Overview

• The 2025 Trustees Report finds the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance fund will deplete in 2033, leaving payroll tax income able to cover just 77% of promised benefits.
• If combined with Disability Insurance reserves, the trust funds will run dry by 2034 and support only 81% of scheduled payments, implying a 19% benefit reduction.
• Last year’s Social Security Fairness Act accelerated the depletion timeline by boosting benefits for about 3 million public-sector retirees without adding corresponding funding.
• Key reform proposals before Congress include hiking the FICA payroll tax, trimming benefits for current or future beneficiaries and tapping general revenues or new tax streams.
• Financial planners are advising workers to bolster savings and consider delaying retirement to guard against the projected reductions.