If you believe you will outlive your ability to earn a living wage and that no one will take care of you then, you probably will be highly motivated to try to save up some wealth to keep yourself alive then. If you believe you are dependent on some accumulated wealth you will probably also be concerned with preserving it and defending it from those that might wish to take it from you. If people accumulate enough wealth to see them through retirement we will have a capital intensive economy as people try to find productive things to own as a way to store their wealth. The society would need to be strong in protecting property since all that wealth would be tempting to those that might rather steal than earn.
Social Security provides an alternative where there is much less need to accumulate wealth since it simply takes part of the wages of the currently productive workers and gives that to the retired or disabled and their spouses or dependents. The lack of capital probably means we work hard with inadequate tools but that their is little need to preserve or protect wealth since there is not much wealth. People do not need wealth since the government takes care of them and the government probably strongly taxes anyone that accumulates wealth anyway.

“Instead of repeating past mistakes, the next president should seek to modernize Social Security by preserving guaranteed benefits, increasing national saving, and fostering generational responsibility.”

Increasing the rate of personal savings and fostering generational responsibility are beyond the pay grade of even the president. These two issues are the absolute responsibility of the individual and of the parent to accomplish. To suggest otherwise is to invite the nanny state to socialize and regulate those characteristics that usually reflect maturity. But maybe that’s what you want? The Great Society of Johnson has failed miserably and is reflected in both the article and some of the commentary posted here. Redistribution of wealth and further taxation on success have and always will backfire. Industry and jobs come from capital. Capital comes from those who dare to take entrepreneurial risk. Those who take that risk are part of the much maligned 1%. Leave us alone. Believe it or not, you need the 1% more than the 1% need you. Markets will always prevail.

If you’re good at what you do there’s a company that will pay you what you’re worth. If you don’t like their compensation or benefits, hit the road and seek out something better. Don’t sulk. If you’re not good at what you do, improve yourself. But please don’t start blaming everyone and everything but your own reflection.

A bit of a soapbox here, but so what. I own my comments and I own my own destiny.

WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT WORK FOR SMALL COMPANIES (NOT LARGE CORPORATIONS) THAT DO NOT PROVIDE RETIREMENT 401K OR VERY LITTLE INSURANCE IF ANY? WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THESE PEOPLE IN RETIREMENT YEARS? WE NEED A SOLUTION TO HELP EVERYONE FAIRLY.

401(k)’s work on the assumption that markets always go up which we all know does not happen. One can make profits in both bull or bear markets if they put forth the time to learn how to invest. Anyone could beat a mutual fund hand over fist.There are no set courses in our education system to teach us financial education. The only financial education that we receive are from the ones that profit off our ignorance.
“Improving basic financial education at the elementary and secondary school level is essential to providing a foundation for financial literacy that can help prevent younger people from making poor financial decisions that can take years to overcome.” -Alan Greenspan.

People hear what they want to hear but the truth is that due to DC and DB pension plans given without a mandate of financial education mixed with our current national debt, housing bust, credit crunch, inflation, high oil prices will more than likely break the back of our economy and send us into a steep recession\depression sometime between the years 2015 and 2020 since that is the prime season for the baby bommers (78 million people) to Retire!!!!!! This may sound like gloom and doom but you can prepare yourself and be fine through any downfall in our economy. Just EDUCATE yourself and practice what you learn.
To have an idea of what we may be in for in the coming years read the books; Rich Dads Prophecy by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Financial Armageddon by Michael J. Panzner. In the mean time go to online to craigs list or elsewhere and find classes of groups that talk or teach about investing of any sort.

Right now in this country we have a NEGATIVE savings rate. We actually spend more than we save. And we have a bunch of negative saving parents teaching their kids that transfering balances from credit cards is a great little loophole. No wonder people have to rely on Social Security, they have spent everythign they made over a lifetime.

i think its very good that way

It is not Medicare that is costly it is Mediaid

The Federal Reserve will just bail out the Social Security system by printing money and funding bad loans IF there is a shortfall. The recent example of the Bear Sterns bailout is the case in point.

keep working…. is the best insurance.

Hi,
I have been following you from you started,I just want to put in my two cents, I think you need to offer the communitys a walk-in-clinic 24hours a day(in every community.also a national insurance besides a private insurance, a national insurance is for every person working and it can be for every one in the house hold this is how it works, the employer paysany ware from &15:00per staff per week and each staft member pays &5:00 each week after 100 contributions they are in intialto compersation, If a child or adult have a disibility then should get &400:00 a month, after been exam and confirm. pregant wamen on dilivery &1800:00. People who goes to a private Doctor with the doctor filling in the slip of the cost she or he is intil to full amount and cost of madican,no service to exceed &2500:00for each person living in a house whole that is no working for adults a week-&3.00 Children&1.50.if you like this i can get all the all the information from our NATIONAL INSURANCE BOARD, I would like to add because of this board it is th riches gov,company in this country, we also pay our old people that do not work or once they turn 60yrs old the gov, gives them &4:00 a month for the rest of there life, and when any one died your family gets&2000,00 to help with their burial. Please let me know if you like this idea. debraisaacs@coralwave.com NASSAU,BAHAMAS

Let’s get a control on this and watch all costs go down.

