Key Points – With the Social Security trust fund projected (in 2024) to be unable to pay 100% of scheduled benefits by 2035, raising the retirement age is a frequently discussed, albeit unpopular, potential solution.
-The current full retirement age (FRA) is 67 for many, with incremental increases still affecting some based on birth year.
-Analyses by organizations like the Brookings Institution and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) explore various scenarios, such as gradually increasing the FRA further, possibly to 70, or adjusting the early eligibility age.
-While such changes would effectively reduce lifetime benefits, they aim to improve the program’s long-term financial stability, a critical issue political leaders have largely avoided addressing.
Social Security Has a Problem
Sometime this spring, the annual Social Security Trustees Report is likely to come out, providing updated information on when the main Social Security trust fund might run out of the ability to pay out full benefits.
In last year’s report, which came out almost exactly a year ago, the finding was that the trust fund “would be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2035, one year later than reported last year.” After that, the fund would pay only 83 percent, according to the projection at the time.
Therefore, a pretty major crisis is coming, in about a decade or possibly even sooner, for a program that’s both very popular and a lifeline for millions of Americans.
That is, unless Congress comes up with a fix at some point in the next few years.
Raise the Retirement Age?
The leaders of neither political party have shown little interest, in any recent election, in solving the long-term Social Security problem. Some reform proposals have been introduced in Congress, but none have gained much traction.
One proposal for solving the viability problem is to raise the Social Security retirement age. It would likely be unpopular, but it would keep the trust fund from running out.
A Retirement Proposal
A Brookings Institution analysis, published in 2024, did some of the math on that question.
As of now, the “full retirement age” at which retirees are eligible to claim full Social Security benefits is 67, although some can claim early eligibility as early as age 62. There’s a complex chart pointing out how exactly that works, in terms of when recipients can begin collecting.
In 1983, Congress made changes to gradually increase the full retirement age from 65 to 67, in what remains the last major change to Social Security eligibility to date.
The full retirement age rises gradually over time. If you were born in 1959, as pointed out by CBS News, the full retirement age rises this month to 66 years and 10 months.
CBS explained further.
“For instance, people who were born in 1957 reached their FRA when they turned 66 years and 6 months old, or starting in 2023,” the explanation said. “But people born in 1958 must turn 66 years and 8 months old to qualify for their full benefits, or starting in September 2024.”
What’s the best way to adjust the age? A few different things have been proposed.
Retirement Age Options
The full retirement age could be raised again, either slowly again or all at once. The early eligibility could also be raised. Which has its pluses and minuses.
“Such a policy would reduce the years of payments received by early retirees but increase their average monthly benefit amount,” the Brookings analysis said. “Gradually raising the EEA by two years without simultaneously upping the FRA would generate short run savings by delaying payments for early claimers. In the long run, however, higher monthly payments would offset any savings, and a higher EEA would likely induce more older workers to apply for disability benefits.”
Then there’s the question of whether changes would make the Social Security system more or less progressive, with some proposals also introducing some type of means-testing.
CBO Weighs In
The Congressional Budget Office published its own analysis of the retirement age question in late 2024.
“The FRA would increase from 67 by two months per birth year for workers born between 1964 and 1981. As a result, for all workers born in 1981 or later, the FRA would be 70,” the CBO projection said.
“As under current law, workers could still choose to begin receiving benefits at age 62, but the reduction in their initial scheduled monthly benefit for claiming benefits early would be larger under this option than under current law. An increase in the FRA would reduce scheduled lifetime benefits for every affected Social Security recipient, regardless of the age at which a person claimed benefits.”
About the Author
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
Social Security In Focus
