The thought of retirement makes me cry. My apologies to everyone who have retired and filing social security during this time after putting in all those years of work just to lose everything to a problem you weren't to blame for.it's especially difficult for people who are retired.

35 and I'm planning my eventual retirement as if SS is bankrupt. If I'm wrong it just means more money!

“Future generations will deal with the problems we created.” -Humanity

As a farmer my grandfather decided to join social security ((it was optional for farmers) much to the amusement of his friends and neighbors. He lived well into his eighties and collected benefits for over twenty years.

I’m in my mid 20s and by the time I retire, the retirement age will probably be about 75 so chances are a lot of people will be dead before they get their social security. So it’s still a scam.

Recession is often the result of external factors, and it appears that the United States is losing its grip as a federal reserve currency. With a decreasing ability to control inflation and a reduction in stocks and oil trading, it seems that a new multilateral world order is on the horizon.

Here is an idea how about we stop tax loopholes and actually tax multi-national companies. Just a thought.

You absolutely cannot tell my generation they’ve gotten a fair shake. Any semblance of a dream of living like my parents did is gone. Before I even graduated college, I lived through two recessions and am currently getting assaulted in every direction. When does it end? It sounds like it only gets harder. If you want a greater birthrate, homeownership rate, more small businesses, hell a real American Dream, the pessimism of those in their 20s and 30s must be addressed or else it with spiral. People here say why pay at all, which would surely cause it to collapse. There’s no faith, no hope, and for good reason. God save us all.

We need some younger minds in office that can create new ideas

Don't go after hard working people... go after companies [some of which make $99 Million per year and pay $0 in taxes]

I’m 46 and have been paying in to SS since I was 14. I want my money back! This is b.s.!

My problem of potentially not getting social security is the fact they’re currently taking it out of my check. I’d prefer to opt out and do my own savings and investment with it!

Being in my 30s, I love being forced to pay into a government program that I’ll never get to collect from or very little when it’s my turn to collect. What a fair system 👍

I'm 29 now. I've been working professionally (out of college) for nearly 7 years now. I have fully come to peace with the fact that by the time I'm old enough to draw retirement (2061-2064 ish) there will be no social security left. I think everyone my age or younger needs to prepare themselves mentally and financially for a future in which the only retirement you'll see is the one you've saved for yourself (IRA, Investment Acct, Properties, etc). Just so you understand. The United States fertility rate has been below replacement rate of 2 births per mother+father for the past 13 years. 2009 was the last year where it was 2.00 births per mother+father. If this trend continues until 2030 (VERY likely) that would equal an entire 'Generation' that will have fewer workers in the workforce than retirees.

As someone who paid into the system over 45 years, I've done my part. Don't want to hear ANY excuses.

There is no way I'm working until 70 years old. Also many companies will not hire someone of that age because of higher insurance premiums. They will be forced to do contract jobs where companies don't have to cover their insurance. This is one of the biggest reasons retiree go overseas so they can live on their lower social security payments when they hit 65.

Been hearing about this for 20 years. Still nobody has done anything. I don't want my future benefits cut nor do I want my retirement age adjusted. I have been working hard and forcibly paying into this system under the current rules so don't go and change the rules mid lifespan. People like myself are counting on and detrimentally relying on the current system as part of my total retirement plan. If anything, remove the cap on wages that Social Security can be taken from.

As a Social Security recipient I would like to share my story. I will attempt to keep it brief. Both I and my mother receive Social Security, Social Security disability. She has mental illness and I was diagnosed with a mild autism known as Asperger's. This qualified me to receive SSD in an amount that is about half of my mothers. I live with and take care of my mother, her constant need for supervision makes work impossible for me. We combine our Social Security checks to live a decent life in Oregon however even our combined SS income is less than 30k a year, I do my best to make the money last month to month. I don't even want to imagine what our lives would be like without Social Security. I do have anxiety in our current political division could cause real problem's for Social Security. I and my mother are just 2 out of tens of millions who depend on this program every month just to live our tiny slice of the American lifestyle.

