In a world where annual inflation is running at a 3% rate (actually more if you think for a moment about your rising healthcare and educational costs), there is an overwhelming demand for a security whose rate of return is a negative real (inflation-adjusted) rate of 3%.

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Similarly, in Galveston, Texas, where local government workers in three counties opted for a personal savings and investment alternative to Social Security in 1981 as well, the annual rate of return fell by about half at the lowest point of the financial crisis.

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That is why studies show that for most young workers today, even if Social Security does somehow pay all its promised benefits, those benefits would represent a real rate of return of around 1% to 1.5% or less.

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