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Hope for the Best; Plan for the Worst - Motley Fool
According to a recent survey, 41% of older Americans believe that Social Security won’t exist in its current form for their entire retirement. Probably not an unusual statistic, considering the media attention lately given to Social Security looming financial issue. The issue? Social Security income has been less than needed to pay full benefits since 2022, so Trust Fund reserves are used to make up the difference. Without program reform, those reserves will be gone in less than 10 years and automatic benefit cuts will ensue.
The odds of that happening? Probably small, since Congress is well aware of the problem and is already exploring ways to fix it. “Fix it” requires Congress finding common ground in a bipartisan spirit to enact reform needed to put Social Security on a solid financial footing. Though that might currently seem elusive, it will surely happen – to do otherwise would be political suicide. Nevertheless, future benefit cuts – either from a depleted Trust Fund or reform which affects future retirees – is a real possibility. Thus, in this Motley Fool article by Maurie Backman, seniors are counseled to plan ahead so that any future cut in Social Security benefits will have less of an impact. The article offers ways to soften the blow of possible future cuts to Social Security.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports raising the thresholds at which benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.