AM I GOING TO BE ABLE TO RETIRE? What to expect from Social Security
The main idea of the social security
program is people welfare. The United States created this program based in what
other countries in Europe were doing for its citizens. This program has
experimented many changes since its creation in 1935. When this program was
signed by President Roosevelt, the idea was to provide retirement income for
people 65 or older. Lately the government has made changes on the retirement age
and social security income requirements. People in the US are starting to worry
about the Social Security funds which they think are getting lower and lower
with time. The main question could be: Is there going to be money left when you
retire.
The average Social Security Check a
retired person gets is around $1000.00 per month and usually does not replace
more than 60% of the income they were making before retirement. The main factor
that contributes to set a check figure is the average annual income the retired
person was making while he/she was working. If that person was not able to save
on a 401k program or any other retirement account before deciding to leave the
workforce, he/she will have to considerably lower their living standards to be
able to retire. But, it could get worst!
It is considered by many that if
congress does not make a big injection of money to the social security funds
soon, money will run out within the next 30 years. In the past few years the
Social Security reforms have helped alleviate the problem but, currently, more
money is been paid to retirees than what the administration is collecting. In
other words, more money is going out than what is coming in. If the social
security administration don’t get at least 6 trillion dollars soon, we could
expect the fund to run out by the year 2041 and it considers the contribution of
tax payers made during that period too. The Social security administration has
considered lowering the social security payment in the future. Would you like
that?
Without a doubt we need a Social
Security reform soon. But we need to know where the money is going to come from.
Congress can not make a good reform if it has not been studied as for its
consequences. It is very difficult to consider a tax increase when the economy
may not be able to support its impact. The normal citizen may be pushed to avoid
paying what for others could be considered fair but some do not have. Our best
option at this time could be to start preparing our selves by saving money for
retirement through a retirement account or long term investments but not every
person will be able to do it.
We need to make conscience that the Social Security fund may not be enough for everybody to retire unless something is done soon. Due to the actual situation some people are thinking about how to survive the moment but time does not stop and we have to get ready for the future. Our congress needs to start working on a reform and stop thinking about the next election or how to look good in the eyes of the voters. We could be sure that good ideas are welcomed by your congressman because if he/she can not come up with something we may be able to help. Think about it. We may be able to change things. The point is that we need a reform NOW!
Luisrcg
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