Imagine you're 65, have made a decent living, and are looking forward to an enjoyable retirement with the help of social security. You have taken care of yourself to insure a healthy life beyond retirement and as a reward, the government is going to turn around and withhold your benefits an additional five years because social security cannot afford to pay you. But you are not surprised. You realized 35 years ago social security was in trouble and knew you would only receive a low monthly benefit. So you started your own savings plan for retirement. Right? You did start one didn't you?

Everyone agrees something needs to be done about Social Security, but no one can agree on how to save it. I am a firm believer in investing a portion of your income in the stock market to beat inflation and to have something extra when you retire or when you decide you need it. However, with so much already being withheld from our paychecks for social security it is difficult for many to find the extra money.

The Federal system of social security strives to have money for you when you retire. But, with a system based on the demographics of a time period when retirees

The overall benefit of this new system would be an increase in the national savings rate due to higher returns for lower payroll deductions. Investing our retirement deductions makes sense. An investment plan that gives back more than you put in is rewarding and will restore faith in the national retirement system. It will also instill intrinsic motivation to learn basic investing at an early age. With this in mind, people will be more likely to invest money of their own. I know I would be encouraged to make some riskier investments of my own knowing that there will be something to fall back on if I need it.

Serious reform to social security will have to include a transition to a completely new system, rather than patching up a weak system - which only makes it worth less with each fix. It makes sense to start over, eliminating the fundamental problems of the old. This is where the stock market comes in, resulting in a system that reduces payroll tax and, when you retire, pays you everything you and your employer contributed plus some. This system only needs approximately 5% taxed from payroll. It will spread your contribution amount over an arsenal of government chosen investments in an overall seek for higher returns utilizing the safety of diversification. The owner has the option to choose between the various investments the g

Some common words found in the essay are:
Steve Forbes, Social Security, Investments Imagine, World Reports, social security, Robert Myers, According January, stock market, payroll tax, makes sense, social security administration, security administration, 1997 issue,
Approximate Word count = 913
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)