It won’t “run out” but it won’t be enough to pay for any thing.

Simple solution -- remove the upper limit on who pays in. "Social Security is financed through a dedicated payroll tax. Employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages up to the taxable maximum of $160,200 (in 2023), while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent. The payroll tax rates are set by law, and for OASI and DI, apply to earnings up to a certain amount."

I think the solution is in the middle. I favor raising the earnings cap on which social security taxes are calculated, and I favor opening up the investment mix where those taxes are invested. Many state pension funds are invested in investment firms to some degree, and the guidelines for doing so keep the overall risk to rather safe levels. Frankly, the biggest hurdle to improving the financial health of the social security system are those politicians who reflexively and instinctively say no to anything that looks like a tax increase. Pragmatism is needed.

As a millennial, i feel like we're constantly paying into systems that overwhelmingly benefit baby boomers who are not shy about only voting for policies that further their interests. If we are being made to pay, we need to have policies in place that benefit us too like student loan debt relief especially considering the majority of millennials will not obtain SS in their lifetime.

Over the decades, Congress has "borrowed" over $2.9 Trillion dollars from the Social Security Trust Fund (with interest) for other purposes, and has not yet repaid this debt. Let's fix this before we talk about bailing out on our promises to seniors, children, and the disabled...

They should be no cap. You should pay on all of your income. Not only up to 160k.

It's not going away, but by the time I retire in 20 years a loaf of bread will cost 100 dollars. 🤣🤣🤣

“There won’t be any Social Security in ____” has been said since probably ten minutes after it was created. It may need some changes, but it’s not going away.

That awkward moment when Canada has reformed its contributory pension plan back in the 90s, with CPP/QPP contributions invested in the capital market, contributions raised, and benefits scaled back. Same for the Netherlands, Australia, the Swiss, NZ, and Britain. Learning from those places? Nah, let's reinvent the wheel and say market investment is too dangers.

Surely it will be fixed. It will be fixed on the backs of whichever voting group has the smallest voice on the issue at the time.

Politicians will always delay working on solutions for long term problems in favor of focusing on short term issues because that's the nature of our election cycles. Look at literally any long term issue and you can see congress will always kick the can down the road until they literally cannot afford to anymore.

So basically people will only be getting 80% of their benefits. Got it.

2034 is the year I'd likely start drawing on my SS. Although I've been saving for retirement, it isn't enough to be comfortable and the SS money would help. If you're young, start saving and investing what you can now.

I benefited from SSA as child when my mom died, then when I became disabled and now as a senior citizen. It is my sole retirement benefit because I withdrew my city retirement money when I was disabled at 38 and before I was able to get Social Security Disability benefits. It took years to get disability and I had to apply 3 times.

Thank you for making this video. I'm currently still working but have ailments that I'm fighting with that seems most likely I'll have to go on disability within the next five years if not sooner? I know social security is the only lifeline that's there for me and hearing it won't be there in the near future scares me into thinking I'll have to do something dramatic to avoid much suffering which will result in my death anyway.😢

In addition, they need to not penalize workers who want/need to work past retirement age

Since we are on the topic of taxes and social security, I have a question that has yet to be answered. If A.I. is going to be replacing a lot jobs in this country (U.S.A.), who is going to be paying for TAXES?? I know them A.I. bots WON'T be paying taxes, being that they are not being paid at all! SMH

how about companies that over time replace jobs with AI and automation also contribute a percentage of the generated income through AI and automation into social security?

You have to left the cap on the earnings cut off past it’s current level. The highest earners don’t pay nearly enough.

I agree that there will probably not be any action from Congress until the situation is dire. Then all of a sudden, both major parties will point the finger of blame at each other, when in reality the inaction of both will be at fault.

Raise taxes on the richest and on corporations and use it to fund the safety net we so badly need. Making even small cuts to the military budget could allow us to create robust social programs that the rest of the developed world has like health care, parental leave, and child care. Want people to have kids to deal with the population decrease? Making it more affordable through social programs would help a LOT.

