Kiss Retiring At 67 Goodbye

Kiss Retiring At 67 Goodbye
The recession is depleting the Social Security trust fund faster than expected, increasing the odds that the retirement age will be raised.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Social Security, long growing unsustainably, is now in even worse shape because of the recession.

In its annual report Tuesday, the Social Security Board of Trustees projected that by 2016 Social Security will pay more in benefits than it collects in taxes. Prior to the recession, the system would have stayed in the black until 2017. Tuesday's report also said the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2037, four years earlier than the estimate a year ago.

The simplest solution looks to be delaying when workers can tap Social Security, which would be another blow to Americans who were already facing the prospect of having to spend more years in the traces due to the evaporation of home equity and retirement savings amid the downturn.
In 2008, when home prices had been falling for two years in most parts of the country but before the stock market crashed, the AARP conducted a survey that found around one in five people ages 55 to 64 were delaying retirement for economic reasons. One in four people ages 45 to 54 were also expecting to retire later.

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http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/12/social-security-taxes-business-washington-retirement.html