I’m at the other end of the end of the benefits. Having just finished college, I’ll continue to be paying and supporting for this broken system with an absolute certainty it will be completely bankrupt and obsolete by the time I am able to have any benefit. So what can be done? Those that are receiving benefits or will be soon want the money they paid into the system, but then what of us - those that are paying for them to have it?

The entire system was NEVER intended to replace retirement - but so many have irresponsibly depended on it, we’re now in the state we’re in. So, unless some concessions are made on both parts, retirees will end up forcing their children and grandchildren to pay their retirement bill and themselves. “Social” Security and other “social”ist programs have and do not work. We need leaders to phase out these socialist programs and derive “fair” (nothing will not ever be fair - the fall will have to be footed or shared by someone) solutions to doing so. We need understanding citizens who are willing to find a solution since, unfortunately, our ancestors, although with good intentions, have created a monster of entitlements that our country cannot bear.

This election is about getting fiscally responsible here in the U.S. by reducing the list of crises we are now throwing money at…like the civil war in Iraq. Once these money drains have been plugged, taking care of the citizens of America would be a good thing to do.

Today, boomers are on their own when it comes to planning for later life as pensions disappear from the workplace and delays in health care reform reduce the Social Security retirement checks due retirees.

Social Security checks–the closest thing to a sure bet in most retirement budgets–are expected to play an ever-larger role in older Americans’ financial security. The process of getting that check, however, is sure to raise some questions for boomers. Of course, you can keep things simple and take the plunge on your 62nd birthday…like about half of workers do. Even, if that’s your plan, you owe it to yourself to learn about Social Security and how to get the most out of the system.

Sadly we, as a nation, are hooked on SS. Many people have no viable alternative. It is a large cost for the active worker who generaly rationalizes it with the hope of being on the receiving end of the program some day. I think the government will preserve the system by tweaking the tax and benifit structure but I also think most people would be dissatisfied to retire with only Social Security as a means of support.
If we can get the government to lower the inflation rate and impliment taxation policies that allow people to make and keep long term gains I think people would gladly invest to make our society productive today and wealthy in the future for retirement and such.
Of course the details are key. I for one think that a big part of the problem with long term investment is inflation. Why do we build it into the economy ? What is wrong with making it 0 in the long term?

I dont remember a time when so many have outwardly pushed for socialism. Unfortunatly, in my option, we are so close to electing a socialist president and congress. Call it what you want but “Universal Healthcare” is socialism. There are problems with the current healthcare system but a govt run program is not the answer. Taxing the higher income earners more is redistribution of wealth. That is SOCIALISM/Marxism (call if what you want) AND IT DOES NOT WORK. Name one goverment agency that is efficient? NASA, post office, Medicare, Social Security, IRS, etc. Socialism does not provoke thought, innovation, or hard work which drives technology and in turn job creation and good economics. I dont get it and I dont think the people asking for it do either. It sounds like a good concept in theory but socialism in reality does not work.

One last question. Why do people continue to call on corportations and CEOs to reduce income when companies like Exxon pay more in taxes than all the bottom 50% (65 million) of individuals combined. If corporations were allowed to make more money (reduce taxes) they would pay higher wages and tax collected by the state and federal govts would increase. Futhermore, no one ever picks on the sports figures earning multi-million dollar contracts, the musicians with 15 cars and just as many houses, and the successful actors. If you want fairness, dont discriminate and call on them all to give more back.

There is no right nor intent in any governing document where the government must financially take care of you. Work hard, save, take care of yourself, and instill in your family the same values . If you dont like it please move.

no comments at this time

I somewhat agree with Wendell, but the subject would have to be expanded to include some political history closely associated with Social Security regarding the distinct lack of a locked in fund or individual accounts. The history is that there would be about $3 trillion either disbursed or in a “fund” somewhere but congress could not keep their greedy fingers out of it and now has spent it all. So at this point for FICA, what comes in must go out to the retirees. There never was nor is there now a “social security fund”. A certain amount of social security money could be brought back in if the scope of pay outs was more limited. Otherwise, it is going to tank somewhere around 2020.

Social Security is a outright Ponzi scheme. If a business sponsored plan even remotely administered a plan the way the government manages SS, the plan fiduciaries would all rightfully be imprisoned.

