IN WHAT YEAR WILL SOCIAL SECURITY RUN OUT OF MONEY?

There's not one Social Security trust fund, there are two: the disability trust fund and the retirement trust fund.

The 2025 Trustees' report projected that the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund can pay 100% of benefits through 2098 with no reductions or changes. This fund can pay benefits to an individual who become disabled (as defined by Social Security rules) prior to full retirement age.

However, the retirement (pension) trust fund will have to reduce benefits in 2034 if changes are not made. This is the part of Social Security that pays a retirement benefit starting between the ages of 62 and 67.

Both Social Security trust funds are self financing. Workers pay 7.65 percent of their wages in FICA* tax, up to a maximum of $176,000 wages per year. Their employers pay a matching 7.65 percent of wages into the trust funds. Thus for every $100 paid in wages, $15.30 is paid to the trust fund as FICA contributions. (Self employed individuals pay the full 15.3 percent tax).

*FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contribution Act, a tax mechanism codified in Title 26, Subtitle C, Chapter 21 of the United States Code.^[3]

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