Private Retirement Benefits and Social Security Working Together
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: August 19, 2021
On August 14, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt said, “We can never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-stricken old age.”
Nearly 81 years later, Social Security provides the foundation for retiring Americans that President Roosevelt imagined when he signed the program into law. The latest figures report that nearly 59 million Americans were receiving retirement, disability or survivors’ benefits from Social Security. Each year, nearly 15 million elderly Americans are lifted out of poverty by Social Security, proving that the program is indeed a crucial part of a secure retirement.
While Social Security provides a strong foundation for workers, the private retirement system also plays a key role in ensuring the economic well-being of retired Americans. Over 115 million workers receive retirement benefits through plans provided by their employers. In addition, the number of retirees receiving income from private retirement plans continues to increase.
On February 5, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a retirement forum focused on the success of employer-provided retirement systems. Panelists and speakers offered guidelines to help support the voluntary employment-based retirement benefits system and identified ways to encourage innovation and flexibility in the private retirement system. In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also released a white paper at the event entitled, “Private Retirement Benefits in the 21st Century: Achieving Retirement Security,” which recommends a series of steps to further bolster the private retirement system.
The true success story, however, is the combination of Social Security and employer-provided retirement benefits. Working hand in hand, the private retirement system and Social Security can ensure that millions of Americans keep receiving the stable and secure income that they deserve.
To educate companies on the benefits of this partnership, the Chamber and the Social Security Administration are co-sponsoring a conference, entitled “Promoting Retirement Security Makes Good Business Sense” on April 5, 2016 at 8:45 ET. The discussion will center on promoting the partnership between the Social Security and the business community to support a secure retirement for workers. We will also discuss how the current Social Security retirement program can supplement employer-provided retirement savings. I encourage you to tune in to the live webcast at US Chamber Live Webcast.
Have a question you would like to see answered on the day of the event? Post your question to @SSAOutreach using the hashtag #RETSCC and watch the live webcast to see if your question was chosen on the day of the event.
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About the Author
Randy Johnson, Senior Vice President, Labor, Immigration, & Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Randy Johnson, Senior Vice President, Labor, Immigration, & Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
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anonymous
hope my STORY helps people with ssi& ssdi. sis lawyers all used to.work for social sec. now they work for us getting use our hard earned dues ,no cost up fromt
law allows a one time few of 10% of the monies recovered for you. and your get to live better off the street, in your home with the ss you put in all those hard yrs of work good luck. hope you appreciated my long but true and life saving letter I posted at 4pm ish
anonymous
I’m appalled at all I’v just read on SSI.
g people there are lawyers that specialize in getting you your due s. they used to eork for ss.if not for tjem od been on the streets. 10 yrs ago while going to work I was rear ended while exiting freeway .i daw the kid onnvell phone h racted for impact my car was 1982 special edition Camero no airbags, nut worth a lot in mimt comdition,it WAS PART OF RETIREMENT due to its value. yhe point being this kif hit me twice still on his cell,as my neck and head wrenched back and forth many tmes each hitting my steering wheel ,i saw his air bag go off,STILL ON HIS CELL!
I avoided hitting anyone my nody was thrown around do bad dear belt intact .My injuries to my nevk head back why were do bad couldn’t keep working
filed for Sri disability @59. paying into SS since 14 yrs old I was emancipated minor at 15,special case told my AS would always be there if I paid in enough to see me through “Golden YEARS” I WORKED 54 YEARS NO 501k nothing, i had my own company in my 20,s.
OK SSDI DENIED ME YEARS, I COULD. NOT USR MY LEHS SRMS. NO FAMILY ,wad owny own @14. the gov used that against me but od paid a butt load of dr in all those yrs.
