I missed a birthday last week, Social Security turned 86. Its exact birthday is on Saturday, August 14. It was that day in 1935 when then-President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. There are many retirees today that their Social Security benefit is all the income they get each month. In fact, according to the Social Security Administration, “21% of married couples and about 45% of unmarried persons rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.”
According to the Congressional Research Service, the proportion of those over 65 who live below the poverty lines would grow from 8.9% to 35.8% without Social Security benefits and assuming no other changes. It’s been in the news for a while now that the Social Security trust fund is slated to run out of money in the mid-2030s. If Congress doesn’t make changes by that time, Social Security recipients would begin receiving only about 75 cents on the dollar of amounts otherwise owed to them. Politicians have been putting off tackling this huge issue. This isn’t the first time, in 1983 when the fund was about to run out of money, Congress on that occasion didn’t make the necessary changes until there were just four months to spare. I will say this: Social Security was never meant to be someone’s only income in retirement; the fact is Social Security benefits replace about 40 percent of past earnings. It is important to have other income to draw from in retirement. My Safe Money strategies can fill in the gap in income by offering a reasonable rate of return. Principle protection, when the market rises you get the gains and when it falls you stay the same. AND if you want lifetime income, yes, a pension, this makes a lot of sense. Go to yoursafemoneyshow.com for more information.
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