Just be lucky you're getting money. I'm just a young whipper-snapper and probably won't be getting ANY Social Security by the time I retire, when I've paid loyally my SSI taxes since I was 16 flipping burgers at McDonalds. I get these semi-annual notices from the social security office saying how much I'm going to get when I retire, and I just throw them away and say to myself (while sadly shaking my head) "yea, right".

And, Yes, I have both an IRA, and a 401(k) that both tanked since 9/11/01 - so now I've got about 1/4 of what I had before then... sigh. Well, I guess it's all relative - many of us are all in the same boat.