Getting rid of that upper cap on social security taxes would go a long way of keeping it solvent. The rich need to pay in as well. They should not be exempt from paying in, they should pay their share.

Getting Social Security and getting *ENOUGH* Social Security are two different things (things inflate and increase in price after all. Wages don't keep up. I can't imagine people pleading for charity gets it any better. Suppose they do, then it expose the problem of leeching charity being better than actually being honest and work.)

The amount paid by the super rich needs to be increased. If their percentage paid was increased to could solve a lot of the issues with the social security system

I quit working way back in 1994 at age 38 once I'd accumulated enough capital to live off the "4% rule" for retirement. Once I realized that the wealthy leisure class don't pay much in taxes, I asked, "Why am I working?" Ronald Reagan jacked taxes on the working class and cut them for the wealthy. A couple earning $100,000/yr in wage & salary income would pay about $16,000/yr. in income tax and FICA. A couple earning $100,000/yr of dividends and capital gains from an investment portfolio pays zero tax and zero FICA. Even though I've paid very little into SS over the past 29 years, I'd get 71% of the maximum benefit if I filed today at age 67. I'm letting it grow some more by waiting until age 70 to start benefits. Working-class Republicans voted for this nonsense and it's a scandal, but I'm happy to take advantage of their ignorance and innumeracy.

Isn't medical upcoding/healthcare the number one cost Medicare/Medicaid, in recent years it was reported Healthcare was the number 1 cost to gdp, higher than military. What healthcare treatments are paid for by taxes other than Mental Healthcare, Dialysis, if not mistaken Chemo therapy, organ transplant surgery?

We need politicians on both sides that care about this country and care about WE THE PEOPLE 👍🇺🇸✌️

I do have a retirement that I can live on besides social security, but if Medicare is also abolished, one sickness could wipe out my retirement. Insurance will likely be in the thousands each month for people in their 70s.

I am a GenX and I don’t plan on putting on any hope of the government taking care of me when I retire. I am 51 years old and I invest my money in 401k, Roth IRA , mutual fund and real estate for the past 20 years. If I do receive social security, it’s icing on cake. Government likes to give false hopes like the student loan debt forgiveness which got struck down by US Supreme Court.

My stepdad gave me the best advice for social security. Take smaller payments and enjoy it longer, or hold out for bigger payments at the cost of not enjoying it as long. Choose wisely.

Good luck my fellow Gen-Xers ❤

Raising the cap in increments seems to be the easiest method. I also recommend paralleling investment in a 401K and/or an IRA.

I love how the first example they gave is someone who doesn't pay into/receive SSI assuming they were a public school teacher their entire life

Hands off my social security!!

"Just increase the business's social security matching contributions by implementing percentage requirements based on the population scale imbalance, embracing the concept of yin and yang."

Ae can actually just print the money. Alan Greenspan said that Social Security isn't an issue of solvency but rather whether we have the real resource available for the retirees to purchase. Basically as long as we have elder care doctors and facilities, medicine, adult pampers, etc produced and available for the new set of retirees, the inflation would be mitigated.

I am a boomer. Was a young man when the reform to save Social Security was passed. Benefits were cut for me, Had to work longer and pay more in. I had to pay for my parents and grandparents retirement. I over paid and that part was saved in bonds. That was borrowed by the government and that enable big tax cuts for the wealthy. Basically workers were subsidizing the rich. Now the biggest shortfall is coming because of inequality that has grown over the decades. So less and less of the national income pays into the program. I am not for cuts until the original 90% of national income pays in. Just thought I sum up what actually happen. I know because I was there.

Let me guess...an overwhelmingly large portion of the US National Debt are Treasury Bonds held by Social Security trust funds.

If they raise it, let’s rebel like France 🇫🇷

Is there any information on how the insane amount of people that died during Covid will effect the longevity of Social Security?

Forty years ago, they were saying that Social Security would be bankrupt in 35 years. Raising the retirement-benefit age leaves more people working - so, it puts downward pressure on the wages of workers of all ages.

