<html> At 07:09 AM 8/22/2005 -0500, Dean wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>>>In fact, get ahold of your congresspersons and DEMAND the same retirement plan THEY get! THEY aren't paying into SS. Just because they are crooks why should I be? I can’t see the morality in stealing money from my neighbors to fund my retirement.  Demanding the government take care of us at any age or for any purpose (schooling, medical, etc) is a self conscious acknowledgement of our own slavery and incompetence. At least that is my opinion. </blockquote> I have a certain sympathy with this point of view, though we are probably on the opposite ends of the political spectrum. I plan to continue as long as I am able before applying for Social Security -- except that I may be tempted to start taking it just so that I can stop paying into it. As for the advice to young people to save and invest -- depends what you're investing in. The Fed is scattering too much liquidity to want to hold onto dollars for long. So, I took some of my mother's estate, and invested it in -- soapstone. Very hard to inflate soapstone. I added a new Aladdin lamp to shed a little light. I find the prospect of possible power failures from natural gas depletion in my old age much easier to face with a warm stove (and a hot meal with light to eat it by) as a level of comfort I need not sink below, come what may. This very heavy sophisticated pile of stone should still be around, good as ever, long after I'm gone, keeping some other lucky person warm. Young people -- invest in useful things which last, and are hard to steal. Susan</html>