When people ask why they pay taxes for Social Security, the first thing that usually comes to mind is that they do it so they can get their checks when they retire.
The main problem with this and other SSA programs is that they were made to help Americans stay out of poverty. SSA checks can be anywhere from $1,000 to $4,873 a month, with an average of $1875.82 a month.
With COLA changes, checks will go up over time. The amount paid out is huge when you multiply these numbers by the 50 million people the SSA helps. It is too bad that not all seniors will retire. At least 3.3% will not get any money from Social Security.
Why can someone not be able to achieve any Social Security checks?
There are many things that can make it less likely that you will get retirement insurance and monthly Social Security checks. One of the most common reasons is not meeting the system’s minimum requirements to be considered insured.
It is important to remember that you need ten Social Security credits, which you can get after making $1,730 in salary. Remember that making money is not enough to get the Social Security credit.
This calculation based on your job earnings shows that you have paid Social Security taxes along with your employer, if you have a contract that covers this amount. This means that you have given the SSA 6.2% of your income.
As long as you meet those conditions, you will be insured and only need to wait until you reach the Minimum Retiring Age (MRA) of 62 or, if you can afford it, the Full Retirement Age (FRA) of 70, which will increase the amount of money you will likely make after retirement.
But situations like those involving immigrants who came to the U.S. at ages that put them closer to the MRA also make it harder for them to keep working and put in the time and money needed to eventually get a Social Security check.
There is another group of people who have trouble settling into retirement.
Because of the way their jobs are set up and the conditions in their industries, some workers do not contribute very often. People who do not consistently pay into Social Security will have a hard time meeting the requirements to get their checks.
Although you may make enough money to pay into Social Security, you may not be eligible for checks if you work in a field or job that the SSA does not cover, like some government jobs.
In theory, they are not helpless because they should be covered by other pension plans run by the government or the company they work for.
Still, there is a chance that you will never get any retirement benefits because those programs have rules and are not guaranteed. Furthermore, you will definitely become poor if you can not reach the age of retirement.
Not everyone is lucky enough to meet all the requirements and get their Social Security checks. Even so, at least 54.3% are living below the poverty line, and some may be able to get help from other programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Last but not least, you may have heard that SSA has problems with paying its beneficiaries too much or too little. It is possible that you or your company got the amount of money that needs to be sent wrong, so this is normal.
It is expected that Americans have not paid their Social Security taxes for a total of close to 100,000 dollars over the course of their lives.
Cutting back on contributions could cause you to miss out on retirement, get less money when you do retire, or even worse, keep you from getting full insurance and getting any Social Security checks.
