Depends on what you mean. It is legally called a "trust fund" because the moneys are theoretically "held in trust" to be paid to the individuals when they retire. Actual practice is that all federal funds are commingled and it is just a ledger entry that you have so much money "on account" for your retirement. And remember that at least at this time in history, you will be paid a fixed amount every month when you finally retire and start collecting Social Security regardless of how much you actually paid in. So depending on how long you live, you may easily end up "losing" money (if you die soon after your retire) or "making" money (if you live until you are 90+ or so. It varies for each person depending on how much they contributed and how much they earned in their last 10 years of income (what your retirement income is based on).
Is there really a trust fund? I've read that there is no trust fund, but merely an accounting ledger.
Depends on what you mean. It is legally called a "trust fund" because the moneys are theoretically "held in trust" to be paid to the individuals when they retire. Actual practice is that all federal funds are commingled and it is just a ledger entry that you have so much money "on account" for your retirement. And remember that at least at this time in history, you will be paid a fixed amount every month when you finally retire and start collecting Social Security regardless of how much you actually paid in. So depending on how long you live, you may easily end up "losing" money (if you die soon after your retire) or "making" money (if you live until you are 90+ or so. It varies for each person depending on how much they contributed and how much they earned in their last 10 years of income (what your retirement income is based on).