Quote from Free Thinker:
unless you are self employed as a trader as most on et should be. then you pay nothing.
even if you are self employed as a trader it is important that you find a way to pay in enough to qualify for ss.
the govt does not consider it "self employed." Employment is not the same as managing your own investments. And you generally get back from SS based on what you pay in. There is not a minimum so you get what someone who payed in for 30 years gets.