Wall Street vs Social Security:

[TiredOfNo]

Wall Street is the rich man's casino. Small investors have very little chance in the stock market. It is rigged so that the rich always come out on top and the small investors almost never win. If you are a working class stiff you would be just as well off to take your money to Las Vegas, put it on black, and let them spin the wheel. Your chances of winning are about 47% on each spin while on the contrary, you have a 53% chance of losing everything.
If you put your money in the stock market, the traders take a cut when they buy the stocks, then they take a fee from your earnings and another if you take your money out. If you choose the 401k route, then you have many of the same problems except the fund managers take most of your earnings. The end result is an average earning of about 2%-3% per year. You can cross your fingers that you don't lose your money in a sharp downturn of the market.
All the bullshit you hear on the radio and TV about investing a $100 a week from your paycheck and you will be a millionaire when you retire is just that.....bullshit. First of all, most working people generally are not disciplined enough to consistently contribute to a retirement fund; or they don't earn enough to put $400 into it each month. Even if they did, earning a lousy 3% isn't going to make them rich.....not in one life time, or even two. The cumulative effect of investing $400 a month over forty years is about $375,000. If you're thinking that's a lot, then spread that money over twenty years of retirement and you'll have a monthly income of about $1500. In 2050 dollars, $1500 probably want be enough to pay your electric bill. It's for these reasons that the working class people cannot get by without Social Security.
The rich want you to buy stocks so they can skim off the top; and their dilemma is that the middle class currently doesn't have enough money to invest. This is why the 1% are so desperate to "privatize" social security. They want all that money to go into the stock market so they can get their grubby hands on it.
The reality for working people is that the average "Joe" in this country does not have the skill to invest his money wisely, and because of the above mentioned minefields, he can almost never save enough money to retire. This is why Social Security was created....to protect the working people in this country, and that is why we have to protect Social Security.

[liberal N proud]

1. And the corporations have all made it possible by converting our pensions to 401K plans

[joeglow3]

2. Let me introduce you to Vanguard

Then, read some articles on long term investing and dollar cost averaging (just $25 or $50 a month).

I will never be a multi-millionaire, but that was never the goal. However, I have most definitely made a good return.

[TiredOfNo]

3. You must be selling it.

I know about Vangard. I also know about Valic. Over 30 years I put about $62,000 of my money plus another 20k of my employer's money into them. In 2008 at age 62 I decided that my state retirement, SS and 401k holdings would be enough to retire on. I had 147k in Valic in June, but by the end of 2008 I only had 55k left. That's when I decided to take it out.
Fortunately I decided to put it back, but I only earned back up to 99k before I took my money out for good. In case you're interested, that works out to be about 0.5% over thirty years.

[joeglow3]

4. Can you clarify?

First you said you put in $82k over 30 years. THEN, you base your calculation on the idea it was all placed in in 1984. Finally, you ignore the fact that you removed yourself from the market and lost out on the gains and try to attribute that to market performance.

Over the last 33 years, the S&P returned almost 12% a year. What types of funds did you invest in?

[closeupready]

5. Yep, that is ABSOLUTELY what Wall Street wants - to fee the SS trust fund to death.

They'd get filthy rich, and retirees would get cat food for dinner.