What's up you guys? It's Graham here and apparently Americans are quickly running out of money. In fact, with the personal savings rate now at a 20-year low, Social Security reserves are set to be completely depleted in the next 8 years.

And if nothing is done, well, today we're breaking this down and exposing the unbelievable truth that the government, politicians, and system don't want you to know because the fact is this entire thing is a ticking time bomb. Most people have no idea where their money is really

going and if you just realize how badly you were potentially getting ripped off, then well, I guess you're about to find out right now. So get ready for this to blow your mind. Although, really quick before we start, as usual, if you appreciate videos like this that could

sometimes take me weeks to put together, all I ask in return is that you hit the like button or subscribe if you haven't done that already. It really makes a huge difference for me and the entire channel and it's free, so thank you so much. And

also big thank you to Rocket Money for sponsoring today's video, but more on that later. All right, so to start, let's just get this out of the way. Over the last few years, there have been numerous articles all saying the exact same warning: that Social Security is running

out, that there's not going to be enough money left over to pay you how much you're owed, and if something isn't done right now, we're all F-ed. Okay, that last part might be a bit dramatic, but it's not too far off from reality. We are all

forced to pay into a system that at some point in the future is very likely to be insolvent, so why is this happening and what could you do about it? Well, for those unaware, think of Social Security a bit like this: every time you go and work,

a chunk of your paycheck goes to pay the government, another chunk goes towards medical and unemployment insurance, and 12.4% goes for the purposes of Social Security, typically split evenly between you and your employer. Essentially, the broad concept here is that most people can't be trusted to save for their own

retirement, so the government does it for them by taking a chunk of every paycheck, investing it on your behalf, and then giving you money back later in life when you might need it. Seems reasonable, right? Well, wrong, and here's why. See, Social Security started initially after the

1929 Great Depression, so in order to prevent older Americans from starving in poverty, in 1935 the Social Security Act was created. And by the 1950s, it became common practice to receive Social Security. However, there was one glaring issue: when the concept of receiving

Social Security at 65 was initially created, the average life expectancy was just 58 years old. So, as people began living longer and longer, it created a really unique problem of going broke. Now, you would think that this system takes your money from your taxes, puts it into a

special account that belongs to you, and then when you're older, you could begin withdrawing from your account. But it doesn't work like that. Instead, your money goes towards paying out current retirees, and by the time you retire, future workers will contribute their salary to pay you. By the way, fun fact

the first person who received Social Security worked for just 3 years and contributed a total of $24.75. This allowed her to collect almost $23,000,000 in Social Security payments before she passed away at the age of 100. Now, in a perfect system

incomes increase, payroll taxes go up, and the population grows enough to be able to keep up with what Social Security needs to stay funded. But it's not. Instead, population growth is slowing down or even declining, incomes are barely keeping up with inflation, and in

less than 10 years the real problem begins. As of now, it's said that without any changes, the Social Security fund is slated to be drained by 2033, which would result in an automatic 21% cut to beneficiaries' monthly checks, regardless

of marital or income status. To make matters worse, it's reported that older people are expected to outnumber children for the first time in US history by 2034. There will be fewer workers to support each retiree in the future as a result. Essentially, we don't

have enough workers paying into Social Security to fund the full benefits of baby boomers, which means that everybody else gets less, especially as more baby boomers are starting to retire. So unless something is done very quickly, Social Security reserves are going to be running out, and that most likely means

we're going to see a combination of the following: 1) Social Security benefits are going to be reduced by the time all of us are older, most likely to the tune of 21 to 25%. 2) They increase the retirement age so that they pay out less

money for example instead of taking retirement at 67 maybe they force you to take it at 72 instead or three the government could just tax you more to be able to pay for Social Security that's running out and if you think that's impossible or not going to going to

happen think again according to CNBC the last time Social Security faced a reserve deficit was back in 1983 and it was resolved through an agreement that raised the full retirement age from 65 to 67 well guess what back then the average life expectancy was 74.6 years

and now it's 79.5 so it would make sense that they try to push back the retirement age again right alongside with it in addition to that a recent proposal would increase Social Security taxes on those making over $400,000 a

year will inflation pushes up the top earning Social Security recipients to almost $5,000 a month in terms of how much of a tax increase we could see the Social Security Board of Trustees recently said that we'd either need an immediate reduction in benefits of about

13% or an immediate increase in the combined payroll tax rate to 14.4% or some combination of these changes to allow full payment of the scheduled benefits for the next 75 years basically there's no situation here where you don't pay

more in tax don't retire later than you were initially promised or don't get the full benefits that you thought you would get so how badly is everybody getting ripped off although before we go into that this is why it's so important to budget and track your expenses as soon

as possible, like without exaggeration, I've been meticulously tracking all of my expenses for more than a decade. And if there's one thing that's going to dramatically put you ahead of everyone else, it's this. That's because so few people actually take the time to

