Study Details Impact of Reform Alternatives on Social Security Benefits

This new article, appearing in the June 2006 EBRI Notes, examines the changes in the distribution of benefit levels Social Security recipients would receive under each of five different reform alternatives. In addition, the article calculates for each beneficiary the amount of savings that would need to be accumulated in order to purchase a payout annuity (an insurance product that provides a regular lifetime stream of earnings) to compensate for the decrease Social Security benefits that would occur under these alternatives compared with current law. [RJ]