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Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 72.5 million Americans will increase 2.5 percent in 2025. The 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to nearly 68 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2025. Increased payments to nearly 7.5 million SSI recipients will begin on December 31, 2024. (Note: some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits)

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has officially announced the payment dates for the upcoming cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase in benefits. Beneficiaries will soon learn the exact percentage of the COLA, which the Senior Citizens League (TSCL) predicts will be between 2.73% and 3.2%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzes inflation data annually to determine the necessary increase to ensure Americans can maintain their purchasing power... Analysts anticipate a decrease in the COLA for Social Security benefits in 2025 compared to previous years due to easing inflation. The SSA will announce the 2025 increase on October 10, with the...

The latest Trustees Report projects the Social Security retirement trust fund will run out of money by 2033. The trust fund has been bleeding cash since 2018, and it's getting worse every year. Congress has several options to mitigate the potential benefit cuts facing 70 million retirees. There might only be enough funds to pay out 79% of retirement benefits unless Congress acts. Retirees could be in for a rude awakening in the near future unless Congress makes some changes to Social Security. The most recent Social Security Trustees Report indicated the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will...

In 17 days, millions of retirees will receive the first round of April's Social Security Administration retirement payments, worth up to $4,555. The first round, for those born between the 1st and 11th of a month, will be released on Wednesday, April 12. Three disbursements are released to retirees each month, but each person only receives one payment that coincides with the 10-day block of the month in which they were born, according to the SSA's schedule. ... The amount of money each recipient gets depends on the recipient's age at retirement. The highest payment is worth $4,555 per month,...

My SSA payment is normally deposited on the second Wednesday of each month, but it was deposited yesterday or today. Anyone else notice an early payment? This is really odd.

We cannot believe this has happened. We sent business correspondence to our local U.S. Social Security Administration office two weeks ago by certified mail, return receipt requested. The documents were received by the Office, as we received the green Cert Mail card in return verifying same. Included in the envelope we had sent to SSA was an official SSA form whose instructions were to return the form to the local SSA office. Along with the SSA form was a detailed cover letter, and documentation SSA requested confirming legal status. Ten days later, we received an envelope in the mail from...

Italian retirees could be forced to present their coronavirus health pass in order to access their pensions in person as the government makes the Green Pass mandatory for banks and post offices. Staring on February 1st, Italians wishing to access banks or post offices in person will be required to present the Green Pass, which is granted by the government to those who produce a negative test result for the coronavirus, those fully vaccinated, or those who have recovered from it. The new rules will mean that any pensioners who collect their cheques in person at the post office or...

The Supreme Court of the United States denied certain military veterans a chance at greater retirement benefits in a nearly unanimous opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday. Justice Neil Gorsuch bucked the 8-1 majority and would have allowed a subset of veterans to recoup more Social Security funds after their service ended. Stylized as Babcock v. Kijakazi, the case turns on the Social Security Act’s so-called “windfall elimination provision,” which is a statute designed by Congress to reduce Social Security payments for retirees who receive separate pension payments. Such retirees would otherwise, in Congress’s view, receive a...

Social Security payments could rise 6.1 percent next year due to soaring inflation, which would be the largest increase since 1983, according to a new estimate. The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan advocacy group, released the new estimate on Wednesday, responding to the latest inflation data showing prices are up 5.4 percent in the 12 months through June. For the 69 million people currently receiving benefits, however, the next cost-of-living increase will not come until January's payment, leaving many struggling on a fixed income as the price of goods surges. The most recent bump in benefits, calculated based on last...

President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, according to the former commissioner, who said he won’t leave his post and will log into work on Monday morning because his term isn’t over. Saul was one of the few remaining holdover officials who were appointed by former President Donald Trump. The White House confirmed to Fox News and other news outlets that it terminated Saul’s employment after he refused a request to resign. In an interview with the Washington Post, Saul said he received an email from the White House Personnel Office on Friday morning about the...

