RatWatcher

4 Dividend Stocks to Hedge Against Social Security Failure

"First of all, the bonds held by the fund were not issued by the govenments of Kosovo or Somalia, they were issued by the United States, an entity that has never defaulted on either its principal or interest obligations."

Sorry, no. The SS Trust Fund is nothing more than a US Gov IOU in the US Gov's own pocket. This is neither savings nor debt; it is an unfunded promise to make future payments, but the expected payment recipient has no legal right to the funds.

You can try this at home. Each month, momentarily set aside some money for your kids' college education. Write the number in a notebook. Spend the money. Once a year, momentarily set aside extra money for interest on the notebook account value. Spend that too.

When it's time for college...what to do? The money's not really there, but the account notebook shows plenty of money, maybe even Ivy League sums. You don't actually have the money, but being a 'good' parent, you find enough money from current sources for community college. Junior has no choice, no recourse, but to suck it up.

That is the Social Security Trust Fund. Future seniors will get bare minimums (or zero) and have no recourse.

"When planning for retirement, my underlying assumption is that Social Security will go broke before I ever receive a dime." Yessir, that's exactly correct if you are under 55.