The Latest Social Security Trustees Report Spurs Angst About The Program's Solvency
The Latest Social Security Trustees Report Spurs Angst About The Program's Solvency
Kerry Hannon·Senior Columnist Yahoo Finance Fri, May 17, 2024
Amid uncertainty around Social Security, here's what financial advisers are telling clients
Social Security isn’t shattered, but it’s shaky.
The new report on Social Security, which predicts that the combined retirement and disability trust fund reserves will go broke in 2035, has put more Americans on edge, especially those nearing retirement who are worrying about how much in benefits they can expect.
The 2024 Social Security and Medicare trustees report projects insolvency one year later than last year’s estimate. That scarcely brighter outlook stems from the strong economy and wage growth, which has ramped up payroll tax payments that fund the program. For now, low unemployment has meant that more workers are adding to the program, even while a rising number of baby boomers begin to tap their benefits, the trustees said.
The potential depletion of the fund does not, however, translate to an empty till. There will still be money to pay benefits at that stage — though only 83% of what’s been promised to current and future beneficiaries. In other words, without a fix, beneficiaries could see a 17% cut in benefits.
“Congress is painting itself into a corner on fixing Social Security’s pending insolvency,” Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, told Yahoo Finance. “Failure to act on the program in time would lead to automatic benefit cuts.”
How widely would that cut be felt? The program paid nearly $1.4 trillion in benefits last year to about 67 million Americans. For about half of seniors, Social Security provides at least half of their income, and for about 1 in 4 seniors, it accounts for at least 90% of income.
There are several solutions to fix the shortfall, including ratcheting up payroll taxes that fund the program, currently 12.4% split evenly by employees and employers. Other proposals include raising the retirement age for younger workers or lifting the cap on how much of a person’s income is subject to the Social Security tax. For 2024, the Social Security tax limit is $168,600.
Will Social Security be there for you?
One of people’s greatest retirement fears is a reduction in or elimination of Social Security in the future, according to research from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Seven in 10 people are concerned that Social Security will not be there for them when they’re ready to retire. And nearly 1 in 3 people rely on or expect to rely primarily on Social Security.
I talked to several experts about the advice they’re giving their clients on planning for Social Security as part of their retirement income. Here’s what they said:
1. Assume a reduced benefit
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