Personal Finance

If You're Rich, You May Not Get Social Security

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: February 7, 2025 11:15 am

The Social Security Administration is desperately trying to find ways not to run out of money in 2035, which is its most recent estimate. Its primary challenge is that Americans are aging faster than the speed at which young people start jobs in which they make Social Security payments. The United States is both too old and too little young.

The most frequent suggestion about how the fund can be bolstered long term is to push back the age at which people can retire and be paid. Age 62 becomes 64. Age 66 becomes 68, and 70 becomes 72. One problem with this is that the median age at death in the United States has not moved much in the past decade and has stayed at 79. That means increasing the age almost immediately saves money.

Another possibility is that people with a lot of money do not receive Social Security at all. A new study shows that 53% of Americans think this is fine. The people who would receive nothing were probably not part of the sample.

Many of the rich (which is poorly defined) argue that they paid their money into Social Security for years. Therefore, they are due the money no matter how much they make after “retirement age.”

One strategy could see benefits layered according to what people make. Those making $1 million a year receive nothing. People who make $750,000 a year will get two-thirds of the normal benefit. People who make $500,000 will get half.

There are no solutions that will be acceptable to Social Security recipients. This includes pushing out the age when benefits start or indexing payments to income. However, beyond those options, there is no reason to believe Social Security can pay full benefits after 2035.

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