The State of Social Security

Every year from 1982 until 2020, Social Security's cash reserves have increased. That means for all those years, Social Security brought in more cash than it paid out in benefits. In that same time, Social Security's cash reserve went from $25 billion to almost $3 trillion.  

However, due to the pandemic and an aging baby boomer population, 2021 brought a seismic shift. As resignations and early retirements became commonplace and more people prematurely left the work space during the pandemic, the lack of tax dollars was so evident that, for the first time in history, Social Security cash reserves were in the red in 2021 by more than $31 billion dollars.  

Making matters worse is that the projection now is that this decline will continue and the cash reserves could be whittled down to $1.35 trillion over the next eight years. That would be an epic shift in the stability of the Social Security system.