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rocketmoney.com or using the link down below in the description to unlock even more features with premium. Thank you so much. I hope this is helpful and now let's get back to the video. All right, so in terms of how badly you're getting screwed by Social Security, let's assume

you make an average annual income of $770,000 and contribute 12.4% of those earnings every year from the ages of 25 to 65. According to our compound interest calculator, that works out to be $868 a year. And if you manage to get a

6% return on your money, which is on the low end of the last century, that works out to an ending balance of $1,513,000 by the time you're 65. This means that you could theoretically withdraw 4% a year or $5,000 a month

without ever running out of money. Or you could get $2,400 a month from Social Security instead. Yeah, I'm being completely serious. In this circumstance, the money you contribute to Social Security pays out less than 50% of the worst stock market returns we have ever

seen over the last 100 years. Or I guess put another way, in order for these numbers to match, you would have to get an average annualized return in the stock market of 3% over four decades, which would make you one of the worst investors of probably all time. On top of

that realistically even if the stock market generates an average 8% annualized return over 40 years, which is still below the historic average, you would have $2.6 million in retirement which should safely generate about $8,600 a month in income compared to the $2,400

a month that's promised by Social Security, crazy right? Okay, now in fairness, Social Security is not meant to be a one-to-one return. Your contributions end up supporting the greater function of our economy for the people who aren't fortunate enough to make an enough to be

able to contribute enough, and inevitably some people are reliant on these social safety nets to stay afloat. But why does it seem like the government just gets such a bad return on our money, and why do a lot of people on Reddit seem to think this is outright theft? Well, if you

take a step back, I think it's worth acknowledging that Social Security was never meant to be compared to an investment account. And at the end of the day, I guess it's more similar to insurance where yeah, you're probably going to pay out more than you receive

but if you need it, you're going to be really glad it's there. For example, car insurance, best case scenario is that you pay a few hundred a month for insurance and never use it. But if you get into an accident, it's going to more than pay for

itself. Well, Social Security is a bit the same way. Sure, you could get a higher return investing the difference yourself, but let's be real, most people have absolutely no idea how to manage their own money. Half of Americans have absolutely nothing saved for retirement.

whatsoever, and for those between the ages of 50 to 54, only a third have more than $100,000. So, yeah, for the average person, it's a good deal because they would have no idea how to properly invest on their own. For those who need

the insurance, it's a safety net just in case. And for those who have the discipline to invest the difference consistently over a long period of time, yes, they would be better off without it. However, regardless of how you feel, the problem still remains that the entire

system isn't working. It's drastically underfunded, and something has to be done so that by the time you start collecting, the money is actually there. So, what's going to happen? I, I hate to say it, but realistically, I have a feeling that in

order to keep Social Security afloat, there's going to be higher taxes in the future and most likely a delayed retirement age so that there are fewer people drawing on those reserves. Yes, it screws younger people who currently work and have to pay more for less than what

other generations get. But, uh, what's the alternative? The way I see it, neither political party wants to be the one that cuts the benefits. So, the most likely outcome from this is that they push it off as long as possible, wait until the last possible minute, and then they blame

the other side for not wanting to fix it sooner while motioning to tax the rich for not paying their fair share. Even though it sounds like I'm joking right now, I'm actually pretty serious, and I bet we could look back on this 10 years

from now and see that everything I just said came true, especially when you consider that right now you're only required to pay Social Security taxes on the first $168,000 of income. So anything above that amount is completely exempt for now, because I have a feeling if eventually

they're going to bump that number higher. Although in terms of what you can do about this and how to prepare today so that you don't become another statistic, here's what you need to know. Personally, I never think it's a good idea to rely on the government for your money in lieu

of taking personal responsibility for your finances. It's just too risky. Instead, it would be much better to live below your means, invest consistently, learn new skills to increase your income, and then do that consistently over decades. This way, you're not going to need to rely on Social Security. You

could still make way more money by investing on your own, and if you do get Social Security later in life, it's just icing on the cake. Now, of course, in terms of how much money you need to retire on, that's the million-dollar question, quite

literally. So to figure that out, we're going to work backwards and assume that you want to replace the median income here in the United States of $50,000 a year. Generally speaking, the rule of thumb here is that if you invest in a broad index fund, you could withdraw 4%

annually throughout retirement without running out of money. So that would mean that you need $1,250,000. But because sometimes life happens, let's bump that up to $1.5 million. So here's exactly how much you need and at what age to be able to get

there if you're 20 years old you're going to need to invest $416 a month or $5,000 a year and by the time you're 60 years old you'll have just over $1.5 million. Even better if you do this in a

