If you're counting on Social Security to finance your retirement,

you're in for a big surprise, and not the good kind.

Let me give you two reasons why.

One, Social Security is going broke.

And two, even if it weren't going broke,

it couldn't possibly cover the cost of a decent retirement.

Let's look at these two reasons in a little more detail,

and then I'll propose a solution.

Social Security is going broke.

When this government program was set up in 1935,

the average life expectancy was 60,

but you couldn't collect your first check until you reached 65.

In other words, most people didn't live long enough to receive Social Security.

And most of those who did didn't collect it for very long.

Today, the average lifespan is 79.

So now, most people do live long enough to receive Social Security for 10 or 20 or even 30 years.

Here's another important piece of information.

When the program started, the ratio between worker and retiree was 159 to 1.

That means for every one person drawing benefits, 159 were paying in.

Today, the ratio is 2.8 to 1.

You get that?

We've gone from 159 workers supporting every retired person to fewer than three workers supporting every retiree,

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