Today’s workers’ funds need to be more secure

When Mom laid out my Sunday clothes after we’d eaten breakfast, I knew something pretty important was going to happen. And later, as I clambered aboard the downtown bus, I knew I was right on. I soon found myself speaking to an obviously important man sitting behind an imposing desk somewhere in the Federal Building. I walked away from that meeting with a Social Security Card, which I still carry today. At least 60 years have slipped by since I became part of the program.

If I remember correctly Mom paid me 15 cents an hour whenever I “worked” at the family store. I don’t remember how much money she took out of my meager paychecks back then, probably a couple of cents a pay period at most; but in time the pennies became dollars, and by the time I retired, hundreds of dollars a month.

I didn’t pay much attention to issues surrounding pension plans until I became involved with professional association/union issues in the mid-‘70s. At that time, rank and file union people across the nation were evaluating the way their employers were funding the health care and retirement responsibilities defined in their various contracts. We asked some hard questions surrounding these issues in statehouses and boardrooms, demanding action to adequately fund those programs. And frankly, we settled for a raise in salary and a guarantee that “we’ll be there for you.”

As my wife and I looked at our retirement dreams in the mid-‘80s, we decided that it would be a good thing if we were to put some money aside for the future, and chose to invest those dollars in mutual funds. The goal was to establish a modest fund that would help offset the impact of inflation, and the potential of increased medical costs, during our retirement.

Does any of this sound familiar? Wasn’t our plan similar to the one being recommended by President Bush and many prominent congressmen? Did it perform up to expectations? Well, it could have, should have, and almost made it. But like all things living in the financial world called “the market,” it too flopped when confronted with the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

When one throws the impact of 9/11, and local financial events like the collapse of Metropolitan Mortgage Inc. on top of the normal ebb and flow of the market, I feel pretty lucky to have any capital operating in the market today. Further, I can tell you that the dollars held in those accounts come nowhere close to either yesteryear’s dream or the need we currently perceive.

Do I think the personal Social Security accounts being advocated by our president and powerful congressional leaders are a viable means for the average American to reach his/her financial dreams in retirement?

Honestly, I’m case neutral. I understand the desire of current working folk to hold some part of the dollars they’re putting into Social Security’s money pit. If I were in their shoes, I’d be right there with them. But I fear that increased investment of public funds will simply add to the income of the players found in either the market or corporate boardrooms, significantly.

If personal retirement accounts are going to replace part of Social Security, investors need to receive more of a return on their investment, and their dollars need to be more secure than ours have been.