Value of ss benefits.

Reader comment on: George Will on Social Security

Submitted by Lyle (United States), Apr 12, 2010 09:23

Evidently the average SS benefit for a married couple (recall that a stay at home wife gets 1/2 of her husbands ss) is about 1k/month. If you were to buy an annuity at current rates that would cost about 150k (according to immediateannuities.com). Assuming one invested savings in TIPS one gets about 1% real return. (Since SS is inflation adjusted we will cut the inflation element out). Over 35 years that is about $4.5 k per year in savings. Note that a 2 earner couple gets a worse deal as the 1/2s for each spouse go away.

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