Social Security Opt Out

It gives poor people a better chance to retire wealthy. Americans living at the poverty level must usually spend every cent of their disposal income just to survive. Few in the lower-middle class have the funds available to put into a wealth-generating retirement account. Thus, they must rely on social security income to pay the bills when they reach retirement age. Unfortunately, the current social security payouts are at or below the poverty level. The money you earn in benefits based on what you pay in is less than what you'd earn in a passbook savings account. Talk to any person of wealth in this country. Do they have their money stuffed under a mattress? Is it in a taxable savings account earning 1 percent? Of course not. The majority of their money is going to be invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, and other wealth-building assets. The private accounts would provide a method of forced savings that would allow poorer people to participate in the advantages of stocks and bonds, allowing many to retire wealthy. For example, an individual or family that earns an average of $30,000 during their working lifetime (age 18-65) will accumulate $213,743 in their private account based on a very conservative return of 5 percent. If they earn an average return of 10 percent (which is close to the historical rate of return on the U.S. stock market), they will have accumulated $1,046,370 when they retire. That's right -- a family making only $30,000 per year would retire as millionaires just based on the private accounts alone! Remember that the private account is only part of the benefits paid out by social security. The other 8.4 percent of taxes would go to the general trust fund which would be used to pay additional monthly benefits outside of the private account. In addition, Americans still have options outside of social security to invest for retirement -- 401(k)'s, IRA's, pensions, and so on. Obviously there are no guarantees, but private accounts give every...