More than 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every day, and that number will peak at about 12,000 in the summer of 2024.
This means the total number of retirees might peak around then too and then begin to decrease. Many retire before age 65 (due to a variety of reasons including health, or government or other jobs that provide early retirement.)
Most retirees, today, are not eligible for “standard” Social Security until they turn age 67, which means Social Security benefits could peak a bit later.
At this time, neither Medicare nor Social Security are fully funded and no one knows what will happen when the government fails to deliver past promises. The majority of today’s living retirees receive a pension – but pension benefits are far fewer among the latest retirees. Moving forward, the majority of retirees will not have pensions other than Social Security and self funded retirement funds.
This funding issue was well known in the 1980s but Congress and other political leaders consistently failed to address this shortfall, always “kicking the can down the road”.
