Financial planners say Social Security reform needed now to avoid future insolvency

• The overwhelming majority, 92.6 percent, agreed that Social Security's pending insolvency crisis must be fixed today.
• A similar margin of FPA members, or 95.7 percent, believes their 6 million clients are somewhat or very concerned over the future of Social Security as it affects future income in retirement.
• The survey found financial planners had difficulty agreeing on a single solution to reform Social Security.
• Survey respondents were asked to "spend" 20 points on various solutions to the issues in attempting to identify consensus on one or more solutions, but their choices reflected widely varying preferences.
• Ranked highest was creation of some form of either fully private or partially private accounts, at 17,778 of 52,811 points spent by respondents, or 33 percent of all points allocated.
• Following next in preference were 21 percent favoring elimination of the payroll tax cap on wages above $90,000, and 18 percent supporting increasing the retirement age.
• This change alone, noted Barnash, would go a long way toward restoring the system to fiscal solvency by maintaining a clear balance between benefits and real spending power.
• Despite the widely varying opinions among financial planners, Barnash said the survey results will help the association identify critical parts of Social Security reform that FPA may be able to support or oppose if a major proposal draws significant traction in Congress.
• As a result of the survey's finding that financial planners want a greater role in the debate, FPA will encourage chapters to organize town hall forums to discuss the issue in their local area.
• "One of the most important aspects of this debate that everyone seems to gloss over," said Barnash, "is that Social Security is only one aspect of the financial planning process.