Roth IRA all of it's going to be completely tax-free. However, if you wait to start at 30 years old you're going to need to invest $940 a month or $11,400 a year to reach that same $1.5

million by the age of 60. And if you start at 40 years old you'll need to save $2,300 a month or $28,000 a year just to be able to reach that very same amount. Ideally, if you take control now

you're going to greatly outperform what you would have gotten with Social Security to the point where later in life after a few decades if you don't get it it's not going to make that big of a difference. Although, in terms of my own thoughts and the idea that Social

Security is theft, here's what I think. On the surface, yes Social Security is an inefficient system, but as much as you could fault how it works comparing it to an investment account is incorrect thinking. The reason for this is that Social Security funds aren't invested in

the stock market or in equities that could rise or fall a substantial amount in a short period of time. Like can you just imagine what would happen if retirees needed their money well the stock market falls 40% over a few years and all of it was invested in the QQQ

that would be an absolute disaster. This is why all of your money is invested in treasuries, which sure they make less, but they're also guaranteed to be there when you need them. Or I guess put another way, it's kind of like this poster saying, 

savings accounts are a scam because they only pay 4% while the stock market's up 30%. That's just not accurate thinking because the two are entirely different and a savings account has a completely different purpose than investing. The same applies to Social Security. All of 

that is invested in safe, stable assets that are guaranteed to be there when you need them. And they really just earn inflation plus maybe an extra percent, which isn't much, but at least it's guaranteed. Yes, this does mean that some people get more than they contribute and 

other people get less, but it's really no different than paying property taxes for a school you never use or paying state income taxes for a road that you never drive on. There's just got to be some give and take with everything. And let's be real, if the government is in charge, 

it's probably not going to run as efficiently as it could. That's why I have a feeling if you watch my channel right now, you probably manage your money better than most people, and to you Social Security seems like an absolute ripoff, and rightfully so. But other 

people rely on it and in retirement it helps. At the end of the day though, no, I don't think it's going away anytime soon. And the realistic outcome is that overtime taxes either have to go up or you end up taking Social Security at a 

later age and retiring later than expected. It's not the ideal scenario, but that's what's most likely to happen and that's how I plan around it. All of this is a perfect reminder that even though the government is there, you're going to go much further on your own by investing

consistently living below your means and no matter what, hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't done that already. Thank you guys so much, and until next time.

America is Financially Screwed (How To Save Yourself)

As a 30 year old real estate agent and investor who started working in real estate shortly after turning 18, with over $120,000,000 in residential real estate sales since 2008, I've created this channel to share my successes, failures, and experiences in the real estate industry and to support others who are thinking of getting into the business. Oh, and I'm also obsessed with cars. A lot. So expect to see some cars uploaded to my channel. A lot. And Subscribe. Because all the cool kids are doing it.  

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Graham Stephan

American's dwindling finances and the impending Social Security crisis

Americans' personal savings rate is at a 20-year low.

Social Security reserves are projected to be depleted within 8 years.

The government's handling of Social Security is a ticking time bomb.

Many people are unaware of how Social Security functions and potential financial implications.

Numerous articles warn about Social Security's impending insolvency.

How Social Security functions and its inherent flaws

Social Security operates on a pay-as-you-go system, where current workers fund current retirees.

The system's design was flawed from the outset due to increasing life expectancy.

Contributions don't go into individual accounts; they fund current retirees' payments.

The system's sustainability relies on population growth, income increases, and sufficient payroll taxes.

These factors are not keeping pace with the system's needs, leading to a projected depletion by 2033.

Potential consequences and proposed solutions for the Social Security crisis

Without changes, a 21% cut to benefits is expected by 2033.

The aging population will create a worker-retiree imbalance.

Possible solutions include benefit reductions, raising the retirement age, and increased taxes.

Past solutions involved raising the retirement age and increasing taxes.

The Social Security Board of Trustees suggests benefit reductions or tax increases to maintain solvency.

Personal finance management and the role of Rocket Money

Importance of budgeting and tracking expenses.

Introduction of Rocket Money, a personal finance app.

Rocket Money helps cancel subscriptions and lower bills.

Rocket Money has saved users an average of $740 per year.

Comparison of Social Security returns vs. personal investment returns

A hypothetical calculation shows lower returns from Social Security than personal investment.

Social Security's returns are less than 50% of even the worst historical stock market returns.

Even with an 8% annualized return, personal investment significantly outperforms Social Security.

Social Security's purpose is not solely as an investment but also as a social safety net.

Advice on personal financial responsibility and retirement planning

Importance of personal responsibility in managing finances.

Recommendations for living below means, consistent investing, and skill development to increase income.

Retirement planning calculation: needing $1.5 million to replace a $50,000 annual income.

Investment amounts needed at different ages to reach the retirement goal.

The speaker's perspective on Social Security: inefficient but necessary.