Mark Singer: It is very possible that Congress could give you a
12% pay raise, if you are getting Social Security. And I
want to share with you what that might look like. But before we
get there, subscribe to my channel, I have over 30 years in
this business, I specialize in retirement and social security
benefits. And I want to share with you the conversations I
have with my clients. So I want to go about this in two ways and
talk about it from two different perspectives. First, there is
the real impact of inflation, for many who are relying upon
social security as their primary source of income, this
inflationary cycle where we're at this 8-8.5% number can be
devastating for some and Congress really wants to step up
and do something about that. And along the way, they're going to
deal with the second item, which is a question many have been
asking, which is, Will Social Security be there for me down
the road? So let's deal with both of them right now. So the
proposal on the table right now is to increase social security
by $200 a month, or $2,400 per year, now the average recipient
gets $1,658 per month. So that extra $200 per month is equal to
a 12% increase. For those who are collecting the average
amount. Obviously, if you're collecting more, the increase
will be percentage wise, a little bit less, but it'll still
be an extra $200 that you will be receiving every single month,
this could be very helpful to offset some of that inflationary
impact that we have been feeling for many of us. But here's the
dark side to that, if you will, since the studies have shown and
I'll share that with you in just a moment that Social Security
may be running out of the liquidity they need the funding,
they need to pay 100% of their benefits, then the more we pay
out, and the higher the cost of living adjustments that they
offer. And you can take a look at this most recent video on the
potential 16% cost of living adjustment for some for Social
Security, that the more we continue to dole out that the
more problems Social Security may be in, in the near future.
Let's take a quick look at some of the numbers. So the big
question is will Social Security be there for me, and this is a
recent study, to 2021 OASDI trustees report old age
survivors and disability insurance, I wish they changed
that name. And what it shows is that the trust fund balance at
the end of 2019 was approximately $2.897 trillion.
And the trust fund balance at the end of 2020 was
approximately the same approximately 2.9 trillion. So
it's been pretty much a wash. But what you'll see in this next
slide is that without reform, benefits fall to 78% in the year
2034. So the good news about this proposed legislation is on
the one hand, Congress is thinking of giving us $200 A
month in an increase. And on the other they are looking to
coordinate how to shore up the funding for Social Security. And
the way they're going to do that is in the form of payroll taxes.
Now, payroll taxes right now. They can get take Social
Security taxes, up to $147,000 of income, that number is being
proposed to be moved up to 250,000 which would provide some
more liquidity for Social Security. If you're interested,
what I've done in my new book, and I have it up in my banner,
is we have a free chapter devoted specifically to Social
Security. Many of the questions you might have are in this
chapter. So go up there and get it for yourself.