Social Security's trust fund is in the long, slow process of collapsing because it won't have enough funds to pay its promised benefits. Sound like a Ponzi scheme? Perhaps, but at least this "scheme" is one in which you can come out ahead -- especially if you start preparing now.
The woes Social Security faces have generated plenty of worried talk lately, but even if nothing changes, it'll be solvent until 2036. But Medicare, the other major government program that retirees rely on, is on course for financial disaster years sooner. That program, of course, is Medicare, and the funding situation for the portion of its benefits that retirees receive looks even scarier than Social Security's prospects right now.
Social Security spent $49 billion more in 2010 than it took in as tax collections. By the time 2011 ends, it expects to outspend collections by another $46 billion. At this rate, the program's much-touted "Trust Fund" is expected to be depleted by 2036; without that fund, benefits are expected to fall to about three-quarters of current promised levels.
Washington has been borrowing Social Security's surpluses for decades and issuing IOUs in return. However, the ability to pay those IOUs depends on the Treasury borrowing more money on global bond markets at affordable rates. That's hardly a sure thing.
For years, policymakers have reassured the public that Social Security will be solvent for decades. But outlay and income data from the Treasury reveal that Social Security is already deep in the red -- by $76 billion in 2010 alone. That's just the beginning.