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has paid taxes on the maximum amount of covered earnings throughout his or her career has paid $23,239 in Social Security taxes through 1986. If that worker would have invested that portion of his tax money used to finance the retirement program at the same interest rate payable on long-term U.S. government bonds, he would have accumulated $52,216.95.
And if retiring this year, that worker could expect to recover that tax contribution in only 5-1/2 years.
Based on average life expectancy at age 65, the retired worker could expect to continue receiving monthly benefits for another 10 to 13 years beyond the point where all contributions and interest have been recovered. If the worker has a spouse who never worked at all, the payback would be completed in about two-thirds of this time.
And, of course, that does not take into account valuable disability and survivor’s insurance protection nor Medicare coverage that the worker and his or her spouse receive at age 65.
Another common myth about Social Security is that it is a full national retirement system — guaranteed to keep persons at the middle-income level throughout their retirement years. But Social
95.6%