That's based on the reasonable assumption that the accounts would earn an average annual return of 5.2 percent, after inflation.

The accounts themselves earned $3.5 billion in interest income and dividends toward the fund.

The reason is that the $100,000 limit includes any interest your accounts have earned.

These accounts earned only 3.7 percent last year.

Each account also earns interest, now 7 percent.

You didn't get a statement and so were not alerted to a downward shift in the amount of interest the account was earning.

That means any money the account earns is never taxed.

So, basically, the net effect on an individual's benefits would be zero if his personal account earned a 3 percent rate of return.

Say an account earns a respectable 10 percent in its first year.

The account earns the interest that provides residents with their annual dividend.