Did Social Security Make a Big Mistake?

MSN Money reports that academic analysts say we may be running out of money. The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) has been using "outdated calculations and severely overestimated the money available for retirees," says the report.

The analysis was conducted by Samir Soneji, a demographer and professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and Gary King, a professor of government at Harvard, says the MSN report.

The two say the government has "grossly underestimated the money it needs for retiring Americans to the tune of $800 billion by 2031, more than the current annual defense budget."

They say that something must change immediately to save the system.

"And if nothing is done," they said to MSN Money, "the Social Security trust fund will run out two years ahead of current government predictions."

Some items not considered by SSA, according to King and Soneji, include the added longevity to one's life. The two say Americans "are adding years of life that the government hasn’t accounted for."

The duo suggests that major changes may be necessary to alter this problem. Ideas such as "raising the retirement age to as high as 69 or 70, increasing payroll taxes, limiting annual cost-of-living adjustments and reducing benefits" are among those they offer up.

No matter what, the analysts suggest change immediately.

"The longer we ignore the problem," they warn in MSN Money, "the more disruptive any change will need to be to keep Social Security alive."