Quote Originally Posted by Tybee View Post
I'm 6 years in and still working on the money I put in. So I don't really consider it government money.
I just looked up my statement. Since I "retired" when I was about 36, my total contributions were fairly minimal, though maxed-out some of those working years. Looks like if I total my contributions + employer contributions, I'll get those funds back in 5 years, and then it'll be "pure profit"...

Now, if I'd taken that same sum of money and bought an S&P500 index fund in 1999 when I "retired", I'd have about $1 million in cash today, assuming dividend reinvestment. That cash, invested boringly, would yield me nearly twice the yearly income that Social Security will be providing me, without much risk of principal depletion.

Bother. I probably shouldn't have just done that math.