What's Going on with Social Security — and How Concerned Should You Be?

A man moving a giant clock's hands in front of a Social Security card.

When Darlene Friel was 14, her father died. Soon, her grandparents received monthly checks for Darlene as part of the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program, the formal name of Social Security. 

Friel collected about $500 a month until she graduated from high school at 18. Today, at 53, the Absecon, N.J., office manager worries about getting by when she is too old to work. "I fear the only Social Security money I will ever collect was after dad died," she says.