I love going to lunch with my grandpa because I get to use my social security money that I'll never see

"or we could simply abolish the whole government program" Whoa, I'm impressed that you mentioned this option.

Every time I see a video by these guys, I still get amazed at the quality of their content. As someone who has been trying to get into making fiance and investing KZfaq videos, I don't think you guys get enough appreciation for the work you do! Keep it up :)

A small portion of social security also helps surviving dependents. I lost my mother when I was 4, so my 38 year old, widower father received a monthly social security check to help support 4 children as a single father. He's mentioned to me that had it not been for SS, we wouldn't have been able to keep our modest home (1600 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath).

Thank you for acknowledging that only the first $128,900 of income is taxed for Social Security Insurance (though I think the actual number is $132,900). Since I have a salary lower than that, I pay into it all year. Someone Making $250K only pays the tax the first six months of the year and some CEOs probably "make" enough money that they're done paying their Social Security taxes before they even return to work on January 2nd. Fixing this seems so straightforward and the most commonsense way to ensure the fund's solvency and steady benefits to appropriate entitlement levels. They just need to raise the limit on the number of dollars subject to SSI/OASDI taxation (and then tie that limit to to some objective measurement about how much the fund will need to pay out over the next 5-10 years [or some other period of time] so we don't need to constantly re-adjudicate the issue).

No mention of what has already happened, for years cost of living adjustments have been far lower than real inflation...

If I don't get my SS without a refund, I'm skipping the talk and going straight into the vault

“Keep the government out of my Social Security!” - Boomers

As someone on the younger-end of generation Z, I’ve already accepted my fate that there will be no social security to speak of.

When I saw this title, I immediately thought back to this unit in Public Finance when I was getting my economics degree. I really do appreciate how clear and concise your delivery is while also not omitting any major caveats and also giving each potential avenue forward a mention. 5/5 would recommend!

Social security is A interest-free loan that you are forced to give the government.

The unfunded liabilities are gonna catch up to us. Do not rely on the state coming to the rescue when you want that hip replacement.

As I’ve been a Social Security Disability recipient for a long time, I’ve learned that year after year the purchasing power keeps diminishing. Therefore I supplement my benefits with income from a part-time job. Perhaps many retirees may need to realize Social Security was never meant to be an entire income source.

I wish SS could be optional. I would rather invest my own money.

If the government learns to control spending, the trust fund can be restored. How many billions are wasted enforcing our ideas overseas?

"Was your Uncle Jim right?" LOL I have THREE uncles named Jim.

Really excited to get a $1400 check every month in 2080 when that is worth $70

I've been on social security for over 10 years now and.. I do eat cat food.

Found this channel through a KZfaq recommendation yesterday, and boy am I glad I watched it. I've taken Finance and Economics classes in college, so many of the terms discussed in the videos are not unfamiliar to me, but it's great to have them explained in everyday language.

23% by 2080... that's miniscule, compare to japan and other countries that are already way beyond 23%

Flossing to Drake in my retirement scares me more than not receiving payments.

Notice how these two smiling wonderful people completely skipped that fact that Social Security taxes that we all have to pay produce a negative rate of return by the time you retire. Imagine how the economy would skyrocket and how much MORE money we'd ALL have when we retire if we were able to control where our Social Security tax payments went. That's the solution.

wait... why do they limit the tax to 133k? if youre making this much money, why limit? is it because the maximum pay out is in place?

We are living longer, but I can't imagine a 67 years old person doing my job. :/

Well this is comforting thanks

Omg my finance professor was just talking about this Tuesday and was saying how what we pay now in social security is going to the ones who are retired currently

I've been working full time, even 16 hours days some months since I was 15, I'm 32 now, I've never thought about depending on social security, I'm thinking on investing in an Roth RIA

In Canada they just raised what retirees get so that in turn bumped up our taxes to a higher % so that sucks. I hate it, they say in Canada our money goes in and you get a 2% return on your investment, I have stable bonds with other institutions and am earning around 7% a year conservatively. I would much rather invest my own money but the government would never allow me to pull out of our CPP program to get a higher rate of return in my own investments. And unfortunately the people who lived in the "golden age" didn't plan to save enough and keep complaining that they need more money to survive at their older age, so in turn chances are us younger generation will keep upping our rates to composate for that leaving us less money as taxes slowly rise to keep up with giving retirees more to survive. Also the kicker is if you die, whatever is leftover that you haven't collected that you put away, the government gets to keep. When I die, my investments and savings go to my wife/children to help them so thats another reason I hate the system.

