This article discusses the role social security and means-tested transfers play on poverty and income inequality in Brazil. Firstly, it briefly describes the different types of cash transfers within both social security and social assistance systems. Then, using simulations based on micro-data from the National Household Survey (PNAD, 2007), it estimates the impact on poverty and income inequality indicators of eight different combinations of cash transfers. It concludes by summing up the contradictions and inconsistencies that plague both systems, which require reform in order to enhance their efficiency.