Unfortunately, the Americans suffer a combination of attributes that put the well-being of the citzenery at risk.

First, the people are woefully under-educated about economics. The amount that a person needs to save for 25+ years of retirement, esp when including potential medical costs, is an extrordinary amount of money. A decent estimate of what your nest-egg will need to be is about 20-30 times the amount of the amount of income that you want/need during retirment. This means that eve middle class folk need to retire as millionaires to enjoy a decent retirement. To build up this sizable nest-egg will require much,much more saving than we are doing right now. In addition, the assets that we invest in ought to be of well-diversified amoung many investments and multiple types of asset class, we ought expect to earn only a few percentage points more than inflation, and we should have the patience and prudence to realize that there are no short-cut, get rich quick solutions. Work hard, save early, insure properly, and save at least 10% of our incomes. Marry and stay married (I’m divorced).

Another problem we are confronted with is that we are way too ready to expect that other people are duty bound to help us. This takes the form of expecting our loved ones to automatically care for us, even though we did not take on our responsibilities. But the more galling assumption is that we assume that our fellow citizen ought take care of us, by having our government beaucrats confiscate the hard earned money of the folks that earn more than the median income. These people are our golden goose — the create our jobs, they make our markets work, our military the envy of the world, our technology the global wonder, and the pay the lions share of our taxes — at the federal level — both withholdings and income taxes, at the state level, and at the local (property tax level). Have you hugged a rich person today?

One more attribute that we have is compassion. Thank God we do, it is one of the most imposrtant aspects of what makes America such a special place. Nevertheless, too much compassion clouds our judgement, erodes self-reliance, and enslaves the supposed benificiaries. Having the government steal money from the successful people — the ones that often have some inate advantages, but neverthelss, have gone out and made the world a better place, by doing the things that almost all successfull people do: become educated, work hard, sacrifice, persist, and play by the rules. By enlisting government bullys to take from one group to give to another congers up feelings of resentment and entitlement and most damaging it delivers a sense of helpness and hopelessness to the ones that are supposedly benefitting from government theft of property.

By the year 2017 Social Security will be taking in less than what it pays out in retirement benefits, Medicare and its prescription plan, disability benefits, and the SSA - a welfare program for poor SSA recipients (most people do not know that the SSA has this welfare program in it). What are the assets of SSA? Treasury bonds of the US government - T Bills. The SSA needs to slowly liquidate its assets to cover the shortfall, or begin to eliminate or reduce benefits. For the SSA to collect on its assets the U.S. government must pay the SSA the principal and interest due to SSA on the T-Bills. T-Bills, of course, are the government debt - from government overspending on all the earmarks, boondoggles and other great, and not so great, defense and social programs. To pay the T-Bills to SSA the government will need to borrow more money from the private sector or raise taxes (corporate, income, etc) on the taxpayers. Of course, nearly 45% of Americans do not pay any federal income taxes at all (and some of the 45 % get bonus checks - income tax credit checks each year when they file their income taxes - they actually receive more money, sometimes a lot more, than what were withheld from their paychecks). So, WHOSE GOING TO PAY? The usual - the upper income and middle to upper-middle income folks will again foot the bill. This is a crisis that MUST be gotten under control, and the politicians just ignore it. The system should be privatized over the next ten years and SSA be able to invest in other assets in the private sector. Chile and other countries have done it for 20 to 25 years and there are no looming fiscal crises in those systems. If we do not change the system quickly,God help our children and grandchildren in 20 years!

The Gov. owes you SS since you were forced to pay it. They should not dictate what you can earn from savings etc. You paid for you should recieve the money. Regardless of your income. The Gov. should leave that money fully invested. Hands off to all thier petty prgrams etc.

Repeat after me - Raise the cap

Lets face it - we are a quasi-socialist country where the government subsidizes our retirement. It will eventually break the bank. There will be no funds for defense, etc., the entire federal budget will be eaten up by entitlements.

The basic problem with retirement and savings in the U.S. is that we are an economically uneducated people. We must move to a program of teaching the basics of economics, both macro and micro, in our school systems. This would include a solid course of study in personal finance. Most people in America have little idea of how our economy in the U.S. works; much less, the basic rules of savings and investments, compound interest, etc.

Who cares as long as guaranteed by Govt for my shares which I worked all my life

Ralph #1 wants to decrease Social Security benefits on a sliding scale depending on one’s worth…. Penalize one for saving?? Well, that’s just ducky…. Maybe we should be concentrating on getting people off Social Security who never contributed in the first place….

The obvious change that everyone has to agree with is benefits at a later age. What ever the relationship between the average life span at the time SS was instituted should be applied now and in the future. If it needs to be 68 or 69 or 70 –so be it..

