What are the benefits of personal retirement accounts?
Personal retirement accounts offer us a way to strengthen Social Security by simultaneously helping young workers prepare for retirement and ensuring that current retiree benefits are maintained. One of the specific benefits of personal retirement accounts is personal ownership. All of the funds in your personal retirement account will belong to you, not the government. Under the Social Security plan, the government has no legal obligation to pay your Social Security benefits, and there is no guarantee that your benefits will not be cut. Personal retirement accounts can also give workers increased returns on their investments, even if the stock market performs poorly. Under the Social Security program, workers receive a 2 percent rate of return on the taxes they pay into the system. However, long-term personal investments average an 8 percent increase annually.
