The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program
The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program
The concepts of solvency, sustainability, and budget impact are common in discussions of Social Security, but are not well understood. (Goss, 2010) As of March, 2016 it is well known by the Social Security Board of Trustees that only 75% of all benefits that will be paid out through the year 2035 will only be as a result of a higher tax paid into the retirement fund. Does this mean that we should start to worry? In order for our future generation of Americans, to be guaranteed the luxuries of having a Social Security monthly income check. Changes need to be made to the financial status of the program, though it will most likely be a very different kind of program.
Americans have very little knowledge on how our current benefits program even works. The younger generation needs to learn, understand and educated themselves. Millions of Americans still have the idea that our Social Security maintains a type of savings account. A large misconception being, this account is in each of their names, and generates common interest. It is also thought that, the more money you put into your SSI account, the more money you will actually receive, once you are retired. In addition, it is assumed that your interest bearing account is consistent with profits similar to what the banking rates hold on Wall Street. When in actuality the average interest rate is well below 1.5 percent. The reality is, the Social Security Fund is filled with trillions of dollars of IOUs. The actual fund and the way it has been set up will not be able to pay full benefits to any American born after 1974.
Social security is a big issue and a hot topic of debate with young Americans today. It appears that most young Americans have the consensus our financial system is in near collapse. Because of this the expectations of retiring at a...