Retiring on Social Security

Social Security has been around for many years and has not changed much over the years. With the economy being in the position it is in and the government not doing much to change Social Security along the way for the better, it is common for those who reach the age of retirement to find themselves looking for other ways to supplement their retirement. Social Security is not a safety net for those who do not plan for retirement. If the government does not make some changes in the near future in the regards to our Social Security then there is going to be people that are not going to be able to survive on what Social Security has to offer towards their retirement. For a program that was designed to be only temporary during the World War, Social Security has been here for some time now and is in need of some repairs for future retirees.

In the United States, Americans are afforded the benefit of the Social Security retirement. This form of public service has since its inception provided citizens of the United States with an income for retirement. However, Social Security was never designed to be the sole retirement option for a person. As a result, individuals who rely solely on Social Security often find themselves having to find part-time work when they should be quitting work all together. Because Social Security was only designed to supplement income one should not rely on it as their sole means of retirement.

When the original Social Security system was designed, it was intended to provide an individual with a personal retirement. This was only intended to be a supplemental income to go with a pension or saving that one might acquire throughout their career. In fact President Roosevelt believed that the program would provide a long-term solution to individuals who lived long enough to receive benefits and were no longer capable of working fulltime (Social Security Administration, 2010). The expectation of Social Security in its infancy was that a person would receive income for a limited period after retirement and fill the gap between pension or savings and loss of fulltime payroll. People were not intended to collect Social Security for decades and decades.

From the programs design, it has never fully provided enough income for individual retirement. In 1942 when Social Security began paying benefits the average payment was $58.06 per month (Social Security Administration, 2010). This was just less than 1/3 of the average monthly income a person in 1940 (Lone Star College, 2010). So from this statistic one can reasonably infer that if you needed an average salary of over $150.00 per month to survive than 1/3 of this income would not sustain the average person.

Another flaw in the Social Security design occurred long after the programs start. Social Security was never designed to pay death benefits and disability payments. The Social Security Amendments of 1954 initiated a disability insurance program which provided the public with additional coverage against economic insecurity. On August 1, 1956, the Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50-64 and disabled adult children. In September 1960 President Eisenhower signed a law amending the disability rules to permit payment of benefits to disabled workers of any age and to their dependents. By 1960, 559,000 people were receiving disability benefits, with the average benefit amount being around $80 per month (Social Security Administration, 2010). The major issue