MILLIONS of Social Security beneficiaries will receive their monthly cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) checks worth an average of $4,194 in days.
Your eligibility for the upcoming COLA payment depends on when your birthday falls.
Recipients with birthdays after the 21st of the month will get their checks on Wednesday, November 23.
Those who have a birthday between the first and 10th already received their monthly payment on Wednesday, November 9th, and beneficiaries whose birthdays fall between the 11th-20th of the month received their COLA payments on November 16.
The payments come ahead of next year's anticipated huge monthly payment boost worth $144, making it the largest COLA increase in 40 years.
This year, the maximum Social Security benefit is $4,194 per month, while the average benefit is $1,657.
Read our COLA blog for news and updates…
- How much more are married couples getting?
- The average Social Security benefit has increased by about $154 per month for couples due to COLA in 2022, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
- The increase has brought the average monthly payment for couples from $2,599 to $2,753.
Has the SS retirement age increased?
While you can begin collecting Social Security benefits as early as age 62, your monthly payments will be decreased.
For people born in 1937 or before, the full retirement age used to be 65. The complete retirement age for those born between 1943 and 1954 is 66.
The full retirement age increases by two months each year, rising to 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959 from 66 and eight months for those born in 1958.
Those born in 1960 who turn 62 in 2022 will reach full retirement age at the age of 67.
For those born in 1960 or after, the full retirement age will remain 67.
Social Security was only a retirement program
What we now know as Social Security only provided retirement benefits to the principal worker under the 1935 statute, according to the SSA.
Survivor benefits and benefits for the retiree’s spouse and children were added to the statute in 1939.
Disability benefits were added in 1956.
The first national unemployment compensation program, state financing for different health and social programs, and the Aid to Dependent Children program were all included in the original 1935 statute.
How does Social Security work?
The majority of Americans pay 6.2 percent of their salaries to the Social Security system, with employers matching that proportion, according to US News.
Self-employed people contribute 12.4 percent of their earnings to Social Security.
Workers who have contributed enough to the system can begin collecting retirement benefits at the age of 62 or older.
If you become handicapped, you may be eligible for benefits, and if you die, your family members may be entitled to survivor’s payments.
Can students get Social Security?
Under certain circ*mstances, students and younger people can receive Social Security benefits.
Children of retired, deceased or disabled beneficiaries who remain full-time students at age 18 are entitled to benefits until they reach age 19 or complete their secondary education, whichever comes first.
The Social Security Administration said benefits are not restricted by the type of school, but college students are not eligible.
Survey shows where people are cutting spending, concluded
In the survey by Provident Bank, people reported where they are saving money in the wake of inflation:
- Quitting smoking
- Shopping at discount stores and buying store-brand products
- Working “odd jobs” for extra cash
- Limiting salon visits
- Making coffee at home
Survey shows where people are cutting spending, continued
According to the survey by Provident Bank, consumers are canceling vacations, cutting trips to visit family, or making multiple essential stops in one trip to combat inflation.
Others are opting to walk or ride bikes, rely more on public transportation, and trade in their cars for more fuel-efficient ones.
Nearly half said they are using their credit card much more often for routine purchases.
41 percent said they are contributing less to their savings.
Of that 41 percent, around 38 percent said they have less than $1,000 in a personal savings account.
Survey shows where people are cutting spending
83 percent of consumers are scaling back personal spending and travel due to inflation, according to a national survey by Provident Bank, a New Jersey-based financial institution.
More than 10 percent of those surveyed said they had cut all non-essential purchases and more than 70 percent said they have changed their travel habits in some way.
Others said they were skipping meals, conserving water, and eliminating meat from their diets to get by.
This comes as the Labor Department reported earlier this month that the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit a 40-year high in May.
Working Americans behind on retirement savings, part two
More statistics from the survey:
- Nearly 35 percent said they were significantly behind where they needed to be
- Almost 20 percent said their savings were somewhat behind
- About 20 percent said they were “right on track”
- A further 8 percent said they were “slightly ahead” of where they should be
- More than 7 percent said their savings were “significantly ahead” of where they needed to be
- A further 10 percent said they don’t know where they stand
Working Americans behind on retirement savings
A survey from Bankrate revealed that many Americans are not saving enough for retirement.
Additionally, 55 percent of Americans say their retirement savings are not where they need to be while 35 percent say they’re “significantly behind”.
Plus, 20 percent said they’re “somewhat behind” their goals.
