They should privatize it and let people worry about their own money and no one elses. In the top three points you can see why the govt would strongly oppose it. Im not for taking any benefits away from people who have put in for all these years. Changing the rules at the end is not fair to them. I am for letting people have a privatized option or a govt option.
The benefits of privatizing Social Security are:
■Your money stays your money. You are putting money aside for your use. You don't pay someone else's benefits with the hope and promise that someone will come along later to pay your benefits.
■Unused funds can be inherited. Right now you could pay into Social Security your entire working life and die before you ever receive benefits. Or you die after only receiving a small benefit. If Social Security was privatized the money you set aside could be passed on.
■The government can't reduce or withdraw your benefits. You would own your account. As it stands now you have no right to Social Security benefits. The government can change the rules at any time. If it were privatized you would not be at the mercy of the government to allow you to have your money.
Funding Private Accounts
The average wage in the US in 2009 was about $41,000. A person earning this amount would contribute just under $98 per week to Social Security. (Half as payroll deductions, half as employer match).
Now not all of Social Security payments are paid out as retirement payments. Disabled workers and survivors of deceased workers also receive benefits. Disability and life insurance would cover these needs and can be purchased fairly cheaply for most people. But for simplicity we will leave these benefits in the current system. About 66% of benefit payments pay retirement benefits and 34% pay everything else. We will use that same break down the example.
Using these same percentages Joe Average earning $41,000 would sock away $53 per week into his own personal Social Security retirement account. (The other $27 would fund the current disability and survivor benefits of Social Security. Or, if the whole thing were privatized that $27 per week could be used to purchase life and disability insurance.)
Now the tricky part. How much would that leave Joe Average in retirement? That's tough to say since he isn't likely to graduate from school, get a job earning $41,000, and make that amount for his entire life until he retires. He will most likely get a job earning less than that, then get raises and promotions along the way. But since we don't know the specifics we will do the less than perfect thing and say that he made $41,000 for his whole life. We will say he started working at 22 and will retire at 65. We will also say that Joe Average would like his retirement savings to last him until he is 95.
The 4.2% employee contribution is reduced for 2011 from 6.2%. If we use the "normal" 6.2% contribution and move the beginning working age to 25, we get almost the same results below. Just sayin'.
We will run two scenerios. One with "reasonable" numbers and then one very conservative numbers.
The "Reasonable" Scenerio
$53 per week invested at 8% interest for 43 years yields him $1,029,237. Once he is in retirement he decides to take less risk and moves his entire balance to safer investments. He earns 4% while retired.
Joe Average would be able to withdraw $4,913 a month for his entire 30 year retirement. That is $3,574 per month more than the estimated $1,339 Social Security payment he would receive. (To estimate benefits I used the birthday of May 1, 1980. Earnings of $41,000. Retirement in May 2045. And Today's Dollars)
The "Conservative" Scenerio
The opponents of privatizing Social Security argue that the average person can't get good returns from the stock market. They liken it to gambling. I disagree with this. Over the last 40 years the stock market has seen a gain of 11.2%. Will the stock market go up 11.2% over the next 40 years? Only time will tell. So let's play into the opponents view that it's not possible for Joe Average to get even reasonable gains of 8%.
So let's say that Joe Conservative invested $53 per week and earned 6% for 43 years. He would have $557,178. At age 65 he takes all his money and puts it into a savings account earning 2% at a local bank.
With $557,178 earning 2% per year Joe Average could withdraw $2,059 a month and his money would last him 30 years. This is $720 more than the estimated $1,339 he would receive from Social Security.
What about taxes, you ask? In the conservative example, if Joe Average were paying his regular income tax rate (using 2011 tax brackets) he would owe a total of $3,281 a year if he had no deductions, or $273 per month. This is still above what he would be receiving from Social Security. In the reasonable example, Joe Average would owe$10,864 or $905 per month. Again, he would still be better off than under the current Social Security system. However since Social Security payments receive tax breaks I would like to think they still would under a privatized system. But who knows?
http://moneytalkscoaching.com/2011/05/a ... -security/
