As far as not living to 70..those who have known problems probably will retire as early as they can, taking whatever amount of SS they can get as early as they can. If they wind up being around longer than they expect, what they might get for the rest of their lives will be about half what they would get if they had waited. There are no guarantees given to any of us. We do what we think is best and hope they are good choices.
Every job on the books collects SS monies on each paycheck and the government has a record of just what was paid in for every year. Someone who has worked in low paying jobs doesn't get what someone in high paying jobs does. If both husband and wife worked, they each collect on their own earnings. If a spouse dies, they can collect can collect one check, their own or 1/2 of the spouse's, whichever is higher.
I would guesstimate that if it were ever to go a private account system, employers would offer different accounts and advise on the pros and cons of them, much as they do now. The account/s would follow them as they do now, collectible at retirement age like a pension. I have a small one of them now. Bank financial advisers would also be another source of information of how to invest lump sum distributions..the risk factor of each given. I'm sure we would be deluged by companies looking for investors should that happen. Would it be beneficial for all? Probably not..but if there was no SS security package to depend on or look forward to, you'd have to be pretty dumb not to do something and there might be penalties for not having an account. An account withdrawal would be based on life expectancy..so much per year as the minimum we now have to take out of IRA's each year at age 70. I think it's calculated on age 90 or so today. The balance is still collecting interest so by the time the next deduction must be taken, the interest for the year would reduce the actual reduction of the principal. I have three such accounts. One is treated like an employer's pension..a small check for as long as I live. If I died, the checks stop. The others are made up of lump sum monies I received from two different employers at age 65 with no contributions made by me. If I had been investing the equivalent of the SS money deducted in them while I was working the accounts I have would be much larger and what needed to be taken out would probably be about the same or close to what I get from SS now.
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