There are people who think that they can personally seize total control over matters that involve dynamic outside influences, but the fact is that this is simply not possible. Think back to the financial meltdown of 2008 and you can see how true the above statement is. Many people who had been carefully planning for retirement for years leading up to that time saw their “best laid plans” hit a snag. None of us has a crystal ball, but what you can do is keep a very close eye on all of the issues that could impact your retirement and plan intelligently from a fully informed perspective.
With this in mind, anyone who is planning for their retirement around now would do well to keep a close eye on all the talks about budget cuts coming out of Washington. You can’t really consider any significant decrease in federal spending without Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid entering the discussion because outlays for these programs comprise about a third of the budget. And that is the way that it was in 2010. Due to the fact that the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, there are 10,000 new applicants for Social Security every day, and this daily volume is expected to remain constant for the next 20 years.
There are those who analyze public sentiment from time to time and scratch their heads when they see how many people seem to advocate against their own interests. When it comes to Social Security and Medicare, if you are planning for your retirement while legislators are considering cuts, this is something that directly affects you. Much of the media coverage that you see surrounding the matter somehow fails to mention the fact that all these baby boomers who are now reaching retirement age paid into these programs for 30 or 40 years, or more. It is only natural that they would expect to receive significant benefits in return.
Will budget cuts impact Social Security? Only time will tell, but if such cuts would impact your retirement it would probably be a good idea to keep a close eye on the ongoing discussions taking place among the politicians on Capitol Hill.
