Unfortunately, my crystal ball is malfunctioning and the repairman said it's too broken to fix.

Seriously though, I do have some thoughts as to what may come.

First, I expect SS will be there for a long time. However, there will have to be changes made to keep it sustainable given the longer life expectancy at retirement and the slower population increase rate, that together mean the ratio of workers to retirees is shrinking.

Some plausible changes include: (1) A faster increase in the maximum income subject to payroll taxes. (2) A gradual increase in full retirement age like was done years ago to bring it from 65 to 67. (3) Changing the benefits calculation so benefits replace even less than they already do of middle and high incomes. (4) If Congress does nothing else, an across the board cut of about 25% in promised benefits will be forced on us.

I think that last is the least likely, but if there's one thing that I continue to find shocking is how badly Congress does the job they're supposedly there to do.