My Wacky Idea to Save Social Security

If I was the president, I would say the following to the American people:

“You’ve worked hard, you’ve paid a lot of money into the Social Security system for decades. You’re entitled to receive all the Social Security benefits you deserve in your retirement. But the Social Security system is in trouble, and it cannot survive without our help.

So, I’m asking you to voluntarily reduce the amount of money that you are entitled to receive from Social Security. If you’re one of the country’s 22 million millionaires, you can probably afford to give up your entire Social Security check. But I’m not asking that, or any amount. Even if you’re not a millionaire, perhaps you can agree to reduce your monthly check by five dollars.

We’re not proposing any law that takes your money away from you. But I’m asking you to please recognize that we simply don’t have the money to continue paying all this money to everyone. So, will you please join us in voluntarily reducing the amount of your Social Security benefit?

You can change your mind at any time, and we’ll restore your monthly income to its full amount. Together, we can solve the Social Security crisis and protect the tens of millions of American retirees who depend on that money.”

What’s Next?

Well, it’s been a few weeks since I offered up this innovative idea on my podcast, The Truth About Your Future. I asked my audience if the idea is brilliant or wacky, and you can imagine all the feedback I received.

But I’ve now reached the conclusion that my idea will never work, due to a survey just released by The Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago.

Their poll, which has been conducted yearly since 1998, shows that an appeal to patriotism would fail. In 1998, 70% of U.S. adults called patriotism “very important.” But now, only 38% say so. The figure drops to just 23% for adults under 30.

What has happened to cause this radical reduction in patriotism?

Well, since 1998, we’ve experienced the dot-com bubble burst, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, social review of police treatment of blacks and the LGBTQ+ community, the MAGA movement, the Woke movement, COVID-19 and more. And perhaps the worst of this list is the horrible name-calling and infighting between the political parties and the media’s participation in that fight.

Small wonder, then, that just about everything that once mattered to Americans no longer does. The survey shows that only 23% of adults under 30 say having children is very important. Only 31% say religion is very important. Only 60% say hard work is very important.

But there’s one area where importance has risen, and this is equally true for both Republicans and Democrats: There’s a 30% increase in the view that money is very important.

So, my idea to save Social Security — asking people to be patriotic and give up some of their money — was dead before it even got started. I’m sorry to say that you need to prepare your clients for massive tax increases, because that is how Congress is going to address this crisis.

And I haven’t even mentioned Medicare and Medicaid. I’ll save that for another time.

Ric Edelman is an author and founder of RIA Edelman Financial Engines (earlier Edelman Financial Services). He now leads the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, or DACFP, which recently formed a strategic partnership with the Financial Planning Association to provide educational programming and content to help FPA members understand the complexities of cryptocurrencies and how these issues can affect their clients’ financial plans.