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SummerOnTheWay1
SummerOnTheWay1
August 8, 2025

📋 8 Numbers Tell Social Security's Past — and Its Future (AARP Article)

  • August 8, 2025
  • 9 replies
  • 5356 views

FROM THE ARTICLE.

 

8 Numbers That Tell the Story of Social Security.

How more than 69 million Americans came to rely on the program — and why it’s now in trouble.

 

By Andy Markowitz, AARP. Reviewed by Joel Eskovitz, AARP. Published August 06, 2025.

 

Social Security has always been about numbers, ever since it was established 90 years ago this month by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signature on a historic act of Congress.

You work 10 years, earn 40 Social Security credits, and you are eligible for benefits when you retire. A complex mathematical formula determines how much you’ll get each month. A 12.4 payroll tax on almost all U.S. workers’ income provides the funding that keeps benefits flowing to (as of June 2025) more than 69 million Americans. A unique nine-digit code assigned to each of us keeps it all straight.

 

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE.

 

https://www.aarp.org/social-security/ssa-by-the-numbers/

    9 replies

    GailL1
    GailL1
    Community Champion ⭐⭐⭐
    August 9, 2025

    I   was really surprised that so many people are taking their Social Security Retirement benefits at a reduced rate BEFORE their full retirement age and the extremely small % that are waiting to draw them until they are 70 and earn all their delayed retirement credits.

     

    It was somewhat hopeful to see the % of those waiting until 70 rising so much in 2024.  

     

    The numbers, in the report article, that are missing are from the SS Trust fiscal Data Base.  

     

    Year:  2024    [in millions]

    Income going into the program:                               1, 417, 757

    • from payroll taxes - employer + emplpyee
    • from taxes on benefits
    • from interest on the reserve special treasuries

    Total cost to the program:                                         1, 484, 753 

    Amount Having to come out of reserve                 (      66, 997 )         

    Remaining Reserve                                                    2, 721, 466

     

    and with the article report saying this:  The Census Bureau estimates that the share of the population age 65-plus grew in all 50 states from 2020 to 2024, while the share of those under 18 — the future workers who will fund Social Security — declined.

     

    We have a problem with these numbers big time !!!!

    Drastic measures for drastic times?

    Yep, probably so - 

     

     

     

     

    IT‘S ALWAYS SOMETHING . . . . .. . . . Roseanne Roseannadanna
      papawofboo
      papawofboo
      Community Champion ⭐
      August 11, 2025

      My dad turned 62 and I tried to get him to retire. With his SS and company's pension they would have been ok. Not him, he was going for the full amount. 

      He didn't make it, but I made up my mind right then and there that at 62 I was going to start drawing. I didn't retire but I started getting some of my money back. 

      My sister-in-law lost her husband. She was able to draw off of his account until she became 70 and then she got all of her benefits for waiting. She made out like a bandit. 

      To me it's a crap shoot and I don't blame anyone on the way they choose. But in the back of my mind, I remember my cardiologist telling me how many times my heart beats in a day. That times 365 times 62 is a very BIG number.

      Papaw of Boo
        R
        RickS467730
        Contributor ⭐⭐
        August 15, 2025

        I get your point on the time value of money, and yes—using a positive discount rate changes the math. At 3%, my break-even point isn’t 14 years—it’s closer to 12. And when I factor in investing those early benefits—even conservatively—I’d never realistically catch up to the FRA amount. For me, it’s not just about the math; it’s about locking in a lower monthly benefit for life versus putting that money to work now and letting compounding do its thing.

          T
          Tonster521
          Community Champion ⭐
          March 7, 2026

          @SummerOnTheWay1 , Thanks for your positive replies. The subject, when to start SS Benefits, is probably the most discussed subject regarding SS Benefits. I hope you get a laugh when I tell you this story. I have been retired 11 years. I continue to exercise, mostly walking, on an indoor track at the local park district when outside weather is unbearable. In the Winter, there are a large number of seniors that due the same to stay out of the cold, snow, ice and brutal wind. It is inevitable that conversations center on SS Benefits and how to obtain more money. When I get "deep in the weeds" about SS Benefits and Discount Rates, some of the folks think I am talking about "shopping" at a store. This may be a contributing reason why folks are confused with when to start SS Benefits.

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