It's bullshit that I (and many others like me) live with every year.

My SS annual is always greater than my mortgage which is under $1,000 per month. The numbers are close, but SS is higher every year. Higher than mortgage, higher than yearly groceries, higher than any single insurance payment, higher than utilities, higher than...the list goes on.

I am supposing that perhaps you are not self-employed and as such assume that your withholding represents your SS payment?