"a lot of people believed the promises the guv'mint told them and didn't set much aside."
Then that's silly, because that was NOT the government promise. SS was only intended to supplement one's own retirement plan. My current projected SS payment is about $1900 a month; it would be ridiculous for me to plan to live on that when the time comes, and I have other resources for that reason.
Good plan, smart lady. Me too. The DOW is up over 11,800 as we speak an, ALL TIME HIGH, that should make all of us who have been investing for the future feel better.
Of course, like I told my wife "it won't cost me much to live when I retire because I'll spend most of the time sitting on the front porch in my robe shaking my fist and swearing at teenage hotrodders as they go down my street".