My doctor gave me 6 months to live But when I told him I couldn't pay my bill during that time he gave me other 6 months.

Why isn’t raising the limit of the tax to higher earners the most obvious choice? There should be no limit!? 12.4% of your $14,000,000 average CEO salary should be taxable! Not just 0.00917%? Why does this limit exist? That could fund 40,000 retirees per a CEO!

THANK YOU for this information!

Mind blowing info here guys! Love this video! Keep up the great work yall!

I'm in favor of abolishing the system.

Also don't forget that money is inflating at a pretty steady rate. What sounds like a pretty ok check (1600 dollars) will feel quite a bit less significant (inflation up to 2034 will make it feel like it's about 1200 dollars). I personally have little to no faith in ever being able to enjoy a nice retirement without putting a whole lot of money aside - and I'm doing just that. With some guesswork..I'll probably be 'allowed' to retire at 72, but heck..if I see my parents currently struggling to find a nice job at the age of 60 and 62 (they are considered too old), the question rises: do I want that stress of having to bridge over 12 years of unstable income and shitty jobs?

It would be cool to see another video delving into more specifics on this topic!

I....Learned alot from this! Thank you!

It's crazy that people still rely on the government for their retirement income. They should make an opt out option. I am better with my money than the government is.

We could get rid of it, start actually teaching children economics in school. Have your damn money.

Great info thanks!!

Great job!

Guess I'm part of the 10-20% that doesn't care for social security. I want to work and build up my own retirement. I don't need the government to do that for me. Schools should teach what it means to be financially responsible rather than the government spoon feeding people. Every time the government gets involved things become inefficient, and costly. I understand some people get into bad situations no fault of their own but that really is a minority. There is an issue when people are always happy to use "Safety Net" rather than working to become self sufficient themselves.

Social Security saying it has a $2.9T trust fund is the exact same thing as me saying I'm a trillionaire because I owe myself $2.9T. That's a pretty sucky trust fund if you ask me.

Best Social Security Tutorial I've watched! Very transparent!

I genuinely have no resentment to the beneficiaries of Social Security. I do feel though that we need to think of the possibility of phasing this system altogether. If IRAs and 401K options are comparable to SS, we should start educating ourselves to build wealth and saving without government support.

Thank you for the insightful video about how the US retirement SS works :) Where I´m from retirement is funded in 3 ways 1. public retirement fund (SS) to which everyone independent of income level pays an equal amount of tax. In recent years retirement age has been adjusted to accommodate for development in life expectancy (differentiated depending on birth year) 2. Mandatory employee retirement fund. Most unions have a retirement agreement in place, where the employee pays a thrid and the employer the other two thirds (12%) (before taxes are payd) 3. private retirement funds/investment (after taxes are payed) All of which you pay tax as you´re payed upon retirement This way people at a minimum are secured a basic level of living, people with steady employment get a better retirement and people who are money savvy will have a very nice retirement :)

The trust fund being converted into bonds made me think of the scene from Dumb and Dumber where Mr. Sampsonite opens the briefcase to see only IOUs. “Those are IOUs......they’re as good as money.” said Lloyd Christmas.