Nobody’s going to do anything about Soc Sec. Just cover you own. There will be suffering later, but we’re too stupid to avoid it.

The number one factor for escalating cost in health care and insurance is our lack of limits on lawsuits and our legal system unwillingness to stop frivolous lawsuits. Let’s get a control on this and watch all costs go down.

Healthcare costs too high. got to control this first. have ceilings on Doctors pay.

Eventually phase out social security for those that already have security.
Means test by net worth.
Greater than $1M — no social security.
900K — 10% of current maximum payments
800K — 20% of current max.
700K — 30%
600K — 40%
500K — 50%
400K — 65%
300K — 90%
200K — 100%
Phase out the social security payroll tax starting with people under 30 years of age, then on up until the tax is $0.
Pay for social security payments out of the general fund using income tax instead of payroll tax.

Problem is there are a lot more people living longer than expected then when the Soc Sec program was developed. So you shoud raise the age for receiving benefits to match the equivalent. Besides who is going to be able to live off of $1200 month 40 years from now.
Next, Government spending is and always has been out of control. Mostly because the system is set up to be out of control. If they don’t spend what they get allocated for the year, they can’t claim more the next year so every person in every dept of the fed wastes as much as they can to keep it going. And of course Congress has no problem in raising theire salaries regardless of how poor everyone in the US might be at the time.
So it doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult to achieve, just too difficult to get them to do it.

Accumulating wealth is easy. Work hard & avoid unemployment. Never leach off the government because you can. Live at least $10,000 below your means and invest the balance. Sound impossible? You probably have a friend who makes 10K less than you and he/she manages fine, right?
It’s cooler to drive a 12 year old car, live in a smaller home and live off your investments much earlier. I’m 34 and stopped working last November.

The government owes you the opportunity to a decent life,not a guarantee that you’ll have one. The only thing that’s gone up over the last half century besides taxes, has been the stock market. Chile has invested their Social Security funds in the markets for the last thirty or forty years. No complaints and working much better than our Ponzi scheme.

Something is going to be done , the only question is what and when. the options being quietly discussed are 1) raising the age for receiving benefits(to as high as 72years),2)raising the contribution level(23% is most discussed) ,3) lowering the benefits (from approx 40% to32%). Of course privatization of a portion or putting a ceiling on income to receive benefits are still around. Just food for thought. By the way, a recent opinion poll taken at a variety of college campuses found the same per cent of students believe they will receive SS benefits as believe in UFO’s. If the young adults don’t believe they will be part of the recipients, I wonder how long they will put up with contributing. I’d say the discussion should start soon.

The government owes the people decent lives. STOP the war. Stop giving money to corporations who steal from us and our government. Make them pay taxes! And take care of our veterans whose lives have been ruined in this insane war!

Social Security should not at all costs be turned over those who want to give it to investment people. We want to HAVE our money, not TURN it over to the ones who want to steal it. We need to stop this terrible war and spend that money for Social Security. Senior Citizens and the Disabled have paid our price. Our government owes us a decent retirement.

Social Security has LONG been an issue of alarm since it’s inception during “The New Deal.” Nonetheless, in typical political fashion, we don’t, and won’t, address the issue until the floodgates are ready to burst (and they are). Currently we have about a 3:1 ratio of people paying in to those receiving. In a few years those numbers will be at about 2:1 with output exceeding input. Since this is a pay-as-you-go system with no surplus, I’d say this is cause for alarm now. Why do we continually wait until a fire is started before we put it out instead of being proactive, ensuring that it doesn’t start, so to speak. Housing wasn’t an issue either, nor health care, nor oil prices at $30 per barrel, then $40, dollars, now at $118, etc. So, don’t think Social Security should be on the table to address now? When should it be addressed? Why don’t we have the best economical minds working on the issue now? Becasue it’s not a problem in dire need of resolve….yet. Wake up America and let’s make our elected officials (key word…elected) do what we elected them to do. This is still OUR government…by us and for us!

Asking congress for help is like asking Teddy Kennedy for swimming lessons. They are ignorant of the problem and will only make things worse. Get the government out of personal retirement benefits and let the market work its magic.

I’m sick of Sen. Obama buying into this ‘crisis’ mentality. I guess he’s stopped talking about it a bit lately so hopefully he’s learned his lesson. But it is one, in a long line of republican talking points (like ‘forcing’ people to have health insurance) that are rather alarming.

Something needs to be done now about Social Security. It will be too late later. The American Public is concerned about many issues that are critical for the candidates to address. A Presidential candidate ideally would have broad domestic and foreign issue knowledge as well as clear plans to address each of the top 25 domestic and foreign issues, not just the few that happen to be in the eye of the news media at any given moment.