How does the return on Social Security compare to returns in the market generally?

[gosam777]

Social Security along with Medicare and road use taxes (collected at the pump) are paid out as they come in. Surpluses are placed in special Treasury GAS (Government Account Series) securities only the federal government can borrow from called "Intragovernmental holdings" that makes up about 1/3 of the national debt
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resou...DebtMakeup
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/chart...govpub.htm
http://www.davemanuel.com/investor-dicti...-holdings/

Typically, the interest is generally around 2-3%. However, around 15-20% of the "conservative investments" in most 401K/IRA's are in public Treasury securities yielding about the same interest. The remainder in moderate/aggressive growth generally return around 10% total overall. If one is lucky enough to see the bubbles coming, diverts everything to securities during a crash, then reinvests in the market on an upturn, one can do as well as 25% return over a 10 year period.