I’m not an accountant or an investment broker, and I’m not particularly skilled in mathematics. Just consider this a thought experiment.

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Let’s say you’re 30 years old in the year 2008, a bit younger than the U.S. median age of 36.7.

You will reach the full retirement age of 67 in the year 2045, 37 years from now.

Let’s also say that your annual income is $30,000 (somewhere between the median U.S. income of $25,795 and the mean U.S. income of $37,517).

Your Social Security tax is 12.4%, which equals $3,720 for the year. (Unless you’re self-employed, you only see half of that amount itemized on your paystub.)

Let’s say you invest an equal amount in a tax-deferred 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan. And let’s say your mutual fund loses 39.12% of its value this year, or $1,455.26. So the year-end value of your retirement account is $2,264.74.

Let’s say that by some freakish circumstance, you earn the exact same amount each year until 2045, and your private retirement account accumulates an additional $2,264.74 each year, even though you continue to contribute $3,720 annually. At age 67, the value of your account is $83,795.38. Because of your reckless investment in the stock market, you lost $53,884.62.

On the other hand, your Social Security contribution was not invested in the stock market, so it did not lose 39.12% of its value. Instead, your Social Security contribution was paid out to current retirees or emptied into the general fund where it was spent immediately. Thus, your Social Security account lost 100% of its value, and its current value is $0. After 37 years, the value of your account is still $0. Because of your involuntary investment in the Social Security program, you lost $137,640.

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Well before the year 2045, the Social Security program will be officially bankrupt and will be spending more than it takes in*. So in order for you to receive any benefit from the program, you will need to draw from the investments of three or more future contributors, you may be required to wait a few additional years before you are allowed to retire, or your annual contributions along the way may have increased, or you will be guaranteed fewer benefits, or some combination of these. Under no circumstances can you expect to have your Social Security contributions invested for a gain, or even saved dollar for dollar.

However, there is a decent chance that your private investment will not continue to tank 40% each year, and instead will grow an average of 10% each year for the next 37 years, as it has over the last century. Thus, your $137,640 becomes $1,350,522.

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I suppose that’s why the Democrats want to raid your 401(k), pesky ignorance notwithstanding.

They don’t want you taking any chances with your money, not when they’ve got all this redistributing of your paycheck to accomplish.

What part of “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody” don’t you understand?

* The current estimate is 2017, the year SSA begins paying more in benefits than it collects in taxes.