That friend contributed for many years but was in the military so his pay and his contributions were low. His Social Security statement says it all.

And a record of his monthly payments multiplied by 12 and then by 17 years of collecting, so far, indicate what I have posted.

I researched that case when someone posted somewhere that Social Security was a bad investment. It is indeed if you die within 5 or even 10 years. But the longer you live and collect the better the investment returns. And I, I mean my friend, has been collecting for 17 years.

Any more questions?