Social Security funds to run out by 2033

last updated 8 January 2015

Social Security’s primary trust fund, which helps finance benefits for 44 million seniors and survivors of deceased workers, is now projected to run dry three years sooner than previously forecast, said the program’s trustees in an annual report. Driven by a tidal wave of baby boomer retirees, a feeble economy, and Washington’s inability to address the coming shortfall, the fund will run out of money by 2033 if Congress doesn’t intervene. Social Security’s retirement and disability programs are adequately funded “for years to come,” said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, one of the six trustees, but “we must take steps to keep these programs whole for the future.”