MY STORY SHORTENED WAS MUDHOTE BUT I GOT A AS LAWYER NO CODT TILL SETTLEMENT, IN AX ONLY CAN TAKE 10% OF BACK $$ in DSL I didn’t get all the re they denied me. yes I got a lump sum hot on ssdi at 76 am now on reg AS retirment at same amount IF NO LAWYER, I’D HAVE DIED SICK ,HOMELESS I’M THE STREETS. A SOCIAL SECURITY SPECIALIST WILL TAKE YOUR CASE HELP YOU GET whats yours. they are bound by law to only get a ONE time 10% of then back pay of ss you wre due waiting jobless trying to do it yourself. I’ve passed this to many, helping them get there SIS ,SAID
YOUR $IS YOURS AT HIGHER RATES THAN YOU THINK
I GET HELP WITH MY CONDO PAYMENT, health is lots lowets my phone and utilitys.PEOPLE WE ARE NOW CONSIDERED LOW INCOME THERE IS HELP .CALL MEDICARE CALL YOU LOW INCOME HELP BOARD most of all call your stste agency for the elderly. good luck hope I’ve helped despite my omg accident story ,get was the part that put me out of ,job home no pay, went to mental health dept in my state it all starts there. no I’m not crazy
Evelyn S.
I read an article on line that said
There is no law that says we are
Entitled to receive Social Security!!!
The government can decide NOT
To pay Social Security at any time!
Please have your law department
Check on that!
Marc
Why don’t you get your information about Social Security from the OFFICIAL SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE (where you are right now) instead of some article? Really? Who do you think knows more about Social Security: the Social Security Administration or some freelance writer getting paid a few cents per word for an online article? The ignorance of the average American is absolutely astonishing. After reading the comments on three of these articles, I want to slit my wrists – there’s no hope for this country. We’re doomed.
Hal
The problem is the use of SS payments to fund the power elite-robbing Peter (SS) to pay Paul (imperial wars).
Your saying how secure Social Security is when all the time when Social Security as being robbed the SSA knew about it and made a deal with Congress to lie to us Seniors like your lieing now so how do we trust the SSA when we have been swindled and robbed like Bernie Maddoff robbed thousands of poeple out of their life savings ,but Maddoff is in jail for robbing millions,when congress stole 3 trillion dolls from the social security trust fund that you knew was happening so the idiots that are going to listen to how great your SSA IS ARE DUMMER THAN TWO DUMB BASTARDS.
“Kasich,” the ad says, “was the architect who balanced the budget, cut spending, created a surplus, igniting record job creation. THE BUDGET NEVER HAD A SURPLUS . OCIAL SECURITY WAS ROBBED OF 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS FROM 1993 TO SEPT.2000 AT THE END OF BILL CLINTON ADMINISTRATION.THE NATIONAL DEBT WAS 4 TRILLION AND IN SEPTEMBER OF 2000 THE NATIONAL DEBT WAS 5,5 TRILLION ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS AND LIES FROM JOHN KASICH.
My problem with the trust fund is that it’s a snare and a delusion for people who think that it makes Social Security financially sound. It doesn’t do that, because having government IOUs in a government trust fund doesn’t make it any easier for the government to cover Social Security’s cash shortfalls than it would be if there were no trust fund.
Social Security is totally in the hands of Congress and the President. They have the legal authority to amend any and all parts of the Social Security Act, as well as the authority to either increase or decrease AND MADE IT AN ENTITLEMENT WHEN HUCKABEE AND CRISTIE SAID ON NOB 10,2015 THAT SOCIAL SECURITY IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT IT IS OUR MONEY THAT WAS TAKEN OUT EVERY WEEK AS A PAYROLL TAX FROM HARD WORKING PEOPLE WHO WOULD HAVE A RETIREMENT TO FALL BACK ON FOR THEM AND GENERATIONS TO COM AND IT WAS PROMISED TO THEM THAT IT WOULD ALWAYS BE THE
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT FROM THE VIETNAM WAR ,BY LBJ FINANCED BY SOCIAL SECURITY TO BUSCH IN THE GULF WAR,TO CLINTON
Connie
President Bush tried to reform Social Security enough so that workers could keep part of it in a separate private account of their own, AWAY from the government so that we would control it ourselves. The politicians and liberal pundits raised cane about it. Some of you bloggers may have done the same. I was all for it. Many of you guys screwed up by not paying attention to the politics of social security all your lives and voting for people who made these laws. Now we are all paying the price.
roseanne
I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that at one time, teachers and government workers did not pay into social security, hence the law was passed to eliminate “double dipping.”
