Social Security: What to Know, What to Expect, How to Make it Better

Social Security is often seen as the backbone of the retirement system in America according to Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. More than 59 million people received Social Security in May and almost 45 million of them were 65 or older.  But for those that do not plan on retiring or claiming their Social Security benefits until or after 2034, the benefits could be decreased to only 75%.

The two trust funds that finance the country’s Social Security program will be depleted in 2034, says the program’s trustees. This does not mean that retirees will then not receive anything, but rather a lower amount than anticipated. The public appears to approve the idea of increasing payroll tax to increase the funding for Social Security as opposed to reducing the amount of benefits. The possibility of increasing the cap of taxable income is also more pleasant to voters. “If you let regular people fix this program, you could bet it would have already been fixed,” Philip Moeller said, author of Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security. “People are pretty practical.”

See Alessandro Malito, Social Security: What to Know, What to Expect, How to Make it Better, Market Watch, August 14, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.