My Comments: As an investment advisor and financial planner, I’m very aware of the role played by Social Security payments in my clients financial lives as they approach or subsist in retirement. Indeed, some of them are unable to retire as they thought they might, and some applied to the Social Security safety net before retirement to relieve some of the financial pressure.

The last time there were major changes to the system was in 1983, almost 30 years ago. How has your world changed in the past 30 years? At the time, it was estimated there were perhaps only 5 years left before the system was bankrupt. It’s clearly time for elected officials to put aside their political differences and work toward a solution for ALL of us. Period.

This article appeared in a weekly newsletter I receive from a publication called BenefitsPro, whose focus is the myriad of rules and regulations and benefits offered by employers across these United State.

By Paula Aven Gladych

Depending on who you talk to, the future of Social Security is either in the toilet or completely salvageable, so who do you believe?

The U.S. Social Security Administration’s 2012 annual report for Social Security reiterated what the report has said for two years, that the program “cannot sustain projected long-run program costs under currently scheduled financing, and legislative modifications are necessary to avoid disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers.”

According to the SSA, the Social Security trust fund only has enough funds to pay full benefits through 2033, three years earlier than was projected in 2011. After that, it would have enough tax income to pay about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086.

“Under current projections, the annual cost of Social Security benefits expressed as a share of workers’ taxable earnings will grow rapidly from 11.3 percent in 2007, the last pre-recession year, to roughly 17.4 percent in 2035, and will then decline slightly before slowly increasing after 2050,” the SSA stated.

Most people agree something must be done to shore up Social Security, but how that is accomplished is a different story.

Politicians have bickered about Social Security for years, and while neither side of the political aisle advocates for scrapping the program, numerous proposals have surfaced that could extend the life of the program, depending on who you talk to.

The AARP highlighted the top proposals that have been put forth by politicians and others to save or fix Social Security, including raising the full retirement age to 68, raising the payroll tax cap and recalculating cost of living adjustments.

Tiffany Lundquist, a spokesperson for AARP, said that her organization is not taking a position on any one proposal since there are no legislative proposals on the table currently to change the Social Security program. What AARP is doing is touting a new program called, “You’ve earned a say,” which makes sure “Americans are aware of the different options for Social Security and Medicare and understand what those options would mean for them and their families,” she said. “So going forward, when we see legislative proposals in Washington, Americans can make their voices heard about how they want it strengthened.”

Lundquist added that AARP is “making sure more Americans are engaged in the conversation and it is not just decisions being made by politicians in Washington.”

Continue reading: THE PROPOSALS