Planet Money

Who’s gonna pay for your Social Security?

September 30, 2026
Who’s gonna pay for your Social Security?
Very soon, Social Security may not have enough money to make full payments to retirees. Very soon. Like by 2032, just six years from now. So what are we gonna do about it? 

Today on the show, we look at some of the most talked about possible solutions; and exactly whose wallets we’ll have to rifle through to find the money to pay for each. Then we’ll run the options by the Social Security Administration's former Chief Actuary. The guy Congress used to call to crunch numbers and give them the bottom line. 

Read: 
- Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life 
- Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
- Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter

Follow: 
- Instagram
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Facebook

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Erika Beras and Jeff Guo, it was produced by James Sneed, and edited by Marianne McCune. Sierra Juarez is our fact-checker, and Annlie Huang & Robert Rodriguez engineered the show. Alex Goldmark is the executive producer of Planet Money.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Read more

0 comment

Be the first to comment on this content.


The podcast:

The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, “Meet me at the bar and tell me what’s going on with the economy.” Now imagine that’s actually a fun evening.

Latest episodes:

How can I listen to other podcasts?

Click here to discover another podcast randomly, or here to browse our categories. Lazy? That's okay, we did some research and selected podcasts just for you.


And what is Podmust?

Podmust is a french project aiming to promote the best podcasts. You can help us by sharing this page (this also helps the podcast, by the way). Thank you! 🙏

Stay informed, the audio way.

Podmust curates what you need to listen.
Discover some of our collections: our best Business podcastsour best Music podcastsour best News & Politics podcasts.

UK Edition

Well, the bad news is: we're French. But the good news is: Podmust curates the world's podcasts so you can focus on staying informed or entertained. And voilà!

© Podmust
Navigation