The Biggest Myth Baby Boomers Were Told About Social Security - And Why It Still Matters

"Many baby boomers were led to believe that their Social Security benefits would replace their entire paychecks. In reality, those benefits only provide a limited amount of income, and they do a poor job of keeping up with inflation. Boomers who earned an average paycheck during their working years can expect Social Security to replace about 40% of it. That's not enough income to live on in retirement - or at least not to live comfortably."

"Worse yet, Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, have long disappointed seniors. Those COLAs are supposed to help retirees maintain their buying power as inflation drives costs up. But because COLAs are calculated based on an index that doesn't measure senior-specific costs, they often fall short. There's even worse news for boomers on Social Security Not only won't Social Security replace boomers' paychecks in full, but those benefits could be facing sweeping cuts in less than a decade."

Baby boomers are roughly 61 to 79 years old. Many are retired and some still work. Boomers have counted on Social Security as a key source of retirement income. Social Security generally replaces about 40% of an average pre-retirement paycheck, which is insufficient for comfortable retirement. Annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) often fail to match seniors' expenses because the index used does not reflect senior-specific costs. Social Security trust funds could be depleted within a decade, potentially triggering roughly 20% universal reductions in retirement benefits and creating severe hardship for low-income retirees.

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