most of us will never see a payout because the program is going to collapse

I have been reading this claim my entire life. Not even my entire adult life. Like, I remember hearing this when I was still a wee little kiddo, watching Reagan give speeches from my dad's knee.

Social Security isn't going bankrupt any sooner than the Pentagon goes bankrupt or the US Treasury goes bankrupt. It's not something that can happen, mechanically speaking. Congress is always free to allocate more money to the program. The only way SS "runs out of money" is if Congress deliberately refuses to fund it.

And so much of the US economy lives downstream of senior citizens getting their checks on time that such a decision would be economically suicidal for the country. If it happens, it's only because the US as a going concern is a failed state. And a real failed state, not just some hyperbole from the latest pundit circle.

Ironically, if we took all the money that was paid into Social Security and invested it in a real portfolio

You'd have a sovereign wealth fund.

But when you've got the national reserve currency, there's no real incentive to do that. Your tax revenue is already driven by global economic growth. Our Federal Reserve Credit Window and our variety of grants, tax credits, and government contracts already incentivize capital accumulation within the scope of US taxable incomes.

You don't need to collect a dividend from a business by holding its equity if you're a federal government. You can just tax them. Dollars paid in dividends and dollars paid in taxes are interchangeable.