The value of the largest asset most Americans will ever have is now under the greatest threat I’ve seen in half a century of study and reporting. Yes, I’m talking about Social Security. Its virtual wealth sustains most Americans through thick and thin.
In all that time, any financial problems for Social Security could be solved by a familiar basket of tweaks and finesses. Even the witless 535 we faithfully elect and re-elect could do that.
No more.
The new threat began with Operation Epic Fury. In two weeks it has virtually guaranteed higher inflation and larger federal deficits. Closing what economists call “the fiscal gap” is now far beyond tweaks.
A Threat to All
Affluent readers will dismiss this at their peril. The well-heeled are likely to assume that Social Security payments aren’t important for them.
In fact, the lifetime value of Social Security benefits is so large that you would need to be very wealthy for Social Security to be of little importance.
You can understand this by comparing the lifetime value of Social Security benefits at different levels with home values, retirement plan balances before retirement, and Federal Reserve net worth figures. That’s the task in this column.
Measuring Long Term Value
Let’s start with a broad example.
The lifetime value of Social Security to a worker with the most common monthly benefit — $2,200 to $2,300 — is larger than the median value of a recently sold house, about $405,300.
It will be more if you live longer than life expectancy. You’ve got a 50 percent chance of doing that.
Impressed? You should be. It’s greater than the value of a typical home that is owned debt-free.
Social Security vs. Retirement Accounts
Here’s more perspective. The 2025 Vanguard “How America Saves” report shows the median account value of defined-contribution plans (like your 401(k) account) was $95,662 for participants age 55-64. It was $95,425 for participants 65 and over.
Only 16 percent of participants had accounts worth at least $250,000. In comparison, 80 percent of Social Security retirees had benefits worth at least that much.
The bald fact is that Social Security is worth more than the median house. It’s also worth far more than most people ever accumulate in employer retirement plans.
Measuring the Upper Limits of Social Security Value
That doesn’t tell the whole story. Social Security can be worth a whole lot more.
Exactly how much more? We’ll never know. The exact value depends on how long you live. We don’t know that. All anyone can do is make estimates.
But however you slice it, Social Security is a very big deal. It’s worth our close attention.
By my calculation, the most common Social Security benefit is worth $521,100 to a man. It’s worth a good deal more, $591,300, to a woman simply because women typically live longer than men. So they collect benefits longer. I get these figures by multiplying the monthly benefit by 12 months, then multiplying that figure by the life expectancy estimates of the Social Security Trustees.
That doesn’t exhaust the possibilities of larger value. If you had an investment fund to provide that income, it would need to be at least $540,000. That’s making the generous assumption that you could safely withdraw a starting value of 5 percent of an investment account of $540,000 and then adjust the dollar amount for inflation each year.
Finally, don’t forget the survivor benefits for married couples. A couple retiring at age 65 has a joint life expectancy of about 25 years. That means at least one of them gets to collect a benefit for still more years. Even though reduced for the survivor, it’s real money. Longer.
To give you an idea of the values involved and where you may stand on a Social Security Wealth Scoreboard, I used a regular table of benefit amounts provided by Social Security. Then I calculated the resulting wealth value based on life expectancy according to the Social Security Trustees.
Here are the key wealth points:
Estimated Lifetime Value of Social Security Benefits
Source: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/benefits/ra_mbc202512.html
Using the wealth measurement tool on the www.dqydj.com website, the value of the most common Social Security benefit is equivalent to the net worth (financial assets plus home equity) of people approaching the top 40 percent of wealth holders.
Those in the top 10 percent have Social Security benefits that, alone, would put them in the top one-third of wealth holders.
These are all big numbers.
The bottom line here is simple. Preserving Social Security is important for all but the very, very wealthy.
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Note: Some readers will be shocked at seeing such high monthly benefits. But that $4,600 monthly benefit as the starting level for the top 1 percent of retirees isn’t the limit. The top level of benefit is “$5,400 or more.” A benefit that high was received by only 1,261 of the 53.6 million people receiving Social Security benefits.
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Social Security: The Elephant in the Room,” 12/29/2024: https://scottburns.com/social-security-the-elephant-in-the-room/
Sources and References:
SSA.gov, “Retired worker beneficiaries in current payment status at the end of December 2025, distributed by benefit level, sex, and age group. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/benefits/ra_mbc202512.html
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS
Net Worth by Age Calculator for the United States: https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-calculator
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo: Scott Burns, Blanco County wildfire , 8/19/2020
(c) Scott Burns, 2026