Mr. Randall states:
Pension plans, annuities sold by insurance companies, and Social Security all involve pooling together large groups of persons in order to provide lifetime income to all participants.
************************************
This is great for a pension, social security and insurance compaines, but the third leg of the retirement plan is PERSONAL SAVINGS. I am referring to personal savings when I speak about retirement planning. If you wish to buy an annuity fine, however for those who are independent and want to fend for themselves, these are the people who need to know how long to plan for. I have no problem using averages for groups, but I do have a problem using average for specific people's retirement savings. I would think people might be mad if they ran out of money based on the fact they lived five years longer. Better to have too much, than not enough.
As for my analysis being flawed, please be specific. My program has been validated. Do you have a suggestion to make it better? What does your model show? What facts are wrong? I truly would like to know.
As for government actuaries distorting the facts, I will be blunt and come out and say they have not calculated the correct OASI tax rate since day 1937! That is why we have the problem today. If you would like to see what the OASI tax rate required to fund the average number of years in retirement based on the average Social Security target, take a look at
I believe you are one who supports raising the retirement age because of increased life expectancy past 65. Would you please provide the difference between life expectancy at 65 in 1940 and 1999. I would be very interested to see these number as I am sure others would be.
Have you calculated what the OASI tax rate should be to provide a funded OASI program? If so would you provide the number and/or table. I took a stab and presented it for comment.
