Social Security Is Running Short — And Baby Boomers Could Pay The Price

It would be more than fair to call Social Security a pretty critical income source for retirees today. Without those monthly benefits, many older Americans would find it a struggle to cover their essential bills.

The problem is that Social Security is facing a fair amount of financial uncertainty in the coming years. As baby boomers exit the workforce, they won’t be paying into Social Security on their wages like they once did. But Social Security relies heavily on payroll taxes for revenue, so that’s a huge hit for the program.

Social Security does have trust funds it can use to keep up with benefits as its payroll tax revenue stream shrinks. But once those trust funds are out of money, Social Security may have to reduce benefits broadly. And in that situation, it’s baby boomers who could lose out the most.

This post originally appeared at 24/7 Wall St.