A topic that SHOULD be at the top of the Priority Stack for Congress.

[WarGamer]

The minimum Social Security benefit.

Let's say you worked and filed taxes for around 20 years... but never made much money.

Your Social Security payment would be around... $480 per month.

That's $480 to keep you alive for the rest of your life.

A lot of people spent decades caring for others, parents and children, etc. A lot of people were self employed and their taxes reflect minimal earnings.

Me personally, I think that no matter HOW MUCH or how little you paid in taxes, the minimum amount you should receive is around $1200 a month if you filed taxes for 20 years.

$500 a month is eating cat food and keeping the thermostat at 62* in Winter...

Thoughts?

[Walleye]

1. Totally agree. I was lucky enough to have a job that paid pretty well.

I was living in New York in the 80s and hated the job but the pay was pretty good and it did result in an amount on my SS That I can live on, now that my expenses aren’t too high.If you worked in the healthcare field in the 70s and 80s as a nurses assistant or something,you weren’t making any money at all.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. I agree ... and the simple solution to financially accommodate this is raising the cap

Which has, IMHO, happened much too slowly. And we all know why that's the case.

[WarGamer]

3. that would certainly be a solution.