Nearly 90 percent of Americans worry about inflation
According to a new AARP survey, about 9 in 10 adults age 50 and older say they’re worried Social Security retirement benefits keeping up with inflation.
Those who aren’t receiving Social Security yet are the ones worried the most – 72 percent.
AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement, “amid high inflation, the guaranteed benefits provided by Social Security are more crucial than ever, and this automatic adjustment helps ensure the benefit does not erode over time as prices rise.”
- SSI recipients will see benefits increase this year, part two
- Since SSI beneficiaries are set to score their checks earlier, for those collecting both Social Security benefits along with your SSI, you’ll only get your increase for SSI in December.
- Your Social Security benefits increase will begin on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
SSI recipients will see benefits increase this year
While both Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients will get an 8.7 percent cost of living adjustment, SSI beneficiaries will get theirs first.
Because the payment schedule falls on a holiday, the administration will send the checks earlier on Friday.
This means, instead of receiving your January 2023 check in January, you’ll get it in December 2022.
Nebraska’s minimum wage boost
Many Nebraskan supporters of the proposed minimum wage increase say it could reduce poverty for thousands of residents.
The Nebraska State Capitol had a public hearing on a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, according to the Omaha World Herald.
If passed, the state’s minimum wage in four annual steps.
It would increase from $9 per hour to $10.50 per hour on January 1, eventually hitting $15 per hour by 2026.
- State Minimum Wage and changes for 2023, conclusion
- Virginia is raising its minimum wage to $12, a $1 increase from its $11 minimum wage in 2022.
- Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont are all slated to increase their minimum wage for 2023 but have yet to designate an amount.
State Minimum Wage and changes for 2023, continued
New Jersey is raising the minimum wage to $14 at the start of 2023 from the previous total of $13.
New Mexico is raising its minimum wage 50 cents from $11.50 to $12.00 for workers starting January 1, 2023.
Rhode Island is increasing its minimum wage by 75 cents from $12.25 and will pay workers $13 starting in 2023.
More State Minimum Wage and changes for 2023
Massachusetts currently offers a $14.25 minimum wage to workers but plans to raise that amount to $15 at the start of 2023.
Michigan plans to increase the minimum wage from $9.87 to $10.10 on January 1, 2023.
Missouri will raise the total of their minimum wage to $12 from the $11.15 total in 2022.
State Minimum Wage and changes for 2023
Across the US, states have different minimum wages set for 2022. Many states have already implemented changes that will take effect in 2023.
Florida’s minimum wage is currently set at $11 but is set to rise to $12 starting September 30, 2023.
Illinois is paying worker’s minimum of $12 but that total is set to rise to $13 effective January 1, 2023.
States no minimum wage required
The following states have no minimum wage required in the US and default to the federal minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour.
States with the highest minimum wage
As the nation continues to deal with inflation, some states have increased the minimum wage to combat rising prices.
Washington, DC has the highest minimum wage coming in at $16.10 an hour.
Other states with high minimum wage:
- Washington: $14.49
- Massachusetts: $14.25
- Connecticut: $14.00
- California: $14.00
- Oregon: $13.50
New York home care aids to wage increase
Starting October 1, New York home health aides received a $2 bump in their minimum wages.
The boost was pushed by lawmakers and advocates to address a statewide home care crisis.
The new minimum wage for home care aides is now $17 per hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, and $15.20 per hour for the remainder of the state.
When was CPI introduced?
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was created to determine appropriate pay increases during World War I, a period of rapidly rising prices, according to Encyclopedia.com.
In 1935, the Social Security retirement system was founded.
In the decades that followed, Congress increased Social Security benefits on a regular basis to compensate for slow inflation as assessed by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- CPI: what is CPI-E?
- The CPI-E is a weighted average of price changes for the same set of item strata as the CPI-U and CPI-W, taken from the same sample of urban regions.
- Retail establishments in the CPI are chosen for pricing based on data from a separate survey of all metropolitan residents.
CPI: what is CPI-U?
The CPI-U is a price index that tracks the average change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services over time.
Because it covers more demographics than the CPI-W, it provides a more comprehensive assessment of price trends.
- Clerical workers
- Retirees
- Self-employed professionals
- Technical workers
- Temporary workers
- Wage-earners
CPI: what is CPI-W?
This kind of CPI is used by the Social Security Administration to determine inflation and apply cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics utilizes the same processes to compute CPI-W as it does for CPI, but with elements that impact specific demographics.
