US Social Security trust fund

Extracted Attributes

• Purpose

  Provides for payment of Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance; OASDI) benefits

• Debt Type

  Intra-governmental debt

• Funding Source

  Payroll taxes

• Official Names

  Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund

• Value (as of 2021)

  2.908 trillion USD

• Interest Rate (2014)

  3.6%

• Investment Requirement

  Legally required to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the federal government (U.S. Treasuries)

• Actuarial Deficit (OASDI, 2025 Report)

  3.82% of taxable payroll

• Components (Social Security Trust Funds)

  Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund

• Value (accumulated reserves over past four decades)

  2.8 trillion USD

• Intra-governmental Debt to SSA (as of December 2022)

  2.7 trillion USD (part of 6.18 trillion USD intragovernmental debt, which is part of 31.4 trillion USD national debt)

Timeline

• Social Security amendments led to dramatic growth in trust fund reserves. (Source: Web Search: cbpp.org)

  1983

• Program costs were expected to begin exceeding non-interest income. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2010

• The program ran an overall surplus, adding to the fund, until the end of this year due to interest earnings. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2019

• The Trust Fund contained $2.908 trillion. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2021

• Intragovernmental debt owed to the Social Security Administration was $2.7 trillion. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-12-31

• The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is projected to become insolvent (according to the 2025 Trustees' Report). (Source: Web Search: crfb.org)

  2033

• The combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust funds are projected to be depleted (according to the 2025 Trustees' Report, one year earlier than previous projections). (Source: Web Search: cbpp.org, blog.ssa.gov, ssa.gov/oact/trsum/, crfb.org)

  2034

• Earlier projection for the depletion of the trust fund. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2035

• After depletion, payroll taxes are projected to cover approximately 81% of scheduled benefits. (Source: Web Search: ssa.gov/oact/trsum/, blog.ssa.gov)

  2034

• Projected percentage of scheduled benefits covered by payroll taxes declines to 72%. (Source: Web Search: ssa.gov/oact/trsum/)

  2099

Social Security Trust Fund

The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (collectively, the Social Security Trust Fund or Trust Funds) are trust funds that provide for payment of Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance; OASDI) benefits administered by the United States Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration collects payroll taxes and uses the money collected to pay Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits by way of trust funds. When the program runs a surplus, the excess funds increase the value of the Trust Fund. As of 2021, the Trust Fund contained (or alternatively, was owed) $2.908 trillion. The Trust Fund is required by law to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the "full faith and credit" of the federal government. These securities earn a market rate of interest. Excess funds are used by the government for non-Social Security purposes, creating the obligations to the Social Security Administration and thus program recipients. However, Congress could cut these obligations by altering the law. Trust Fund obligations are considered "intra-governmental" debt, a component of the "public" or "national" debt. As of December 2022 (estimated), the intragovernmental debt was $6.18 trillion of the $31.4 trillion national debt. Of this $6.18 trillion, $2.7 trillion is an obligation to the Social Security Administration. According to the Social Security Trustees, who oversee the program and report on its financial condition, program costs are expected to exceed non-interest income from 2010 onward. However, due to interest (earned at a 3.6% rate in 2014) the program will run an overall surplus that adds to the fund through the end of 2019. Under current law, the securities in the Trust Fund represent a legal obligation the government must honor when program revenues are no longer sufficient to fully fund benefit payments. However, when the Trust Fund is used to cover program deficits in a given year, the Trust Fund balance is reduced. One projection scenario estimates that, by 2035, the Trust Fund could be exhausted. Thereafter, payroll taxes are projected to only cover approximately 83% of program obligations. There have been various proposals to address this shortfall, including: reducing government expenditures, such as by raising the retirement age; tax increases; investment diversification and, borrowing.