Very well explained! Great video Two Cents! What we need to do as individuals in the meantime while the governments figure out how to afford more retirees and less new payers into the system is to increase our personal financial literacy, learn how to actually save for our own retirements, or even better, learn how to create passive income that will pay for our monthly expenses and not be dependent on a 'system' to take care of us but to have that as a wonderful additional income to enjoy our later years. You two and your team are so wonderful. Thanks for sharing! :D

I will support your patreon just right before I solve all my debt. I promise. Keep on! Greetings from México

I have always wondered about Social Security. I mean everyone has it but why don't I know more? This video really helped me understand and answer a question I didn't even know I had!

Raising the age for receiving retirement basically means “we are hoping you die before you can collect this money...” Beautiful, what a joke.

The part of the vid with the old folks flossin to Drake 😂😂😭

I've heard a lot about the Repo Market Crisis that happened/is happening, but I haven't heard a good explanation about what exactly is going on, and what that means. I'd be really interested to see you do a video on it so that non-economists like me can understand what exactly is going on.

This doesn't quite adapt to my country, but lately, there's been talk we are about to have a social security crisis because numbers aren't adding up. Either we out on more money or work more years

Can you live today with a check of 1600 dlls? Yeah....so you want us to wait 15 years for solution for a TODAY problem. Robert kiyosaki is right...our money is been taken away.

Imagine paying into social security your whole life and only getting 79% of it. Thats nothing to be happy about. Might as well just put that money into a 401k.

You've just described a Ponzi scheme

Everyone who pays into social security should sue if they don’t see that money when they retire.

This makes me wonder if we will have social security by the time I hit my retirement.

I have seen several comments of people wanting to abolish Social Security because if you had "control of your own money" you would be better off. Do you not care about anyone else in society? What about the disabled? I know a disabled person who could only work a few years after a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. Would you rather he be homeless? I know another person who worked security at a mall, was jumped, injured his back, and is now a paraplegic. He was 22. What would these people do if everyone was as selfish as you? It is not like SSDI (disability) pays out a lot. They each get around $1000 per month. Luckily they each have family that can help them out. But their families aren't rich. And all of that extra medical care gets expensive. Due to family help, I know one, doesn't qualify for Medicaid or food stamps. I would love to hear other "options" for them if they couldn't rely on Social Security.

@0:19 Julia’s enthusiasm is hilarious

It would be so easy to make this political. Thank you for not going there! Great work!!

I should be able to direct my social security balance just like my 401k. It should still be compulsory, and completely untouchable, but each taxpayer should be allowed to direct their paid in money in the way they see fit. People who decide not to independently manage their SS funds should be pooled into the standard bond fund.

I love the way they portrayed the fund being raided. It looked soooo sneaky =P

Thank you for easing my worries about this. Once again, Two Cents saves the day 😃

The greeter at walmart knows now that ss isn't a real retirement plan.

Its a pyramid scheme

6:18 the best part lmao

I think the simplest solution is to pay social security until you turn 55 years old, assuming you have a job that pays a wage/salary. Based on a Japanese city(don't remember name) that offered free child-care, the population for the city significantly increased. Children being born is correlated to the cost of raising children.

CLOSE THE SOCIAL SECURITY WAGE GAP! Women live longer and therefor benefit unfairly from this program! In all seriousness..... equality in protection of our rights (like property rights, which are violated by this program) is very important. And let people take care of their own retirement, or at LEAST let those who want to OPT OUT of the unconstitutional program do so.

Solution... Don't plan to get any of it and make your own

I never really understood the purpose of social security tax. Very glad to be following you right now

I'm definitely not a fan of increasing taxes to pay for this program further. Abolishing it and letting people fund their own retirement would make sense, as I plan to do so for myself.

As a rule, I am among the minority that believes that Social Security should be retired. Let me keep my money and let ME decide what my money will do. Social Security is yet another example of the gov't thinking they know what's better for me than I do, and then FORCING me to do it. Reppin' Libertarianism.

0:31 I am from Albania! ✌✌ I don't know why I was suprised when I heard my country's name. But, it was very nice hearing from you guys! Great channel with outstanding content!

I'd like SS to be opt-out, I can save for myself.

