Latest / Challenges of Faith Radio Program / What is going on with Social Security? Ep 3388

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What is going on with Social Security? Ep 3388 · Challenges of Faith Radio Program

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Challenges of Faith radio program. I'm Gary McCann.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me. What's going on with Social Security?
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  Speaker 1: That's the topic for today here on episode 3388. You know,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Pour Over has laid out some interesting facts. And they
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: did it in layperson's terms. And the question that you
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: should be asking is, what even is Social Security? Well,
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  Speaker 1: It's a monthly paycheck distributed by the government, mostly for retirees,
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  Speaker 1: and maybe that's you, or someone you know. And the
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  Speaker 1: idea behind the Great Depression era was a social insurance program,
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  Speaker 1: that is, you pay in while working to collect, and
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  Speaker 1: when you stop working. For most people, that's retirement, but
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  Speaker 1: it's money paid to the Social Security Administration. It also
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  Speaker 1: covers disabled workers and spouses and children of deceased workers,
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  Speaker 1: hence the two SSA trust funds. You have the old
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  Speaker 1: age and survivor insurance and disability insurance. Another question would be,
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  Speaker 1: if you're asking, I know you are, where does the
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  Speaker 1: money come from? Well, it comes from your paycheck and
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  Speaker 1: your employers. If you work in the United States, 6.2%
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  Speaker 1: of your paycheck is automatically set aside for Social Security. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on your pay stub, it might read as FICA. And
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  Speaker 1: your employer chips in another 6.2% up to a certain point.
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  Speaker 1: There's a $ 184, 500 wage gap, so earnings over that aren't
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  Speaker 1: taxed for Social Security for the rest of the year.
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  Speaker 1: Where does it go? Well, to currently retired individuals. The
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  Speaker 1: Social Security Administration doesn't drop your money into a piggy
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  Speaker 1: bank just waiting for you to retire. Today's workers' funds,
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  Speaker 1: today's retirees, by law, leftover change goes into a surplus
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  Speaker 1: fund called the Social Security Trust, where it's invested in
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  Speaker 1: Treasury securities. Uncle Sam can use the cash on hand
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  Speaker 1: for other bills in the meantime. He's been paying it
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  Speaker 1: back with interest since 2021. And how much do people get? Well,
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  Speaker 1: that depends. Payouts vary based on how much you earn
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  Speaker 1: over your career and retirement age. The earliest you can
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  Speaker 1: claim retirement benefits is 62, though you won't get the
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  Speaker 1: full amount unless you wait until 67. If you wait longer,
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  Speaker 1: up to 70, you can earn more. On an average, though,
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  Speaker 1: retired worker earns $ 2, 084 a month. Another question that's being asked,
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  Speaker 1: you're hearing about it all over the news, you know
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  Speaker 1: you are. Is Social Security going broke? Well, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people are wondering about that. I know two U.S.
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  Speaker 1: senators from both political parties have written an interesting article,
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  Speaker 1: landed all out as well. From 1980 to 2020, Social
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  Speaker 1: Security put in more money than it paid out banking
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  Speaker 1: on the surplus for the day when retirees outnumbered paying workers,
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  Speaker 1: and that time is now. Powering legislation changes the fund
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  Speaker 1: that specifically pays retirement benefits is projected to run dry
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  Speaker 1: by the fourth quarter of 2032, with 78% of scheduled
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  Speaker 1: benefits payable at that time. Among Congress's options, raise Social
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  Speaker 1: Security tax, trim the benefits, raise or remove the wage cap,
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  Speaker 1: or increase the age at which someone qualifies. We know
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  Speaker 1: that there were a lot of numbers thrown at you,
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  Speaker 1: but guess what? We discussed it today, the very important topic,
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  Speaker 1: what's going on with Social Security.