How Inflation Is Killing Social Security Quicker
Social Security is in a world of trouble. According to its 2020 Trustees Report, the program's trust funds are expected to run out in 2035, slashing benefits by around a quarter. While the trustees have not yet released their 2021 report yet, a memo released last November indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic probably knocked another year off the trust funds' lifespan.
As if that weren't enough, 2021 is bringing with it another massive challenge that threatens to knock even more years off the Social Security Trust Funds' lifespan: inflation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has run at around a 5.4% rate over the past year. Social Security indexes benefits to inflation, and current projections suggest that benefit increases may even top 6% in 2022. That will probably put even more pressure of Social Security's already stressed trust funds.
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Source Fool.com