Web Search Results

• The Social Security Trust Fund Myth | Cato Institute

  The Social Security trust fund is a figurative piggy bank that holds only IOUs issued by the Treasury to the Social Security Administration, not actual money. [...] > The annual revenues to the Social Security trust funds are used to pay current Social Security benefits and administrative expenses. If, in any year, revenues are greater than costs, the surplus Social Security revenues in the US Treasury are available for spending by the federal government on other (non-Social Security) spending needs at the time.3 Image 3: Social Security’s Trust Fund Promo Cropped ##### Visual Feature ### Social Securitys Financial Crisis: The Trust Fund Myth Uncovered [...] This is similar to how the government operates Social Security’s trust fund, creating a cycle of borrowing that adds to the taxpayer debt burden. Social Security’s trust fund is a taxes-in/benefits-out pipeline. When the government collected more in Social Security payroll taxes than it needed to provide benefits, the Treasury spent the surplus on other government activities and wrote an IOU promising to repay the Social Security Administration. With the Social Security Administration now

• What the 2025 Trustees' Report Shows About Social Security

  The trustees estimate that if policymakers take no further action, Social Security’s combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund reserves will be depleted in 2034. This is one year earlier than projected in last year’s report, and the closest the trust funds have come to reserve depletion since the early 1980s.( [...] Following the 1983 Social Security amendments, the trust fund reserves grew dramatically, which has helped to finance the retirement of the baby-boom generation. The principal and interest from the trust funds’ bonds will enable Social Security to keep paying full benefits until 2034. The bonds have the full faith and credit of the United States government, and — as long as the solvency of the federal government itself is not called into question — Social Security will be able to redeem its [...] While most of Social Security’s benefits are funded by the payroll taxes collected from today’s workers, the program has also accumulated $2.8 trillion in trust fund reserves over the past four decades.( During that period, Social Security’s income exceeded its costs, and the program invested the surplus in interest-bearing Treasury securities. Over the next nine years, those reserves will make up the difference between Social Security’s income and costs.

• Projection for Combined Trust Funds One Year Sooner than Last Year

  Image 4: The logo of the Social Security AdministrationThe Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report on the financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to have enough dedicated revenue to pay all scheduled benefits and associated administrative costs until 2034, one year earlier than projected last year, with 81 percent of benefits payable at

• Trustees Report Summary - SSA

  What are the Trust Funds? There are four trust funds into which Social Security and Medicare program income is transferred and from which program costs—benefits and administrative expenses—are paid. When program income exceeds current costs, the trust funds accumulate reserves, which are used to pay benefits in periods when program income alone is not sufficient. Each trust fund pays only the types of benefits it is permitted to pay under law. [...] It is often useful to consider the findings for the two Social Security trust funds (OASI and DI) on a combined basis. The actuarial deficit for Social Security as a whole—called OASDI—is 3.82 percent of taxable payroll. If these two legally separate trust funds were combined, then the hypothetical OASDI reserves would be projected to become depleted in 2034 and 81 percent of scheduled Social Security benefits would be payable at that time, declining to 72 percent by 2099. BACKGROUND [...] These trust funds were established by Congress and are managed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The four trust funds are: • Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund • Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund • Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund • Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund

• Analysis of the 2025 Social Security Trustees' Report

  Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will become insolvent in just eight years – 2033 – when today’s 59-year-olds reach their full retirement age and today’s youngest retirees turn 70. If funds are reallocated from the Social Security’s Disability Insurance trust fund (SSDI), the theoretically combined trust funds will be exhausted in 2034, a year sooner than predicted in last year's report. [...] ## Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ## Main navigation ## Header Buttons ## Breadcrumb # Analysis of the 2025 Social Security Trustees' Report The Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports today on the financial status of the programs. The Trustees find that both Social Security and Medicare are within a decade of insolvency and face large imbalances, necessitating trust fund solutions. In particular, the 2025 Social Security Trustees Report projects: [...] Social Security’s long-term outlook has significantly worsened relative to last year’s projection and its financial challenges have increased. The 2024 Social Security Trustees’ Report estimated a 75-year actuarial imbalance of 3.50 percent of taxable payroll, which has increased to 3.82 percent in this year’s report. The insolvency date for the theoretically combined trust funds has also moved one year earlier, to 2034 from 2035. In total, updates in this report worsened Social Security’s