Yes Social Security is a "benefit", you more than likely will get back everything you paid in plus interest plus continue drawing a Social Security check beyond that. Last time I crunched the numbers a retiree would on average get back everything they paid in plus interest in just under 9 years. And that is a generous estimate since I averaged payments into the system over a typical working life instead of weighing them towards later in life (people tend to make more as they gain experience and their career advances).

Social Security is not a savings plan no matter how much you would like to think it is.