As Social Security celebrates its 80th anniversary, many Americans are pessimistic about the program’s future, but most financial advisors seem positive about its survival.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 41 percent of Americans think there will be no Social Security benefits when they retire, and nearly a third expect benefits to be reduced, but those assumptions aren’t necessarily grounded in reality, says Scott Michalek, principal at the Wescott Financial Advisory Group in Philadelphia.

“Part of the problem is the press,” Michalek says. “The press writes more about the demise of Social Security than it does any kind of solution. The public has the impression that there won’t be any money left after 18 or 19 years, but I can’t see our government letting it fall off of the cliff.”

The 2015 Social Security Administration trustees report extended its projected funding lifespan from 2033 to 2034.

“I think there’s an education gap,” says Angela DiCastri, director of retirement markets for Northwestern Mutual. 

Nevertheless, questions remain about the program’s future. The trustees report estimates that the program will meet its financial obligation for another 18 years. Then, if no changes are made, tax receipts will fall short of covering retirees’ full benefits.

“Many people think that Social Security will no longer exist, but it really means that tax receipts will be able to pay 77 percent of the benefits,” DiCastri says. “This isn’t a doomsday clock. Congress might wait to act. But even if they don’t, the benefit will be there in some form.”

When faced with a similar issue, with months before Social Security became insolvent in 1983, Congress voted to gradually increased the full retirement age from 65 to 67.

“People forget that Social Security has been broke twice before,” DiCastri says. “In 1977, Congress raised the withholding to preserve the program. If Congress does something, things will change, but we don’t know what that something will look like.”

The solution to Social Security’s current woes could be another increase in the retirement age.

“I think the most likely scenario is that the full retirement age will be deferred,” Michalek says. “Today’s 18 year olds might start Social Security at age 70 or 72.”

Lawmakers have other options. In their most recent report, the trustees recommended a 2.62-point increase to the payroll tax rate, from 12.4 to 15.02 percent. Under current assumptions, such a move would ensure Social Security’s survival to the end of this century.

“I don’t know what the long-term changes will look like, but I don’t think they will be enormous,” Jeff Spivack, head of wealth planning at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, says. “We’re more likely to see course corrections. Changes are inevitable, but large changes aren’t called for.”

Younger workers are the most pessimistic about Social Security. According to the recent Pew study, 43 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 47 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds don’t expect to receive any benefits. In contrast, 31 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds felt like they wouldn’t receive benefits from the program.

Tyler Landes, founder of Tandem Financial Guidance in Kansas City, Mo., says he doesn’t build Social Security into millennial clients’ retirement planning at all.

“At this age, there are so many variables, it’s more about just making sure their savings rate is adequate,” Landes says. “It’s dangerous for millennials to expect Social Security will exist in its current form, but we have a long enough time horizon that we don’t have to count on it.”

Despite the uncertainty, most advisors deliver Social Security advice as part of retirement planning.

“From our perspective, Social Security is a key piece of an overall retirement plan,” says DiCastri. “It’s one of the few pieces of guaranteed income clients get. With the decline of pensions, most people don’t have retirement income coming from an employer.”

Without Social Security, retirement planning would look radically different. Spivack suggests that in the absence of the program’s guaranteed income, demand would increase for financial products that guarantee a steady retirement cash flow.

“We would have to amend retirement planning,” Spivack says. “There are alternatives, like annuities with living benefits. Social Security is a forced savings program with a broad benefit. Without it, there would also be people with nothing for retirement.”

For high-net-worth Americans, Social Security remains a subject of fascination, even though it won’t play as large a role in their retirement planning.

“It’s an observable phenomenon,” Bill LaCasse, advisor and principal at SRG Financial Services in Osage Beach, Mo., says. “When you invite people to a Social Security event, you would think that it might bring out middle- or lower-income people highly dependent on Social Security for retirement, but instead it brings out a lot of high-net-worth people who are interested in advice and planning.”

Landes has used Social Security to give affluent clients additional options in retirement.

“A lot of my high-net-worth clients have been charitably inclined,” Landes says. “They’re looking to protect assets so they can pass them on, so planning is about maximizing their benefit so they can avoid spending down their assets.”

But some high-net-worth clients aren’t receiving Social Security advice.

“I continue to be surprised at how many high-net-worth clients come to our seminars,” Mike Lynch, vice president of strategic markets for Hartford Funds in Hartford, Conn., says. “They aren’t learning about strategies because their advisors assume they will not need Social Security. There’s still a desire on their part to be educated as to what their options are. It’s a great way to prospect.”

In the case of a market downturn during the first months of retirement, electing to take Social Security earlier in lieu of drawing on a retirement account can help hedge against sequence of returns risk.

“If they retire at the top of a market peak, and they start drawing from their portfolio as the market starts to decline, they could reach a point where they run out of money,” LaCasse says. “If they retire at the bottom of a trough, they could take 5 percent out a year and watch their portfolio continue to grow. Social Security can help them avoid drawing out of their retirement savings in a down market.”

Social Security is especially important for women, who often outlive their spouses and are more affected by time spent out of the workforce and divorce. Social Security strategy also changes for married couples due to the availability of spousal benefits, but the most common questions advisors hear are about when to claim benefits.

To advisors’ exasperation, some clients request to take Social Security early because they’re apprehensive about the program’s future, while others want to take their benefits early while they’re younger and in better health.

“Baby boomers seem to want to front-load their retirement with more income early in life so they can enjoy themselves,” LaCasse says. “That should really be done off of assets they have accumulated, not Social Security.”  

Conventional wisdom states that Americans should wait as long as possible to take Social Security to maximize their monthly benefit.

“It makes sense to wait if you can afford it,” Heather Evans, senior vice president for wealth management and with Merrill Lynch’s Evans-Candelori Group in Vienna, Va. “That way you get the greatest amount of supplement to your income. A lot of people file at 62 and take a 25 percent discount on their benefits. As life expectancy increases, the risk of outliving your money is too great to ignore and waiting until you can maximize benefits at 70 years old makes more sense.”

However, the math changes for families with lower life expectancy or fewer savings.

“I look at longevity issues,” Christopher Hensley, president of the Houston First Financial Group, says. “If they have cancer or a chronic illness that runs in their family, if they have parents that have passed away at a younger age, that might be a situation where we look at filing earlier.”

While there are a bevy of free online tools to determine claiming strategies, most don’t consider the personal factors that a human advisor can use to enhance Social Security’s usefulness.

“Advisors should approach Social Security by learning more about how to coordinate benefits as if it was a duty to their clients rather than an extra burden that they won’t get paid for,” Hensley says. “Education and knowledge about these programs is what sets us apart from the other advisors out there.”