Social Security Individual Accounts and

that Social Security be modified to include voluntary individual accounts. The Commission acknowledged that establishing and maintaining a system of individual accounts (IAs) could impose new costs on employers, particularly small employers. The Commission’s final report urged that in designing and implementing a system of IAs, policymakers should attempt to minimize the cost to employers while maintaining the features of IAs that would make them attractive to workers. Pension analysts generally agree that designing individual accounts would require trade-offs between individual choice and efficient management. A relatively “high-cost ” approach would create a system of IAs in which contributions to the accounts are deposited quickly, participants have substantial control over their accounts and have many investment choices, but in which employers must take on substantial new administrative duties. A “low cost ” option would deposit contributions several months after they have been deducted from employees ’ pay, give participants less control over their accounts and provide few investment choices, but would minimize the administrative tasks required of employers. The low-cos