Social Security Fund Bankrupt in 2037

The headline grabs your attention, doesn't it.  We've heard lately how much trouble the Social Security fund is.  Apparently, the struggling economy isn't doing the retirement fund any favors.

The massive retirement program helped our parents, but probably won't be able to help us.  The shear number of baby boomers retiring in the next few years aren't helping either.  At this point in my career, retirement is still off in the distance.  But now, the cloudier the social security issue becomes, the more important it is to plan for the future -- without Uncle Sam's help.

New congressional projections show Social Security running deficits every year until its trust funds are eventually drained in about 2037.

This year alone, Social Security is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in retirement, disability and survivor benefits, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. That figure swells to $130 billion when a new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included, though Congress has promised to repay any lost revenue from the tax cut.

The outlook, however, has grown bleaker as the nation struggles to recover from the worst economic crisis since Social Security was enacted during the Great Depression. In the short term, Social Security is suffering from a weak economy that has payroll taxes lagging and applications for benefits rising. In the long term, Social Security will be strained by the growing number of baby boomers retiring and applying for benefits.

Source:  AP News