What does the next era of Social Security look like?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Peak 65 is here. More than 4 million Americans will turn 65 between 2024 and 2027, representing the largest retirement surge in history. Years ago, older Americans could count on Social Security. But today there is some uncertainty on the program's solvency in the next decade plus. Now, many are entering their golden years with financial insecurity. Today on the show, how did Social Security become a thing? And what could the safety net for the Peak 65 generation and beyond look like?

Related episodes:
Iceberg ahead for Social Security (Apple / Spotify)
What would it take to fix retirement? (Apple / Spotify)
Social Insecurity

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	NPR. This is the indicator from planet money. I'm Darien Woods and I'm Whelan Wong. So you've probably heard of peak oil.
0:19.0	Yeah, the theory that we've already hit maximum conventional oil production.
0:24.0	There's also Peak TV.
0:25.7	That's how some critics describe a golden age of television in the early 2000s.
0:30.1	Now let us introduce you to Peak 65.
0:33.6	Yeah, so Peak 65 refers to a record number of Americans who are retiring.
0:39.0	It's the biggest retirement surge in history, and it started this year.
0:44.0	More than 4 million Americans will turn 65 between 2024 and 2027.
0:50.0	That's over 11,000 people hitting this milestone every single day.
0:55.0	It's a lot of birthday candles.
0:57.0	Yes, we are going to need a bigger cake.
1:00.0	Or more
1:03.0	robust systems to make sure this record number of retirees
1:06.0	is financially secure.
1:08.0	Because we've probably all seen the headlines
1:10.0	about how Social Security is in huge trouble.
1:13.7	The program's cash surplus is expected to run out in less than a decade.
1:18.3	The country's retirement systems are due for an overhaul.
1:21.8	Maybe even one as radical as the creation of Social Security back in 1935.
1:27.0	Today in the show we explain the origins of Social Security and we look at some big ideas to tackle the challenges of Peak 65 and beyond.
1:36.0	James Chapel is a historian at Duke University. He has a book coming out in
1:46.6	November about the history of aging in the US. It's called Golden Years,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.