What truely irks me are the cuban immigrants coming here and qualifying for benefits without ever working in this country or paying anything into the system. This is truely a problem and makes the windfall elimination a slap in the face for teachers.
Phil
You cannot get Social Security unless you or your spouse paid into it, period. SSI (the “SS” stands for Supplement Security) is different and I don’t know if they could get that. It is not funded by worker deductions. I know that it is low but I don’t know if an immigrant can qualify.
David R.
I heard from relatives that receive SSI that the amount is $881/Month per person!
R.F.
SSI Federal Payment Standard. Individual: $750/month. Couple: $1125/month
Marc
NO ONE gets Social Security if they never worked here because Social Security comes out of what you PAID IN THROUGH YOUR PAYCHECK!!! If you didn’t work you obviously didn’t get a paycheck, duh! Maybe you mean SSI but that is a completely separate program that is totally unrelated to Social Security retirement; it’s welfare from the General Fund. Social Security retirement is 100% funded by PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS, not one red cent comes from the government coffers and it does NOT have ANY connection with the deficit nor the national debt.
Lynn W.
I retired from civil service but could not make ends meet. I worked another ten years so I could earn social security. Since they only give me half of what I earned, I only get $400 a month. I still can’t make ends meet. Now at age 67, I once again have to find another job. Politicians exempted themselves from this law that takes half of our pensions away. I am trying to hang onto my house while retired. $400 more a month would make a very big difference to me. They really should change this law.
Susan
You should vote for Ted Cruz….he has promised to make sure that Congress and the rest of the thieves working in Washington DC will not be exempted from the laws they write for the rest of us! He’s the only person I’ve heard make this promise.
Norma
I agree with the aforementioned comments regarding the Winfall Elimination Provision. Now at retirement ages, I am penalized 2/3 of my ss benefits, receive 1/3 and a public servant, receive 1/3 of what my monthly earnings were because I decided not work til 70, and retired at 62 to enjoy life. Afterall, I started working and paying into ss at age 16, thanks to lesson learned by work ethic taught by my parents. There are folks who have not worked one day in their life, and receive benefits due to medical reasons or knowledge of how to manipulate the system. WINFALL ELIMINATION needs to be repealed!!!
Marc
FALSE, FALSE, FALSE! NO ONE receives Social Security disability if they have “never worked one day in their life based on medical” because disability is paid only to you if you became UNABLE TO WORK AFTER HAVING WORKED FOR TEN YEARS MINIMUM because of a COVERED disability! OMG people, PLEASE a least find out the FACTS before you complain! It’s so EASY TO FIND – it’s all RIGHT HERE on this VERY SAME WEBSITE!!! One click, how lazy can you get?! Sheesh!
David i.
It seems the “facts” are explained differently at different SS offices.
Candi
Yes they do, some children are given them at birth or when they are school aged because it is needed “for their care”. I know a family that continues to have children and 4 of them receive this benefit and have since age 2 to 6. They continue to receive them under review every year for the rest of their life. This is not what Social Security should be doing with the disability program. I am 57, have RA and still manage to work and bring in 800 a month; not at all close to what I was bringing in when I could work for a high stress company at 1600 a week. I am not eligible for Disability because at this point I can still sit at a computer at home and work. No one would hire me outside of working at home because way too many days I couldn’t even dress myself, and some days couldn’t get out of bed or feed myself. They say my husband makes too much money. BS. HIs work should not affect my disability.
Michael C.
Why bother? Social Security can’t be fixed by the Social Security Agency. Because they don’t know it’s Broken, or at least they won’t admit it…..
Jeanne S.
The Windfall Law stinks. The money was promised upon retirement and the fat cats in Washington who will have lifetime salaries voted to take it away, so the average hard working teachers and public employees get screwed out of what is rightfully their money. How can that even happen? How do they get away with swindling the public and then using SS funds for all kinds of other expenses. They need to better fund SS and repeal the Windfall and get ready to help the future retirees. Something is wrong in Washington!!!!
Michael C.
I never Blogged before and since this is a Social Security site> I’m wondering if I need to press 2 for English