Learn about how Social Security’s trustees and actuaries choose appro- priate assumptions. MARCH 2009 SepTembeR 2009 No one, not even actuaries, can predict the future. When the actuaries at the Social Security Administration evalu- ate Social Security’s financial condi- tion, they use assumptions about how the future will unfold. Learn about how the major assump- tions affect the results of the annual projections of the system’s finances.