Baby boomers anticipate that 47% of pre-retirement earnings will be replaced by Social Security, according to results of an annual survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute. But the reality for someone making what the Social Security Administration considers the average wage in recent years, about $60,000, is more like 37%, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And the percentage drops as household income rises.
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Seniors are a reliable voting block. So I believe that those social programs will endure. They might be diminished, but they will exist.
Almost all of GOP’s “reforms” for social security start with people 50 or 45 years old at their inception. It’s a lot easier to get current reitrees to reduce benefits for future retirees if you assure them that their own benefits are safe. But I agree that SS/MC will still be around, even if the purchasing power of benefits erodes substantially. It’s easier, and more conservative, to plan without SS, though, and retirement is so important that it makes sense to have safety factors at every step.
Seniors were also one of the hardest hit groups with regards to Covid. Doubly so for those senioRs who avoided the vaccine.