Eva Roberts, a 65-year-old Riverhead woman, knows retirement isn’t on the immediate horizon for her. Born in 1959, she won’t qualify for full Social Security benefits until May 2026, two months before she turns 67. Roberts, who works as a driver and bus monitor for the Riverhead Central School District, said she’s trying “to put together some kind of a survival plan” for her economic future and says her plan to keep working also is based on worries about potential injury or illness.
Roberts is part of a trend of older Americans staying in the workforce, which experts, including those at Pew Research Center, said is partly due to changes in Social Security retirement benefits. On Jan. 2, the full Social Security retirement age for those born before 1960 increased to 67.
This shift, which was part of amendments made in 1983 to protect the program’s solvency, reflects an effort to adapt to longer life expectancy and other demographic changes. Those born after 1960 will now need to be 67 to qualify for full benefits. Some Long Islanders are concerned about what their Social Security retirement benefits will look like and how they will get by financially because of recent age adjustments and economic challenges that could impact the program’s future.
Social Security Administration officials have stated that by 2033, the program is projected to cut 21% of people’s retirement benefits due to depleted funding. The problem arises from increased life expectancy and declining fertility rates, leading to more beneficiaries from the baby boomer generation than people working to support them.
Older Americans face social security woes
Huntington resident Leann Pisano, 58, said she has started to think about how many more years she’ll need to keep working. Pisano said she went back to school in her 50s and graduated last year with a nursing degree to find more stable work. She estimates she’ll need to work until she’s 72.
“I’m very worried — how am I going to survive?” Pisano said. “I can’t trust all the money I paid all these years to help me retire.”
Potential slashes to the program would affect everyone across the board, both current beneficiaries and future recipients, according to Gerry Hafer, Social Security adviser at AMAC Foundation, a nonprofit based in Florida that advocates for older Americans. Even if the worst-case scenario of reducing benefits by 21% is averted, there are concerns that seniors will face more financial hurdles with the rising retirement age.
Hodges, chief customer officer at the Virginia-based National Council on Aging, believes increasing the full retirement age is effectively a benefit cut that will disproportionately impact lower-income, older adults. He noted that more than 40% of people across the country start their benefits at age 62, resulting in a smaller permanent benefit for the rest of their lives, about 30% less. Clariona Griffith, a Hempstead Village trustee, said many older people in her community are having a hard time retiring, and even when they do, they often need to supplement their income with a job.
“You already worked half your life and now to push the numbers even higher is not a benefit to anybody,” Griffith said of the age adjustments. “A lot of people are not happy. They have to work the additional time and even if they do retire, the bottom line is with the cost of living, inflation and everything going up, it is going to be very difficult and tough.”
As the discussion around Social Security continues, the concerns of older adults underscore the importance of a comprehensive approach to ensure the program’s future sustainability.
