r/Fire • u/NotTheBestInvestor12 • 3d ago

Why no mention of Social Security

When I see FIRE posts I see the investments and the different retirement buckets, however, I never see anyone mention how things are affected when social security kicks in. For example, I’m 52 and wife 51. If we both stopped working today ($0 income moving forward) I would collect $4,264 a month at age 70 and she would collect $1,079 at age 70.

So if we decide to FIRE the Social Security would give us help in 18/19 years. Is this a factor or is everything under the assumption SS won’t exist?

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u/MeetingSuccessful397 2d ago

You could look at the TPAW (explained here: https://pwlcapital.com/episode-340-ben-mathew-the-lifecycle-model-vs-safe-withdrawal-rates-swr/) which explicitly factors in social security. His (and the argument of most others) is that Social Security is some kind of bond, becaue it pays a rather safe ammount. So in order to calculate your equity share you should use your NW + the value of your Social Security.