[John O]

Put half of each person’s SS taxes in a personal retirement account, and we’ll have hit her admittedly modest savings goal. Converting SS into a fully funded system based on personal ownership, savings, and investment should still be the goal.

Exactly. The second thing that needs to be done is to eliminate all taxes on interest and dividends. Our tax policies have made us a nation of spenders as there is no near term incentive to save. In fact, saving is penalized.

[BilLies]

Back in 1986 we threw $2,000 in my wife’s IRA Dreyfus Fund which tracked the Dow Jones. Last week we cashed it in for $13,234.30. An average annual return of about 7%.
However, as of December 31, 2007 the Fund had a value of $13,200, having earned an average return rate of about 9%. BUT as of December 31, 2008 the value of the Fund had dropped to $8,140, a drop of more than $5,000, 38% in one year!
You put your money in and you take your chances.