Today, millions of seniors receive monthly benefits from Social Security. And often, unfortunately, many retirees do not have much savings, so this very benefit can cover living costs and basic needs.
However, many workers today worry that they will no longer receive Social Security when they are ready to retire. That’s understandable.
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As baby boomers retire in droves, Social Security faces a revenue shortfall. And while the program can tap into a trust fund to maintain scheduled benefits for a limited period of time, once that trust fund is depleted, things become uncertain.
But recently, Social Security’s chief actuary… words of reassurance About the future of the program. So if you’re worried that you won’t receive any benefits at all, you might want to ask his opinion.
social security will not disappear
Steve Goss, Social Security’s chief accountant, recently spoke out about the program’s looming funding shortfall. And while he acknowledged that benefit cuts may be inevitable once the show’s trust fund is depleted, he was quick to reassure listeners that Social Security will survive past that point.
“People shouldn’t worry, as is sometimes said, that the trust fund will run out of money and won’t be able to pay benefits. Probably kind of the worst-case scenario here is that within 10 years, We’re going to get to a point where we can only pay benefits, “paying about 80% of the benefit levels that were planned or enacted by Congress at that time and in the future.” ”
He also acknowledged that while it is clear that 80% of benefits are not 100%, “we are far from not having money to pay for benefits.”
That’s a big difference. The reality is that her 20% cut in benefits could be financially devastating for seniors who currently derive most or all of their income from the program. And this is a situation that lawmakers absolutely have to deal with.
But if you’re many years away from retirement, you should take comfort in the fact that Social Security will, in fact, have your back in the future. You should also take advantage of alerts about potential benefit cuts and try to increase your savings accordingly. With enough notice, a 20% reduction in monthly benefits may be made up relatively easily if you start building a nest egg early.
stick to the facts
It’s easy to blow Social Security’s financial woes out of proportion and jump to the conclusion that Social Security is on the verge of disappearing altogether. But that’s not all that’s happening. And it’s important to make that distinction so you don’t put unnecessary stress on yourself.
It should also be noted that even the aforementioned 20% reduction in benefits is not guaranteed. Social Security has been on the brink of benefit cuts in the past, and lawmakers have been successful in coming up with solutions to avoid that dire scenario.
If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to do the same thing again. But if you don’t, know that there’s a big difference between collecting reduced benefits all the way through retirement and not collecting benefits at all.