I love how they show a picture of a person in their 80’s or 90’s when talking about raising the retirement age to 70. Yet when talking about adult health, it shows 70 year olds out for a jog.

Well now they're talking about you're going to have to be 75 or older to retire. Some point I feel when you get to be older you deserve to be retired if you want especially if you worked all your life the last years of your life are for you and you should get to enjoy them.

The problem is other countries invest it into the wider economy their government provided retirement funds and Social Security just put it into government bonds only. Social security is losing money inflation on top of using the funds.

They need to stop handing out social security disability payments to families with a child who has ADHD and other ridiculous reasons. Seems like you can game the system and get SSDI for almost any reason now days.

"Workers pay more in taxes or the social security fund invested in a different way" funny how they left out, companies can pay more into social security benefits and not just be an employee match.

The payroll cap needs to be raised permanently just like Medicare's was in 1993. It basically just exists as a large tax cut for wealthier individuals that earn past 160k a year.

Lol. Just implement 10% mandatory massive wealth taxes for every 5 or 10 years for each of the US billionaires. A few millions for the greater good of the societies will not make them bankrupt

A rolling average monthly payment based on the overall value of the fund is a worthwhile consideration. Fixing the benefit based on factors that do not take in the fund's value will onky lead to money gone in the fund

My mother worked and paid into SS on a $500 to $1000 a month income. Her SSI is $180 a month for a long time (she’s 85). She lives with me and doesn’t need to pay for anything.

America is still a land of opportunities for everyone in the world. We can always allow immigrants if we should need more contributor!😅

I find it interesting that they don’t compare to other pension systems like the Canadian Pension Plan which is similar in the contribution structure of Social Security in the US however it uses market mechanisms to invest the funds in long term projects, companies and real estate across the world. What’s interesting is that the value of CPP compared to GDP of Canada is close to double the same ratio of the social security trust fund to US GDP.

We did the work, we paid into social security, the gov't made the law for the wealthy to cap social security so they do not pay their share. That is the problem. I was promised benefits at 59-1/2 and now it's 67 with the possibility of 70. The life expectancy has been lowered from 75 to 72. It is clear that the gov't does not want to pay back the money that was taken from us without interest. Who runs the country? Who makes the laws? The 1% who do not contribute their fair share to Social Security and they certainly are not going to contribute if they do not have to. So we'll die before we receive our earned money owed back to us. Oh, and we can throw in a little COVID mutations processed in Chapel Hill, NC just to get rid of some more elderly prematurely along the way.

This video directs all attention to birthrate while neglecting or downplaying return rates. If you look at what everyone pays in and takes out it corresponds to roughly 5% return rate. That is NOT an overly generous rate of return (Over the past 30 years I have averaged over 13%). The problem is that the government has manipulated rates far lower for over a decade depriving the fund it's income at the worst time (it's peak of boomer contributions) and now is INCREASING the benefits for inflation! Demographics are going to change, but the human need for income when they are disabled will never change. Savings and interest must cover payouts!

Sounds like a ponzi scheme

the Boomers really screwed all younger than them

"The solution to social security is one that hurts someone else but not me" I wish i was allowed to opt out of it and not have to worry or care about the mismanagement of this dumpster fire.

You take enough of my money. No way you're taking even more, while giving me less when I do retire. F that. Just eliminate the entire entitlement program and let people fend for themselves.

There should be an opt out option. I’ll make more by contributing additional 12% into investment

People have been saying that it will go bankrupt for decades. Every couple years, they say the same thing.

Raising the cap makes the most sense and would be the most fair option. It would not raise taxes on mid to low income people, plus it would fund Social Security for decades to come.

Make adjustments to SS for the younger (pre-working) generations who will have time to adjust and plan while grandfathering in the current and upcoming recipients who paid into the promises of the current system.

Don't become poor when you become old. Start saving now when you're still young. Don't rely on the government or others to take care of you.

