Chief skin Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I was just feeling depressed about this economic mess, bailouts, Wall street in the tank, my 401K NOW A 201NONE. Then it dawned on me, it could have all been made worse if Bush had gotten his way and privitized social security. Ok residnet economists a what if: What impact would this current mess have had on SS had it been privitized like Bush proposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 As I understood it, he wanted to "privatize" 4%. Maybe I'm wrong though. Still, you're correct. It would have made things worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redskins Diehard Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 There were several threads about this a couple of weeks ago and it illustrated that there is a fundamental lack of understanding about the whole concept of "privatization". The people that would be most effected are those of retirement age and they shouldn't have much of their money invested in equities. For someone that has 15(or is it 17) years until retirement it would have little effect, and for someone that has over 30 years...the current situation serves as a chance to by more for the same price My question in response is....what if we keep doing the same thing we are doing now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 My question in response is....what if we keep doing the same thing we are doing now? Judging by our political leaders you should not be asking that,just ignore it and it will go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACW Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Privatization, IMO, should mean do what you want. Put it in a bank account if you want. FYI, over any 40 year period the stock market>Soc. Sec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switchgear Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I work for the government, if they did Social Security the same way as our retirement account (Thrift Savings Plan), it would make a lot of sense. It's an account that belongs to you, but you have 5 choices as to where it is invested. Government bonds, money market index, S&P index fund (where most of my money is), Wilshire 4500 index fund, and an international fund. There's also a plan that automatically moves your investment into safer funds as you get closer to retirement. I'd feel a lot better about a system like this than one that will give you what they see fit, and will most likely go bankrupt within 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 What an incredibly myopic perspective. Stocks won't be down forever, you know, and any sensible plan includes a healthy allocation to bonds (growing healthier as retirement approaches), allowing the investor to ride out the down cycles. My understanding is that most privatization plans involved limited choices like the aforementioned TSP, witht the default being a lifecycle fund that automatically makes the aforementioned shifts. Further, this is precisely the time that stocks make money. Sure, it doesn't show up until later, but this is when investors in the accumulation phase benefit most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redskins Diehard Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I work for the government, if they did Social Security the same way as our retirement account (Thrift Savings Plan), it would make a lot of sense. It's an account that belongs to you, but you have 5 choices as to where it is invested. Government bonds, money market index, S&P index fund (where most of my money is), Wilshire 4500 index fund, and an international fund.There's also a plan that automatically moves your investment into safer funds as you get closer to retirement. I'd feel a lot better about a system like this than one that will give you what they see fit, and will most likely go bankrupt within 20 years. That is basically what the plan as it is presented is...very similar to TSP or 401k. Everyone is operating on the assumption that there will ALWAYS be money for the government to pay out on Social Security...what happens when there isn't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 That is basically what the plan as it is presented is...very similar to TSP or 401k.Everyone is operating on the assumption that there will ALWAYS be money for the government to pay out on Social Security...what happens when there isn't? Anyone under like 50 or so had better be planning on it not being there. I'm figuring that if it is, it'll be a nice bonus, but there's no way I'm depending on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redskins Diehard Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Anyone under like 50 or so had better be planning on it not being there. I'm figuring that if it is, it'll be a nice bonus, but there's no way I'm depending on it. Yeah, that is pretty much the way I look at it also. Social security is good for that yearly statement that allows you to track how much you've paid into the system and that is about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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