Money Making Sense: What’s happening with Social Security?
Apr 3, 2025, 6:00 PM
The Social Security Administration office is seen in Mount Prospect, Ill., Oct. 12, 2022. (Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)
(Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)
SALT LAKE CITY — How long will Social Security last?
Chad Waddoups, vice president of Wealth Management of Mountain America Investment Services, gave his insights.
Below is a partial transcript of this interview as well as the full podcast.👇
Current Social Security process
“In terms of how it works right now, is, you and I, anybody who’s working is paying into the system through a Social Security tax. That tax is 6.2%,” Waddoups said. ” … So if you are working for an employer, you pay 6.2%, the employer pays 6.2%. If you’re unemployed, you have the joy of paying the full tax yourself, so the 12.4%.”
Waddoups stated that money is deposited into a trust fund, kept separate, invested in treasury bonds and later distributed to Social Security beneficiaries.
“That’s the way it’s working today and up until 2021, that fund was growing … which was great, that’s what you want to see, right? From 2021 on, the fund has been shrinking a little as more money has been coming out to pay the recipients compared to the tax money coming in.”
Getting rid of Social Security altogether?
Waddoups said he feels like it’s highly unlikely for Social Security to go away.
“The administration, through several different voices, has reiterated their stance that they want to maintain Social Security,” Waddoups said. “What we have heard, more frequently, is that there is a belief in Washington, in some circles, that there’s some fraud and abuse within the system that could be eliminated.”
According to Waddoups, estimates suggest that fraud and abuse within Social Security and Medicare systems could total over $500 billion annually.
“So getting some of that out can help,” Waddoups said. “But the likelihood of the system itself, the entirety of the entire Social Security system being eliminated, I think is very, very low.”
Waddoups said there are over 70 million people in the U.S. who rely on Social Security and use it to help fund their retirement.
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