Will Social Security be around when I retire?
Posted on by Forest in General, Insurance, Opinion, Saving Money & Finances
Will Social Security be around when I retire
Will Social Security be around when I retire? - Social Security seems to be hitting the headlines a lot these days and for good reason. A lot of people are throwing a doomsday situation in the wheels of the USA machine saying that Social Security just won’t be there for future retirees. Most of these over the top doomsday prophecies really don’t have a whole lot of traction but many things are contributing to people seriously worrying about getting their due payouts from the social security system.
Will Social Security be around when I retire
- We have an ever aging population due to advances in medical health I assume, our diets are not keeping us alive any longer so it must be medicine!
- Recession and crashing retirement plans are likely to push the need for people to rely on the social security that they have paid into.
- More and more people are trending to be heading to retirement in debt and not with adequate savings.
So can retirees count on future social security?
I honestly think the simple answer to this is likely to be yes, future retirees can count on having social security. I know that is a bit simplistic and not completely based on solid fact but it’s a heavily ingrained system that a large proportion of American’s are relying on and therefore need to keep going.
Social Security has been publicly announced by the government as not being sustainable and has been predicted to run out somewhere between 2016-2018 when a Social Security trust fund will kick in hopefully keeping the system running to around 2030-2040. Now that really really sucks as that it really is not that long away however it is long enough to do something and there are options available.
I hope that things will be addressed now and changes made to the system to stop the apocalyptic crash. Taxes could be raised (although this isn’t likely to be taken too well), benefits could be slightly cut to sustain it for longer (again not popular) or the system could be taken down and restructured which of course would cause at least a few years of things being in a serious mess.
More about this subject (with some more facts and figures) can be read in my post: How long will social security last?
What do you think about the question “Will Social Security be around when I retire?” and what do you think can be done to keep the system moving and working. Or do you think it should be dismantled and swapped for something else?
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20 Responses to “Will Social Security be around when I retire?”
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November 11, 2010
[...] have been talking a bit about Social Security recently and discussing subjects such as Can Retiree’s Count on Social Security and we all know that for survival the system is likely to take some hits that the public at large [...]
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June 19, 2011
[...] Will Social Security be around when I retire? by Frugal Zeitgeist. I think it will be although it might be severely reduced or I might have to wait even longer to collect it. [...]
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June 28, 2011
[...] Will Social Security be around when I retire? (Frugal Zeitgeist) [...]
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chad lacey
05. Nov, 2010
why not take the amount of incone we make and tax
everyone at a percent of there wages and have no cap for anyone. so if you make 10000.00 at 10% you pay 1000.00
dollars. if you make a million dollars you pay 100000.00
dollars. that only seems fair to me.and if you make only a dollar you pay 10 cents.this would fix this problem for sure.
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Forest
07. Nov, 2010
Hey Chad, that is certainly one idea. Of course some people would say it’s great and some would say it’s awful. I would support a system like that if they proved it worked well and they were spending it responsibly.
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Tony
25. Jun, 2011
I support social security and only vote for politicians who support it. I think private enterprise has failed average Americans totally – 401k’s are the real ponzi schemes – an ordinary worker will NEVER accumulate enough money to retire off that, or lose a lot ofit speculating on the stock market. Besides, most people don’t even have a 401k. And in recent decades companies have gotten ridden of company pensions too, so that few people will have that to depend on either. For more than half of Americans, social security will be the main source of income in retirement. So if it is destroyed, Americans will have only themselves to blame. I think then it should be protected and strengthened, and there is plenty of time to make the necessary adjustments. Those who are against social security should do all of us a favor and simply not cash their benefit checks when they are 65.
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Forest
26. Jun, 2011
Very interesting comment Tony…. I like the idea of telling people who complain to bog off
.
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Sharon
05. Nov, 2010
We need to stop giving Social Security to those who have not pain into the system. No immigrants should get it unless they have paid into SS. I mean NO ONE who has not paid in should have it. That would save a lot of money for those of us who have paid into it all of our working lives.
