Why I'm Not Counting on Social Security, and Neither Should You
There was a time when Social Security payments were a key piece of people's retirement funding plans. But that's decreasingly the case, and rightfully so. The program is struggling to handle a burden that wasn't envisioned when it was created way back in 1935. Namely, folks are living longer. Then, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was around 60 years of age. Now it's closer to 77, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means more participants are drawing from the fund for far longer than originally expected, which of course creates a cascade of problems for the program.
That being said, there are three specific reasons I'm not factoring in any Social Security checks when planning my financial future, and you may not want to either.
The projected year that the Social Security Administration no longer has the funding it needs to continue making payments as promised keeps changing. Almost all of the estimates, however, put that point at somewhere in the mid 2030s.
Source Fool.com
