I decided to start this thread because the topic came up in another thread, and I didn't want that thread to stray off-topic.

 

My first point of discussion is the fact that people should be responsible for their own retirement savings and not rely on government or their employer to fund their retirement.

 

Second point of discussion is the fact that Social Security is NOT meant to be a "government retirement plan".  It's supposed to be a supplement.

 

Third point of discussion is the fact that the "Social Security Fund" is pretty much full of IOU's from lawmakers.  It's not something that you "pay into" and "get back".  The way that it was intended to work was working people would pay the tax in order to supplement the incomes of those that are retired.  At the time that it was implemented, there were far more workers than retirees so the excess money was building up.  It has since shifted, and now there are far more people retired and drawing SS.  Meanwhile the excess money was "borrowed" by our government for other things.

 

Fourth point of discussion is alternatives to Social Security.  As an example, if a person is say 25 years old and entering the work force, rather than pay a tax for something that they will probably never benefit from, what if they were allowed to put that money into a modest account that actually earns interest over time?  By the time they reach "retirement age" it would build up to a significant amount of money.  What if they had the ability to leave any unused money tax-free as an inheritance to their heirs?

 

Our current system has us paying a tax in order to fund SS.  Over the years, in order to draw from SS the "retirement age" has gone up and the rules have gotten so convoluted because the current system is unsustainable.  I'll admit that I haven't researched the policy of either potential Presidential candidate enough to know what their solution is to our current problem, but I'm willing to bet that at least one side would rather increase the tax and basically "kick the can down the road".

 

Discuss.

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