Coberly replies:

absolutely right. no one ought to try to live on SS who isn't already pretty good at living on nothing. but that's pretty much the point: SS is insurance... you set aside the least amount of money you can in order to guarantee at least the lowest possible standard of living you can stand "if all else fails." and it turns out that for a lot of people who never thought it would happen to them, all else does fail. as for the greater returns from equities etc. yep. that's the risk premium. i