"Jim," wrote in message
...
John H wrote:
On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 23:20:30 GMT, "Jim," wrote:


John H wrote:

On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 22:22:54 GMT, "Jim," wrote:



John H wrote:


On Tue, 08 Mar 2005 21:06:20 GMT, "Jim," wrote:





He recorded all the payroll taxes he paid into the system (including
the
matching amount from his employer), tracked down the return the
Social
Security Trust Fund earned for each of the 45 years, and then
compared
the result with what he would have gotten had he been able to invest
the
same amount of payroll tax money over the same period in the Dow
Jones
Industrial Average (including dividends).


Which explains why one should never put all their investment eggs in
one basket.
Even the Thrift Savings Plan allows diversification.

We can all find examples which would give a return less than the
social security
return.


John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

The Dow is composed of 10 companies supposedly representing a cross
section of American industry (loosely defined of late) and is updated
periodically -- so go back to 1950 and see just how many companies he
invested in. I believe the Dow is a good measure of the economy, and
lists the type of large cap conservative company one should invest in
for their retirement.


Go here and read up:


http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/inde...ntWeights&rpts
ymbol=DJI&sitemapid=20

I'm wondering what happened to the other twenty companies that made up
the Dow
Jones Industrial Average up to about 10 minutes ago.

Your investment beliefs may not be all that wise.


John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

Yes I mistyped -- Dow 30 (in the beginning it was 12)-- BUT how many
companies have been represented since 1950?

Find a list here
http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/down..._Hist_Comp.pdf
Some of the companies no longer exist, but were the strong companies of
their time.

All in all I'd consider them reasonably good investments for the long
haul.

See
http://www.finfacts.com/Private/cure...erformance.htm

For the returns from 1939 to 2004


The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were
collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time,
lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly
benefits started in January 1940.


You just made the point that the Dow was *not* a good investment. Now
you're
saying it was. Something in all this doesn't track for me.


John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."
As the article stated it depends on timing. Sometimes you win;
sometimes you lose. Think you can predict where the market will be
30-40 years from now? The SS "trust" fund is backed by by bonds insured
by the "full faith and credit of the United States" (not sure just how
much that's worth these days.)

Which means we have to pay the money again as we now have to retire those
bonds paid for with SS money. Explain how giving a lot of free money to
the government to spend as they like and write an IOU for it is good
business practice? How does this help the economy?