social security in constant dollars

[PLOlover]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YYPWFDF8

some excel files

the only thing I estimated was the monthly benefit cause I was too lazy to do that, but it should be pretty close.
for estimate I used
http://www.heritage.org/research/fea...alcWelcome.asp
actually I looked and it is off a bit.
can be computed accurately at
http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/AnypiaApplet.html


the first data below is for max contribution, second is for minimum wage (actually I used 12k for est. ).

the excel files have some inflation stuff you can addin if you want.
basically if you pay max for 45 years it takes 16 years to get your money back (basically investing at 0% rate of return after inflation), while if you pay minimum wage 45 years you get your money back after 8 years. also single not married.

at 2% simple interest, its 26 years and 13 years to get your money back. in the excel files you can just change the .02 and everything recalculates. note that this 2% is after inflation is taken out, so for example if inflation is 5%, it would be like getting an actual rate of 7% for that year. also I just used simple interest compounded yearly, so math gurus might be able to tell how much that underestimates it.
---------------------------
Per month benefit(est.) 2,088
Per month 1982 benefit 1,034
Yearly 1982 benefit 12,408
Total contribution 1982 dollars 193,696
Year Cum. Returned % returned
1 12,408 6
2 24,815 13
3 37,223 19
4 49,631 26
5 62,038 32
6 74,446 38
7 86,854 45
8 99,261 51
9 111,669 58
10 124,077 64
11 136,485 70
12 148,892 77
13 161,300 83
14 173,708 90
15 186,115 96
16 198,523 102
17 210,931 109
18 223,338 115
19 235,746 122
20 248,154 128
21 260,561 135
22 272,969 141
23 285,377 147
24 297,784 154
25 310,192 160
26 322,600 167
27 335,008 173
28 347,415 179
29 359,823 186
30 372,231 192


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Per month benefit(est.) 761
Per month 1982 benefit 377
Yearly 1982 benefit 4,522
Total contribution 1982 dollars 34,456
Year Cum. Returned % returned
1 4,522 13
2 9,044 26
3 13,566 39
4 18,089 52
5 22,611 66
6 27,133 79
7 31,655 92
8 36,177 105
9 40,699 118
10 45,221 131
11 49,744 144
12 54,266 157
13 58,788 171
14 63,310 184
15 67,832 197
16 72,354 210
17 76,877 223
18 81,399 236
19 85,921 249
20 90,443 262
21 94,965 276
22 99,487 289
23 104,009 302
24 108,532 315
25 113,054 328
26 117,576 341
27 122,098 354
28 126,620 367
29 131,142 381
30 135,664 394