Actuaries are urging policy maker to raise the retirement age as the first step to shoring up Social Security and keeping younger workers from bearing the brunt of painful tax increases.
The American Academy of Actuaries issued a policy statement recently suggesting that "holding the retirement age constant is a certain prescription for future financial problems."
The normal retirement age for Social Security was last raised in 1983, from 65 to 67 over a phased-in period. All workers born in 1960 and after have to wait until age 67 to receive full benefits. In order to avoid major disruptions to the Social Security system, officials should raise the retirement age now, the actuaries said.
The organization pointed to figures showing that, since 1940, the life expectancy of American men who reached age 65 had increased by nearly five years. Women who reached 65 saw their life expectancy increase by nearly six years in the same period.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2008
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