I will be retiring in June of 2017 at the age of 55. Wife and I married young (I was 23, she was 22) and have always saved and invested, beginning before we got married. We both saved and invested believing that Social Security WILL NOT EXIST by the time we were old enough to collect it.
We've also lived well under our means. My vehicle is 13 years old. Still runs and looks great, I've no plans on getting rid of it barring an accident or major mechanical breakdown. Wife's vehicle is 9 years old. Same thing. Our modest home was paid for long ago.
We're paying CASH for our oldest son's college education (thankfully he scored an academic scholarship, so we're just paying the room and board.)
The secret to retiring at all, much less retiring at 55 like I am is really simple: Don't plan on Social Security being there when you're ready to retire, and plan accordingly. Live under your means. Use credit WISELY (that means NEVER paying monthly interest on a credit card.)
Pay CASH. Negotiate CASH DISCOUNTS. Have a valuable second "trade" and use that to barter exchanges of services with friends. Example: I fix all my friends computers, electronics and of all things do some really nice antique, furniture and wood restorations. That enables me to barter for plumbing, carpentry and other services with my friends who work in the building trades for repairs.
There are so many other things that can be done to save money and still LIVE VERY WELL that I can probably write a book on them, but if most people get started at an early age using just my advice above, they'll be so much better off when the time comes to just say "the hell with it" and decide to enjoy your life.
One last comment: Obviously, START EARLY! My youngest son saved his first $1,000 by the time he was 9 years old. We told him then if he saved up $1,000 we'd kick in the other $1,500 to open up a retirement investment account for him. He wisely chose to do that --- at 9 years old. We looked at his account just the other day and in just the last 8 years that $2,500 is just over $8,000. We calculated that by the time he's ready to retire at age 65 he'll have just over $640,000 if he does NOTHING but lets that money sit and grow. This of course does not include any 401k or Roth IRA's he'll open up for himself throughout his adult life.
That's the power of the value of money over time. Whether one uses compound interest or an average investment return rate that's powerful.
Parents, if you REALLY want your kids to be better off than you are, teach them about money early and get them started on saving & investing for their own retirement.
Except the Messiah come it will be. Its standard payout will reduce most Americans' income more toward a global average. Wealthier Americans will pay more taxes; even when they thought they had tax shelters.
Social Security will continue to be around, just expect to get about 20% less than the annual benefit statements suggest.
govt worker ???....nice pension?...health bennies?....