The future of Social Security remains uncertain. In fact, the Social Security trust funds that pay retirement and disability benefits could possibly be depleted by 2035.
Last year, on the Social Security Administration’s blog, the then-acting commissioner of Social Security wrote, “[As] a whole, Social Security is fully funded until 2034, and after that it is about three-quarters financed … the DI (Disability Insurance) fund will now be able to pay full benefits until 2023, and the retirement fund alone will be adequate into 2035.”
Part of the problem can be attributed to longer life expectancies, a smaller working-age population and an increase in the number of retirees. By 2035, the number of Americans 65 and older will increase from about 48 million today to more than 79 million. As a result, more people will be taking money out of the system — but there will be fewer people paying into Social Security.
That doesn’t mean the program will run out of money entirely, though. Payroll taxes are expected to cover about 75 percent of scheduled benefits. But if the gap isn’t filled, retirees could get less Social Security or workers might need to pay more into the system. If no changes are made, this is what Social Security could look like in the future, according to the experts.
To read the rest of the article by Cameron Huddleston, click here.
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