So true, I've grown up with getting no social security at all as a simple fact. But fortunately thats not entirely true. I just have to save money on my own, if I really want to retire without too much shortcomes.

6:31 The social outbreak in Chile in part is because of the private retirement plans, which give poverty retirement and makes money for the retirement companies (AFP) and the investment market, and giving all the losses to the workers. So, be carefull with the idea.

I'd like for for there not to be an ss tax and instead have it invested. I'd make much that way than I'll ever be able to collect.

First off, well done. I’m always hesitant to say Congress needs to do this or that, as it’s like trying to tell your teenager how to clean the house while you are on vacation. You may or may not get a clean house and a new farm Bill passing more subsidies for American pig farming corporations (owned by China). So often people run to say cut benefits. But I think we need to look at who get benefits and why. I know of a couple who had 8 children (think Brady bunch) and when the parents passed away tragically they didn’t have much to begin with and little to nothing to pass along. But the kids were able to get survivor benefits at 75% per child but only up to a maximum of 180% for the family. Was this something good? Yes. Is this something that makes sense on a 1 to 1 basis, no. But that’s the problem here. If we look at just our own social security we fail to recognize the security of our neighbors. I know I would rather have a stable population keeping our specialist economy running than saying sorry for your loss and pointing to the depression era soup kitchen.

0:21 How funny, that's *exactly* my salary.

Everyone should be in charge of their own retirement money tbh

it's all irrelevant what people want or how they feel about SSN. It needs to be abolished, yes. And yes, everyone responsible for their own retirement! That's moral. Not making others pay for your responsibility!

You literally just explained why social security is not sustainable and then stated that there's nothing to worry about because the government can just take more of our money in various different ways to support this system that will cost more to run and have a smaller percentage of people paying in

Here's my solution. Let people opt out. You voluntarily tell the Social Security Administration that you will no longer pay in from now on, and you can never collect benefits in your old age. A caveat is that there can be no opt back in once you are out. It is for life. I know that I can manage my own retirement fund better than Congress, so let me.

Raising the retirement age might ¿¿make sense?? Yes, we live longer on average*, but that doesn't mean quality of life is getting better. (*Life span is different across class and race, so raising the retirement age is the same as condemning minorities and the poor.)

The solution is obvious! It's the same solution as with any other government program: MAKE IT OPTIONAL. If you want to take the safe road of "saving up" for your retirement by paying for current retirees' security, then you should be free to do so. If you think you can do better by managing your own security, then I see no reason why you need to be forced away from this option, granted that you then lay in the bed you made for yourself and don't expect a safety net when it goes tits up.

I would like to see a video about Social security (SSI NOT SSDI) for people with disabilities and why it is so hard for them to "get off their lazy ass and go get a job" How it intertwines with food stamps, medicare and Medicaid, How they take 50% out of their benifits for every dollar they earn over $85, and the asset limit of just $2,000 and the fact that the max SSI check for a person aged 18-64 with a disability is less than $800 a month for everything rent, food, car, ect, ect, ect... People need to be educated PLEEEAAASSE!!!

2.9% Interest is absurdly low. They are basically giving you the inflation rate.

Let people decide if they want to participate in social security or not. This way the people by numbers of participation decide if the program lives or dies.

Ask Chile how privatizing the social security system worked for them...

"Pay as you go" also known as Ponzi Scheme, lol.

Interesting you mentioned Zimbabwe where i am from

We should be free to opt out of crap programs like social security.

Unpopular Opinion: If someone isn't responsible enough to save for their own retirement, they should continue working.

I wish they would let people that can show they're on track to not need it opt out. I'd even accept that I've been paying in for the past 30 years and won't ever see a dime if it meant I could stop paying now and put that money into my stock account to actually grow for this last leg of my career

"Socialism is bad! Oh hey, my Social Security check is in woohoo... we are going to Applebee's tonight!"

I would rather keep my money and invest it on my own. Still sounds like doomsday to me.

So this is why COVID was created

Have you guys done an episode on UBI?

6:55 Hahahahaa WTF