What is privatized social security?

Right now privatized social security is not a thing. There is a lot of debate about it, and of course it's a hot topic during  many of the political dscussions.  

Right now, workers and their employers each pay taxes equal to 6.2 percent of covered wages. The self-employed pay 12.4 percent of taxable self-employment earnings. Taxes are collected by the Internal Revenue Service and deposited in government-administered accounts called the Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds.   Revenues to the Trust Fund that aren't paid out for benefits are invested in in special U.S. Treasury bonds.  There is a concern that since people are living longer and that the assets in the Fund are invested so conservtively that the Trust Fund will run out of money.

Privatizing social security is the concept of diverting part of each person's social security taxes into an account designated for their retirement and allowing them to invest into different investment funds of their choosing. Privatizing Social Security can boost workers' rate of return by allowing retirement contributions to be invested in private assets, such as stocks, which yield a better return than the present model.  Essentially it's letting people control their own government mandated retirement savings.  It's got it's pros and cons.  For example, in the privatization model, workers whose investments earned high returns would enjoy more comfortable retirements than workers who invest poorly.  It's not without risk, which could leave some people in worse shape as compared to the current model. Don't expect privatization to happen any time soon, but expect the discussion to continue.