial planners do this now every single day).\n\nJust don't trust the government to do it--that's been the problem.",
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