Yeah, unless they continue to work into their seventies and eighties, have kids who can support them, or start stealing or other crime (begging is actually a crime in much of the US). It's close to impossible to live off of social security even if you had a high paying job ($120k+) in most of America. While Medicare covers some health costs, for preventative and prescription costs, one needs additional healthcare insurance. My mom pays almost $300 a month for that. Then there are property taxes or rent depending if you own a home or not, costs which in most places are constantly going up. And I haven't even gotten to food, electricity, heat, garbage, sewer, or Internet bills. None of those are optional. Car insurance, maintenance, taxes, and gas are also not optional in most of America. It's a shite state of affairs, one that's beyond frightening even as a young person, but most people either don't realize it, or work paycheck to paycheck without any 401k option (tax deferred savings account invested in the market) and can't save anything meaningful.