Longer retirements and bad planning

Life expectancy in the U.S. is rising, which should be a good thing. After all, that’s the whole purpose of everything, right? To live longer. But here’s the thing: when it comes to calculating Social Security, strangely enough, longevity isn’t great.

In fact, longer lifespans result in increasing total payouts, and since Social Security funds haven’t (yet) become an endless reservoir of cash, more money flowing out could result in less money in the overall pool.

Believe it or not, this is exactly what makes it more likely for future beneficiaries to receive a cut in payments at a certain point.