JustCare

Category: Social Security

  • More Americans planning to work past age 65

    More Americans planning to work past age 65

    More Americans are planning to delay retirement and work longer.  A 2014 CBS news poll shows that a little more than half of Americans who have not yet retired say they plan to retire by the time they are 65.  In 2005, more than two-thirds (67 percent) planned to retire by age 65.

    Equally noteworthy, three times as many people today expect to retire in their seventies (22 percent) than expected to do so in 2005 (8 percent), according to the poll.  Yet, of retirees polled, 79 percent say they retired by the age of 65.  Only seven percent say they were over 70 when they retired.

    Health care costs are not among the most serious financial concerns of Americans not yet retired.  Only 8 percent of them have current or future medical costs as their biggest financial worry.  The poll does not capture whether Medicare and the Affordable Care Act help allay their fears.

    Most working Americans have as their biggest financial concern paying bills (25 percent) and, after that, saving for retirement (24 percent)

    Many Americans do not realize that Social Security is virtually certain to be there for them. It cannot go broke. However, more than six out of 10 Americans not yet retired do not believe that Social Security will have the benefits they expect.

    Much like the Pentagon, unless Congress decides to end the program, Social Security will continue.  In fact, so long as working people pay into Social Security, those funds are available to supplement the Social Security Trust Fund.

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  • For a wealthy country, the US offers stingy Social Security retirement benefits

    For a wealthy country, the US offers stingy Social Security retirement benefits

    A new chart from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development highlights how meager retirement benefits are in America.  As compared to 33 other countries, the United States ranks 27th, almost at the bottom, near Mexico, Slovenia and Korea. In short, comparatively, Americans have stingy Social Security retirement benefits.

    To be clear, the OECD chart illustrates that Social Security only replaces about 40 percent of the typical worker’s pre-retirement earnings.  According to Alicia Munnell, Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the OECD confirms that “the U.S. provides some of the lowest benefits in the developed world.”

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  • Strengthen Social Security by restoring the minimum wage

    Strengthen Social Security by restoring the minimum wage

    Fact: If today’s minimum wage were the same as the minimum wage in 1969 (adjusted for inflation), the minimum wage would be $9.39.  Instead, it’s $7.35, more than 20 percent lower than it was 45 years ago.  Because the minimum wage has not risen with inflation, contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund are a lot less than they would otherwise be.  If the minimum wage were indexed to inflation, it would strengthen Social Security.

    To learn more, go to Social Security Works.

  • Strong support for Social Security across broad swath of Americans

    Strong support for Social Security across broad swath of Americans

    A new survey by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) to understand Americans’ views about Social Security and how to strengthen it reveal strong support for Social Security. An overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum value Social Security.

    Almost three out of four survey respondents (73 percent) said they did not mind paying into Social Security because it’s important for themselves and their families as well as the security it provides older adults and people with disabilities. Most respondents (86 percent) felt that Social Security today does not offer enough income security for retirees.  And, nearly three of four people surveyed (73 percent) thought the benefit needed to increase over time.

    A large majority of people (77 percent) said that to keep Social Security strong into the future, it would be worth having working Americans make larger payroll contributions to Social Security. More than seven of ten people want to see reforms that put more money into the Social Security Trust Fund and increased benefits over time.

    They support a ten-year gradual lifting of the cap on Social Security contributions, which is now $117,000 so that the six percent of the population who earn more than that continue to contribute.  There is no cap on Medicare contributions.  They also support a one-percent increase in the payroll contribution by employees and employers from 6.2 percent to 7.2 percent over 20 years.

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  • Why Congress should increase the minimum wage to its 1968 level

    Why Congress should increase the minimum wage to its 1968 level

    A new report by the Economic Policy Institute illustrates why Congress should increase the minimum wage.  Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Representative George Miller of California have introduced a bill to raise the minimum raise to $10.10 an hour, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2014.
    • Fact: The federal minimum wage has not increased since more than five years ago, when it was raised to $7.25 an hour.  Each year since then, as a result of inflation, its value has eroded.
    • Fact: Fulltime minimum wage workers today earn 25 percent less than they did 45 years ago.  In 1968, the federal minimum wage was equivalent to $9.58 in today’s dollars.
    • Fact: Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would mean 1.7 million Americans would no longer rely on public assistance programs.
    • Fact: Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would save the government $7.6 billion in spending on public assistance programs.
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  • Chained CPI reduces Social Security benefits and income

    Chained CPI reduces Social Security benefits and income

    Fact: A chained CPI (“consumer price index”) is a way of calculating cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits that does not keep up with inflation for older adults.  It would therefore effectively cut Social Security benefits for everyone receiving them today and in the future, including retired and disabled veterans.

    Fact: People receiving Social Security benefits at 65 would lose $658 in benefits at age 75, $1,147 at age 85, and $1622 at 95, a 9.2 percent cut.To learn more, go to Social Security Works.

  • A strong majority of likely voters support increasing Social Security benefits

    A strong majority of likely voters support increasing Social Security benefits

    A recent poll of likely voters shows that nearly four out of five of them support increasing Social Security benefits. To pay for the larger Social Security benefits, these individuals support requiring wealthy Americans to pay the same percentage of their income towards Social Security as everyone else.

    Even more interesting is that support for having wealthy Americans pay the same Social Security rate as everyone else in order to cover the cost of an increase in Social Security benefits is strong among both Republicans and Democrats.  More than seven out of 10 Republicans support this proposal (73 percent).  Nine out of 10 Democrats (90 percent) support it.

    And, perhaps most interesting: Seventy percent of those surveyed said that they were less likely to vote for their members of Congress if they voted for cuts to Social Security benefits.

    To see all poll results, visit Social Security Works. To tell Congress to strengthen and expand Social Security, click here:

  • Trustees project Social Security Trust Fund to last until 2033

    Trustees project Social Security Trust Fund to last until 2033

    In its annual Social Security report published yesterday, the Trustees calculated that the Social Security trust fund would continue to run a surplus until 2033, the same prediction they made in 2013.By the end of 2014, the Social Security trustees project that the Social Security trust fund reserves will total almost $2.8 trillion. In 2013, the trust fund took in $32 billion more than it paid out. But, over the next 19 years, as an increasing number of baby boomers retire, the trust fund will begin paying out more than it takes in from payroll taxes and interest.

    Right now, individuals contribute 6.2 percent of their wages towards Social Security up to $117,000.  Employees’ Medicare contributions, 1.45 percent of income, have no cap.  Employers match employee contributions to both Medicare and Social Security.Nancy Altman, co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security campaign asks that Congress respect the will of the majority of Americans and lift the Social Security contribution cap. If wealthy Americans contributed the same share of their earnings to Social Security as average Americans, Social Security would have ample funds to guarantee Americans retirement security for the next several decades.Click here to take action and to tell Congress to expand Social Security!