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

[Uri Smendrick]

Which investment brings a greater return on the money?

[Thunderous384]

What return on SS? You pay money; the government puts it in the national treasury. End of story.

[jwthoughts]

There is not a 10 year period when the market has not VERY MUCH out performed Social Security. There are a few times when the market has gone down, but never lasted too long. Even if you had money on the market during the great depression, the worst that would have happened is to have to wait 5 years to retire.

[sci]

Utterly lousy! Give me the market anyday! I bought $2,000 of Microsoft in 1986 and will retire comfortably from that one investment!!! SSI is crap and theft. Redistribution of wealth from workers to Non-Workers through dependent and disability and to old folks. Ever heard of a "Pyramid Scheme" ???? Well SS is the biggest one in history! Pid my entire life and will never see a dime. I am sure it will be means tested by the time I get there.

Old Guy

[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.