Three million New York state residents, joining more than 50 million Americans, rely on a check from the Social Security Administration every month. While their reasons may differ the common thread is that everyone depends on that check to help with day-to-day expenses and the basic costs of living.

Social Security accounts for more than half of the retirement income for the majority of retirees, and without it many would slip below the poverty level. Taking some of the money that workers pay into the system and diverting it into newly created accounts would weaken Social Security and put benefits for future generations at an unnecessary risk.

Private accounts are packaged to sound appealing, to look promising and to create a feeling of empowerment over one's retirement. But they will work to weaken Social Security and have the potential to harm future retirees.

Despite what you have heard, Social Security is not in "crisis," nor is it in danger of going broke. As it stands, Social Security will be able to pay every penny of promised benefits until the year 2042, and 73 percent after that. So we must shore up Social Security for the future, but that doesn't mean dismantling the program to keep it afloat.

In addition to an inevitable cut in benefits, switching to a new system of private accounts would carry an enormous price -- as much as $2 trillion in transition costs -- which would further weaken Social Security's ability to pay benefits.

A radical overhaul is not what we need. If we make reasonable changes now, the program will be able to pay full benefits to the boomer generation and those that follow. For example:

• Restore the total wages taxed by Social Security to 90 percent of nationwide earnings. This would move the cap from $90,000 in 2005 to $140,000 (perhaps phased in over a decade).

• Diversify Social Security trust-fund investments to get a higher return and fix about 15 percent of the problem.

• Include newly hired state and local government employees. By including them, we can lower the projected shortfall by about 9 percent.

Together, these three reasonable steps would address more than 60 percent of the projected shortfall and strengthen Social Security for the long run.

Recent events in the stock market illustrate clearly why we still need guaranteed Social Security benefits. We must remember that Social Security was intended as an insurance policy against poverty in old age, not an individual investment vehicle.

Social Security alone is not sufficient to create retirement security. All working Americans should plan for their retirement by saving and investing through employer-sponsored programs or individual retirement accounts - above and beyond Social Security.

We can fix Social Security without dismantling it. We can strengthen Social Security without turning the American retirement dream into a nightmare.

Totaro is a member of the AARP New York Executive Council, the volunteer governing board of AARP New York