I want control of my retirement!
Social security needs to be reformed. Regardless of the projection used, everyone agrees that social security will not be able to meet its future obligations at some point in time in the future. While private accounts do not address fixing this problem, they provide a solution to another problem.
Political leaders and lobbysits can debate when obligations will not be met and how serious it will be; what they cannot debate is a financial analysis of the benefits social security provides. The annualized rate of return on investments (your taxes paid into) social security is about 2%. This compares with about 6% for "risk-free" treasury securities and 11% for the for the S&P 500. You may say, Wall Street can’t be trusted with everyone’s retirement. While I disagree with that, I recognize and accept that not everybody has the same faith in the markets that I, as an MBA, do. They are free to leave their money in the current social security system. Private accounts should be completely voluntary. I, on the other hand, should be free to invest my retirement money as I see fit. I would much rather realize a return on 11% instead of 2%.
