Many Osceola County, Florida, residents have probably heard stories that the trust funds administered by the Social Security Administration, and which pays for disability benefits like SSDI, is on the brink of a collapse because the money going to the trust simply isn’t matching what is coming out.
Indeed, the most recent government report predicted two things. First, that, at least by one measurement, the amount of money that goes in to the program’s trust funds will not match what is being pulled out of the funds.
However, currently, the trust is able to re-invest a lot of the funds it is holding on to, meaning that, at least for the next four or so years, the trust will actually profit, as it has overall during its almost 85-year history. The problems will start to develop in 2021, when the Administration no longer be able to rely on their investments to make up the shortfall. With the current trend, trusts funds will be gone by 2034. This is all according to the Social Security Administration’s most recent report on the status of the trust.
However, to give some perspective to what some portray as a nightmare scenario, the vast majority, over 75 percent, of Social Security payouts actually come from current payroll taxes; just like a person’s household budget, most of the money never really goes in and out of long-term savings accounts. Social Security pays as expenses go up.
On a practical level, the message for those in Florida who are thinking about going on disability is not to listen to stories about how there are too many people drawing benefits and they are draining the system dry. It is a stable system and one that is there to help those who have a legitimate disability and need financial help.