Page 67 - Book10E

CHAPTER 8
Social Security
President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935. Since then, more than 420 million people have been provided with a Social Security Number and a sense of security for retirement. I t is never too early to take a close look at what your financial status will be when you retire. Although the Social Security program has been very successful, things have changed somewhat over the past 70 years.
People today live longer, they retire earlier, living expenses are higher, and guaranteed income from pensions and government programs is diminishing. In 1940, for example, the
average man could expect to live to age
61. Today the average male lifespan is 74. A woman, in 1940, could expect to live to 66. Today she will probably live to 80. Baby boomers are now beginning to retire, and there are 78 million of them.
For each person retiring, the number
of people paying into Social Security
will drop from 3.3 per person to 2.1 per person by 2031. The other number dropping significantly is the amount the average American is saving every year. An individual, who would have saved 10.8% of his or her income 20 years ago, would now save just above 1%. But there is good news. With so much attention focused on the question of how much Social Security money will be available over the next few dec- ades, changes are being made to saving incentives to encourage people
More young people believe they'll see a U.F.O. than that they'll see their own Social Security benefits.
— Mitch McConnell
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