Money Matters - Questions from Listeners #3
BOSTON (CBS) - Q: Do you think they will privatize Social Security? I figure I could invest better than the government is doing.
A: Well maybe you could invest better than government but you don't have millions of workers you can tax if your investments go bust.
The market has been a roller coaster and many folks are still under water. Could you do better than that? Perhaps?
So many listeners have contacted me over the last couple of weeks telling their stories. Many of them bailing out of the stock market and putting everything in cash. They lost a lot of money and most do not know when a good time to get back into the market is.
So, if you lost 30 or 40% of your assets would you have enough money to retire? What Social Security is intended to do is give you a cushion so if you do lose everything in the stock market you can still buy groceries.
So no, I don't think they will ever privatize Social Security and I for one would not want them to. Too many people can't invest their portfolio now.
Q: Do I have to pay a fee for my credit score? Is there a site I can safely use to get this? I understand I can get the credit report free but am interested in my score.
A: You do have to pay for your scores. There are sites that will offer them free but there is a catch. You will need to purchase something from them and give them your credit card number. Usually it is credit monitoring service that they sell. Now I do know people who have gotten their scores free and then canceled the service but I also know people who were stuck until they figured it out.
MyFico, a division of Fair Isaac the company that created the original credit score, will sell you copies of your credit scores for $19.95 each and they have good information on their website on how to improve your score.
