Social Security COLA Announced
 

3.2%

Social Security COLA to Give Retirees a Roughly 3.2% Raise in 2024 - WSJ

ugh, that's on the low side of inflation, but its entitlement money, so its probably best to keep it not exploding higher so that congress peeps don't come up with the wrong answer to continue funding it.

Ok better they do not run out of money before they stop kicking the can down the road.

CPI was reported today at 4.1%.

Well they sure do have enough money to give away to other countries don't they ?

The COLA doesn't come close to its stated goal of not to erode the purchasing power of Social Security benefits by inflation.

Lucky there is any inflation adjustment.

:eclipsee_gold_cup:

So I'm gonna get a $30 raise, which will bump up my health care premium costs by around $45 per month since it puts me in the next level of eligibility for subsidies under the ACA. I'm not old enough for Medicare yet. The good news, is that if I wasn't eligible for subsidies at all, my premiums would be around $1900/month. I'm still paying under $225/month. So I guess there's that.

If Social Security was a true Entitlement, everyone would get it at a certain point. But as most know, unless you paid into it and have enough quarterly credits or collect on the earnings of a spouse, you do not get it.

8 Types of Americans Who Aren’t Eligible to Get Social Security

3.2%......

A misnomer.....cost of living increase...:1rotfl:

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Different pocket.

Being taught in my Economics classes that we should not count on Social Security benefits being around at retirement and plan your future accordingly I look at every payment as a bonus. I was in college and part of the height of the Baby Boomer explosion, and the thinking was that there would be no funds by the time we reached 65.

I think this is correct, it is improperly characterized as an entitlement. We all paid into Social Security our entire working lives, and our employers matched that contribution. For most of my career, 12.4% of my salary was paid into Social Security.

In my opinion, the most unfair aspect of Social Security for beneficiaries is that the income limits to determine what portion of your benefits are subject to federal income tax are not indexed to inflation. For the first 50 years of Social Security from 1935-84, Social Security benefits were not taxed at all. When Reagan "saved" Social Security in the mid-80's, benefits became taxable for the first time. However, in 1984, only 8% of recipients exceeded the limits and were taxed. Today, that percentage is approaching 60% and either 50% or 85% of their benefits are subject to federal income tax. The limits have not changed in 40 years. Here is what they are:

Single under $25,000 or Couple under $32,000 - benefits are not taxable
Single between $25-34,000 or Couple between $32-44,000 - 50% of your benefit is taxable
Over these amounts, 85% of your benefit is taxable.
When computing your income for these limits, the formula is modified adjusted gross income + 1/2 of your Social Security benefit.

These limits really should be updated, most everything else in the tax code is including standard deductions and tax brackets. I will not be holding my breath waiting for this, and I guess we should just hope they fix Social Security before the trust fund is unable to continuing paying full benefits somewhere around 10 years from now.

Hard to call Social Security an "entitlement," when those receiving it paid into the system their entire working life. We are simply recouping our "investmrnt," at a ridiculously low rate of return.