Social Security and the Downfalls of Early Retirement Essay

Social Security and the Downfalls of Early Retirement - Essay Example As a means of providing a certain level of financial assistance to those who have entered the later years of their live, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in one of his acts as commander-in-chief, enacted a social help doctrine that would be commonly known as Social Security. The importance of Social Security is not lost among people. The program in which benefactors are able to received a certain amount of financial help each month after a certain age which is supposed to be comparable to the amount of earnings that the person would have been into the system over the lifetime in which they were working. As many of the "baby boomer" generation begin their approach to retirement, there is a great concern amongst many people as to how the Social Security system will ultimately handle the influx of new retirees as they filter in. Some wish to retire early, while others are determined to maintain their status as working individuals to the median age of retirement, or the common age in which many people choose to not work anymore. As it stands, the current health of the Social Security system is at a point in which there is great concern when it comes to the amount of beneficiaries there will be in the near future. With such being the case, the level in which the system can support both current, as well as future retirees, is something that has many answers to it and great implications for the ultimate outcome. A question for a great many people is to whether or not they are able to retire early and as such draw upon their benefits. The following can become very true; Social Security for early retirement is a complicated issue. Since many countries cannot offer significant financial support for retirement, this indicates that a person should save money early to be prepared and become financially secured as he or she retires from work. Contrary to popular belief, the Social Security never intended to be thee only source of income for retired people. For this reason, weighing the pros and cons of social security for early retirement is important to understand your rights, benefits and limitations so you could invest in other pension plans to support your retirement. Over fifty years ago, life expectancy of a person who started earning income around 20 years old was at age 68. Today, the life expectancy of that same 20-year-old who started earning is at around age 78, which continues to rise. For this reason, the earlier you save money for retirement, the greater benefits you will receive once you retire. ("Understanding", p.1). To decide how best to go about retiring, whether it being to do so early or at the age in which is considered to be common, an important thing to keep in mind is to observe and consider whether or not the Social Security system would be solvent enough to provide enough benefits to help beneficiaries in their later years. Essentially, to retire early means a less amount of benefits that will be available at the end of the retiree's life, with those benefits having been used to care for the person when they sought to leave the work