As an older Gen Z’er, I’m fully expecting that SS won’t be a thing by the time I’m able to retire. Also, the $160k cap seems extremely arbitrary…

Im 35 and Im planning as if I would not get a state pension (I keep paying but I have plan b in case it bankrupts as it probably will because no one wants to pay more taxes, more people is going out off the job market, demographic growth and the rate of increasing WILL decrease, debt is inevitable in that case and debt of that amount will never be paid for the previous reasons, this whole system will explode one way or the other)

This is a very informative report. Thank you for producing it.❤

Three things need to happen and if they couldn't happen yesterday, they should happen as soon as possible. The first is that upper income earners should be bearing a greater cost in Social Security taxes. The second is that upper income retirees should be made eligible for a lesser share of Social Security benefits. And the third is that the Social Security trust fund should be invested into more diversified funds. The stinky thing to me about Social Security is that today's workers are funding the benefits for today's retirees. It operates like a pyramid scheme where you need more and more people buying in at the bottom to fund the folks coming out at the top. With a dwindling birth rate, US economic policy needs to account for the possibility of a gradually shrinking workforce. Trying to force or bribe families into having more children has failed spectacularly in other developed countries and we must learn from that. That means that we must plan for today's workers' futures by investing their taxes more aggressively and planning for a longer time horizon for those taxes to get paid out in benefits. The risk can be cushioned by the addition of time. But if we wait for the Social Security coffers to reach zero before acting, this will not work. However, I agree with other commenters in that the best thing to be done as individuals is to plan to receive no Social Security benefits. Save what you can and invest it smartly. Insure yourself in case you become disabled. One comment in this video stood out to me, which is that benefits could be cut on the justification that Americans are living and working longer. In contradiction, life expectancy in the US seems to be growing shorter for many groups. It is not that Americans will be living longer, but they will be working longer. I believe this is justification for not raising the eligibility age for Social Security. But with birth rates dropping and the difficulties of legal immigration to the US, I am sure we will see the eligibility age go up. Again, encourage all to save for your retirements.

A good way to fix this problem is make it so these free loaders can only withdraw the amount they personally paid in. Like any other retirement fund.

For all the money I’ve paid, I just want a check up front when I turn 65. Millennial here.

40 grand a year in Social Security benefits, that's ballin'.

Why was there no discussion about increasing skilled-worker immigration to increase the size of the workforce paying into SS?

if the government hadn't been borrowing from it for years it might not be as bad as it is. Also you have to pay taxes on SSI, at least that is what doing.

I'm 56. I'd better have my money back. If they ever try to take it from us, we'll be creating the largest class action lawsuit in history. That could get awfully bloody too.

I'm on Social Security so the government pays me on top of my job it's because I was diagnosed with depression and sent to a mental hospital and apparently after you get better and the older you get it just stays on your record so in order to get off you would have to make a certain amount of money which I take advantage of and not work full time where I would lose the disability check

As an African, I love the way Americans loosely use the word POVERTY. I can confidently conclude when you say it you don't mean what we mean.

This is NOT a handout. This is OUR money we have given over our lifetime. Any attempt to shortchange us will lead to lawsuits or even revolution

Is it ok Americans move to Mexico to live from social security income?

Tapping into the "Trust Fund" requires the General Fund to pay back the Treasuries that comprise the Trust. When surplus FICA taxes roll in, it is spent in the General Fund and an IOU is issued from one part of the government to the other. The Trust Fund is just owed payments from the General Fund. It's not a stack of cash ready to cover folks until taxes are raised.

not a lifeline, it's calculated and factored in - they wouldn't retire if they didnt expect it. Life wouldn't be worth living if it was in a society where the likes of veterans or the disabled weren't given money to survive on. They deserve it, it is not something they should be grateful for that has "saved them", it is a basic necessity for a functioning society that ought to be delivered.

Never rely on the government to help fund your retirement or insurance.

And on top of that there’s a LOT of people who can retire but don’t, so technically SS is already insolvent, the only reason we don’t see the effects now is because so many baby boomers refuse to retire.

Oh that's great ,I was kind of afraid their for a minute their,worried about retirement issues to keep a annuity income as a senior.