AARP believes you’ve earned a say in the future of Social Security. That’s why we’ve developed a tool you can use to make your own choices about how to strengthen Social Security.
Social Security faces long-term financial challenges as the overall U.S. population ages, and contributions aren’t keeping up with longer life expectancies.
While the Social Security Trustees project that the program can pay full benefits for the next 20 years, it would only be able to pay about 75 percent of promised benefits after that. The longer it takes for Washington to strengthen Social Security and close the funding gap, the harder it will be for workers to plan for their future.
Use the Strengthen Social Security Tool to determine how you would close the Social Security funding gap based on some of the proposals currently on the table in Washington. You’ll have options to adjust the benefits people receive and/or the contributions they make while working.
Note: The calculations in this tool are based on 2011 data from the Social Security Trustees report. The average retirement benefit today is about $1,200 per month and is adjusted annually to keep pace with inflation.
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