I read that social security was welfare.  Maybe for those who’ve never paid but for those of us who’ve paid for over 30 years I don’t think so.

I took an income of $25,000 as a base and increased it 3% a year for 35 years.  That would be from age 30 to age 65 and leaves out between 10 and 13 years of government taxation.

Social security tax is roughly 15% and that’s the second column.  The third column is the interest on that tax for the number of years until age 65.

I used an average of 3% interest even though my actuarial tables showed some years were as high a 8%.  It averages to my 3%. 

The total paid to social security for all those years was $226,732.81 and the interest if paid on each years deposit would have been $358,767.46.  The combined payments and interest on those payments would be $585,500.27.

If you receive a rate of only 3% on that total you would get $17,565.01 annually.  Somewhat more than what the average retiree gets of $1,422 a month.

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