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Forest
07. Nov, 2010
Hey Sharon,
It is very easy to say that but suddenly leaving a massive amount of people with absolutely no cash to live could cause huge social problems such as rising crime and serious health issues going untreated….. There needs to be a base welfare system to stop people dying or going very bad.
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Rob D.
05. Nov, 2010
I am 40 years old and I’ve held the belief for about 6 years now there will not be any social security for me when I retire. Even if there is some, and/or if the Fed raises the retirement age, it won’t be nearly enough to survive.
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Forest
07. Nov, 2010
Hey Rob, I do think you will have some. It may not be enough though so trying to prepare like you won’t have it could be the safest option.
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Kay Lynn @ Bucksome Boomer
06. Nov, 2010
If the program ended, there would have to be some way to reimburse people who’ve paid into the program PLUS expected earnings.
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Forest
07. Nov, 2010
I absolutely agree Kay Lynn, the biggest problem would be all the people left after the system has collapsed. I could only imagine poverty and crime rising a lot!
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Kent
08. Nov, 2010
This article does not tell the truth. First, the Trust Fund is owed $4 trillion by the federal government. The federal government has increased its debt every single year since 1957. Where is the federal government going to get the $4 trillion to pay it back? Second, Social Security is going into the red this year. That means the S.S. deficit this year will have to be funded by the federal government. Don’t look now but the federal government has added $5 trillion to its debt over the last 4 years. S.S. will only generate enough money to fund 70% of the promised benefits.
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Forest
08. Nov, 2010
Hey Kent, If the figure you give are true then I would love to see the source. My original source came from MSNBC I believe (linked from the other article linked in this post).
Thanks for your comment.
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Kent
08. Nov, 2010
To see that the federal government has run a deficit every year since 1957 go to the U.S. Treasury website here: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
For the beginning date enter 10/1/1900, the beginning of the fiscal year in 1900. For the end date choose 10/1/2010. Now, look at the debt at the end of every year. You will see it increases every year since 1957.
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Forest
10. Nov, 2010
Thanks Kent, will be checking that out.
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Kent
08. Nov, 2010
For the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds you must pull various sources together.
Here is one quote: “Actually, future tax collections will need to pay for much more — the total U.S. government debt is $13.3 trillion and counting. This consists of $8.6 trillion owed to individuals, corporations, state and local governments, pension trusts, etc., and $4.5 trillion in “intragovernment debt.” Intragovernment debt is U.S. government bonds that are held by an agency of the U.S. government, and the Social Security trust fund is the largest holder of those bonds. Basically, one hand of the government owes the other hand.” from : http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/money-life/social-security-and-the-federal-debt-why-you-should-be-worried/1608/
You can also look at the S.S. fund site itself here: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
“Social Security expenditures are expected to exceed tax receipts this year for the first time since 1983. The projected deficit of $41 billion this year (excluding interest income) is attributable to the recession and to an expected $25 billion downward adjustment to 2010 income that corrects for excess payroll tax revenue credited to the trust funds in earlier years. This deficit is expected to shrink substantially for 2011 and to return to small surpluses for years 2012-2014 due to the improving economy. After 2014 deficits are expected to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation�s retirement causes the number of beneficiaries to grow substantially more rapidly than the number of covered workers. The annual deficits will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets in amounts less than interest earnings through 2024, and then by redeeming trust fund assets until reserves are exhausted in 2037, at which point tax income would be sufficient to pay about 75 percent of scheduled benefits through 2084. “
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Forest
24. Nov, 2010
Thank you Kent, very useful info.
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Social Insurance
14. Apr, 2012
If ever you don’t feel to have the social insurance made by the government, then try the private insurance. They only have a slight difference of ways regarding the system.
Social Insurance recently posted..Protecting women’s health and wealth
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