Ep. 16 Is Social Security Going to Run Out?!

Are you a Christian who is diligently saving for Retirement and stay up at night with that nagging question….”Is Social Security going to be there when I retire?” Or maybe you are a Christian who is already retired and your question is “Wow, I’m taking Social Security right now, is it going to go away?!?

Well today we tackle that very important Social Security question. We look at an article on Market Watch written by Brett Arends which examines the effect Covid has had on the Social Security Trust fund, as well as the health of Social Security overall! Spoiler, it’s not great!

We also hear from some listener reviews and I share some exciting news about the launch of our new website made for listeners of this show and Christian’s who are planning or in retirement. www.christianretirementplanner.com

 

Outline of this episode:

[1:50] New website announcement [2:33] Listener Reviews [3:30] Social Security Market Watch Article Overview [7:00] Wharton School of Business review on Social Security Running Out [11:50] Authors Opinion on how to fix the Social Security Crisis [13:45] Eric Schrum’s opinion on what will happen to Social Security

To begin, the author outlines the warning from Wharton Professor Olivia Mitchell who warns Social Security could become insolvent by early 2029! This is an accelerated timeline from official Social Security projections which predict social security to run out in 2034, still not an optimistic date.

Olivia Mitchell believes that covid has caused job losses that are lowering the social security tax being payed into the social security trust fund and has caused many workers near retirement to retire early, thus drawing down social security benefits earlier than expected.

The original author Brett Arends then offers his solutions for fixing this crisis including, increasing the social security age (again), lowering the payout retirees receive from social security, as well as having the most wealthy Americans foot the bill for retirees social security.

Fina;ly, Eric offers his opinion and tells retirees in or entering retirement to rest easier than the doomsday picture outlined in the article depicts. Eric believes social security will get picked up by the government and remain a retirement mainstay for the long-term.

Resources and people mentioned in this episode:

Market watch article by Brett Arends: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/social-security-could-be-insolvent-within-8-years-economist-warns-11629891784

Listener Reviews: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-christian-retirement-show/id1530097100

New Christian Retirement Website: www.christianretirementplanner.com