Each year the noise surrounding the unhealthy state of Social Security grows louder and louder, but doesn’t all that noise have to eventually lead to something real?
This year is no different, and Social Security is once again under heavy fire due to rapidly depleting funds.
So are we finally at the breaking point? Here’s what you need to know about Social Security right now, and how you should handle it…
The funding issues that are currently being faced by the Social Security program have been called “grave” and “unsustainable”. And the 2015 Annual Social Security Trustee Report backs those labels up.
According to the report, the eventual outcome for both the Social Security Old Aga and Survivors Insurance program and the Social Security Disability Income program is that they will run out of money and not be able to provide all of their promised benefits.
Bad news? Sure.
Will this cause the end of Social Security? Not so fast…
For some reason it seems like people actually want to panic about Social Security, but the fact remains that it’s a fundamental part of modern American society.
As a nation, we’ve pledged to take care of our sick, elderly, and poor.
The demise of Social Security would obviously fail to provide on that front in a very big way.
But that also doesn’t mean that Social Security will be able to sustain just because it has to.
Basic changes will have to be made in order to ensure that continuation of this vital service – changes that will in all likelihood not be met with open arms.
There are two relatively apparent answers to the funding problems being faced by Social Security right now. The first is to decrease benefits provided by the program. The second is to increase taxes.
The large variety of proposals being tossed around the nation right now haven’t given us a clear vision of what the near future looks like for this situation just yet, but virtually every one will include at least one of those two answers.
My point is that I can’t imagine a day when Social Security is finally ended (without the introduction of a similar, nation-wide retirement benefits program replacing it).
Despite the doomsday scenario Social Security skeptics, rest assured that Social Security will find a way to go on.
So while many retirees are beginning to take out Social Security early in an effort to “get what they can while they can” and forfeiting large amounts, I would plan on waiting as long as possible in order to maximize my benefits…
