By Tim Ferguson

This Sunday you’re bound to see plenty of ghouls and goblins roaming about town, it’s Halloween, the “scariest” day of the year.

There are, however, more frightening days ahead, especially for those who are nearing or of retirement age. Social Security funds in jeopardy, a global pandemic, increasing health care costs and an aging population have combined to create the perfect storm.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat, and if not bigger than at least one with less holes.

According to an August report released by the Social Security board of trustees, the Social Security Old-Age and Survivor’s Insurance Trust Fund will run dry as of 2033. This is due in large part to the major plunge in tax revenue amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans were laid off, and many Americans now have increased health care needs putting a strain on the Social Security system.

At the program’s inception in 1935, the ratio of workers to retirees was 150 to 1. Those workers generated more than enough money to fund nationwide benefits for retirees and that surplus money became the Social Security trust funds. Fast-forward to today and the ratio of workers to retirees is now 3 to 1 and more is being spent on retirement, disabilities and other Social Security benefits than is being collected. In order to cover these disparities, the SSA must turn to dwindling trust funds.

By the time those funds are depleted benefits will only be covered by the money it collects from workers which will only cover 76% of the nation’s current retiree benefits. This would mean a 24% cut to benefits and would be financially disastrous for millions of American retirees who rely solely on Social Security benefits in their old age.

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