I also paid SS from the time I was 16 or so ....Most folks in the retired population now have gotten their money put in back ....Know1's retirement idea might work for a lot of folks but like GRM said ,if you get disabled then your plan would come up way short ..Another thing that would make a bad situation worse is homeless people of the future. A lot of people have no concept of "saving for their future" ...At least with Social Security , we would have fewer people with no place to live ...living on social security is no picnic for folks with only that to live on but at least they have a roof.