Latest News
Full Retirement Age In the News (Again) - Newsweek
Life expectancy has improved substantially since the inception of Social Security nearly a century ago. Consequently, retirement benefits need to be paid for much longer than originally intended. To borrow a phrase from Mercatus Center’s Charles P. Blahous in his research paper titled An Analytical Framework for Strengthening Social Security, “Simply put, Americans are living longer and collecting benefits for more years, while spending a smaller fraction of their adult lives as employed workers.”[1]
Recognizing this, Social Security’s Chief Actuary has been called on to analyze a wide range of proposals to adjust the Full Retirement Age (FRA) from its current ceiling of 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Some call for a one-year increase (to age 68), while some suggest age 69 or 70 as the FRA. Several also include provisions to avoid future imbalances in the FRA by indexing it to maintain a constant ratio of expected retirement years (life expectancy at FRA) to potential work years (NRA minus 20).
To say that changing the Full Retirement Age is controversial would be an understatement, as most media rhetoric equates increasing it with a benefit cut. Consequently, it becomes an on-again, off-again debate on the steps needed to resolve Social Security’s looming financial crisis. As noted in a Newsweek post by Aliss Higham, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano recently labeled any consideration of an FRA increase as being “not under consideration,” and Ms. Higham’s post cites a 2023 Quinnipiac University report indicating that “78 percent of adults disapproved of increasing the age from 67 to 70.”
An on-going debate, certainly, and there will be considerably more discussion as the search for an appropriate solution evolves. In the meantime, check out Ms. Higham’s post here for more background on the issue.
[1] https://www.mercatus.org/research/research-papers/strengthening-social-security#:~:text=In%20%E2%80%9C%20An%20Analytical%20Framework%20for%20Strengthening%20Social,Social%20Security%20and%20how%20they%20can%20be%20addressed.
This posting is presented for informational purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. Any opinions or interpretations presented are either those of the original author or, in the case of articles authored by the AMAC Foundation, are the opinions of AMAC Foundation staff, originally trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA) and certified via the AMAC Foundation. Any links included in the article are valid on the posted date; socialsecurityreport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the links’ validity. NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (https://amacfoundation.org/services/) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Because we are a non-profit organization, there is no charge for these services.