Reducing The Downside Risk Of Not Receiving Anticipated Social Security Benefits By Using Personal Accounts

Abstract

The government is not obligated to pay Social Security benefits and no one has the right to receive such benefits.  This paper presents the argument that opting for a personal account in conjunction with traditional Social Security is less risky than opting to have all of ones Social Security taxes go into traditional Social Security.  The overall downside risk of receiving lower than anticipated Social Security retirement income is reduced by diversifying to include personal accounts along with traditional Social Security.