Americans struggling to survive on federal benefits have waited weeks for word on their share of the $1.9 trillion stimulus. Some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens have been waiting weeks for the next round of promised financial aid from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” coronavirus relief package, with no indication of when it would come. Chief among those are the millions of elderly Americans who depend on federal assistance to survive. As of March 24, nearly 30 million had yet to receive their portion, largely because the Social Security Administration had “not sent the necessary payment...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday reluctantly dropped his bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes as Republicans stumbled anew in efforts to unite around a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package to begin negotiations with Democrats who are seeking far more. Frustrating new delays came as the administration scrambled to avert the cutoff next week of a $600-per-week bonus unemployment benefit that has helped prop up the economy while staving off financial disaster for millions of people thrown out of work since the coronavirus pandemic began. Trump yielded to opposition to the payroll tax cut among his top...

Executive Summary The Social Security Administration serves as the primary steward of death records at the federal level. Despite federal agencies’ need for accurate death information, accurate death data are not universally available to federal agencies, including those with payment functions. Improvements to federal payment integrity could include legislative changes that would ensure accurate death information is more widely available to federal agencies. Introduction Perhaps the most conspicuous element of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout has been economic impact payments (EIPs) or “stimulus checks,” sent to nearly 160 million Americans, and totaling $267 billion....

As you may have heard, our nation's most successful social program is in a bit of a bind. Every year since 1982, the Social Security program has generated a net cash surplus. By bringing in more revenue than is paid out in benefits each year, the program has been able to build up a $2.9 trillion reserve. However, according to the 2019 report from the Social Security Board of Trustees, the program is about to hit an unwanted inflection point. You see, more than a half-dozen ongoing demographic changes are expected to result in Social Security expending more than it...

Inspector General Michael Horowitz's long-awaited report this week on FBI and Justice Department surveillance abuses does not provide the name of an unidentified FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) who made a series of apparent oversights in the bureau's so-called "Crossfire Hurricane" probe into the Trump campaign. However, a review of Horowitz's findings leaves little doubt that the unnamed SSA is Joe Pientka -- someone who could soon play a prominent role in the ongoing prosecution of Michael Flynn, as the former Trump national security adviser fights to overturn his guilty plea on a single charge of making false statements. Specifically,...

An Inspector General report for the Social Security Administration flew under the radar when it was issued in August, and the administration refused to answer Breitbart News’s inquiry about the findings that reveal $11.6 million in payments were paid to dead people in Puerto Rico. The findings of the report stated: SSA issued approximately $11.6 million in payments after death to 149 beneficiaries and 4 representative payees who died in Puerto Rico from January 1992 through December 2016. Identifying and correcting these discrepancies will prevent approximately $1.4 million in additional improper payments after death over the next 12 months. We...

Social Security is our nation's most successful social program -- but it's also in some pretty big trouble. According to the April-released Social Security Board of Trustees report, the program won't bring in enough revenue over the long term (the next 75 years) to cover outlays to beneficiaries, inclusive of cost-of-living adjustments. The silver lining for seniors who are dependent on Social Security as a major source of income is that the program is in no danger of disappearing or going bankrupt. Recurring sources of revenue, such as the payroll tax and the taxation of benefits, ensure that there will...

Social Security benefits can be claimed at any point after a recipient turns age 62, and most Americans take their Social Security as soon as they can. Claiming benefits early can be smart, but it can pay off to wait. If you're deciding when to start receiving Social Security, here's what to consider. Estimate your expenses Retirement usually means a big drop in income, and if you don't have a solid grasp on what your spending is going to look like in retirement, then you won't be able to make the best decision on when to claim. Depending on who...

One possibility is using cryptographic keys, or a combination of long random numbers WASHINGTON—The administration of President Donald Trump is exploring ways to replace the Social Security number with a safer system based on modern technology in the wake of the Equifax Inc. EFX -0.58% hack, the White House cybersecurity czar said Tuesday. Rob Joyce, the White House’s cybersecurity coordinator, said one possibility is using cryptographic keys, or a combination of long random numbers, to unlock personal data. The merit of such numbers is that they could be revoked once they are found to be compromised, he said. “I feel...

Here's a tale of government waste involving all the usual suspects: incompetence, indifference, and laziness. The inspector general for the Social Security Administration discovered that a billion dollars in benefits was paid to people who had no Social Security numbers.  The benefits were paid to "representative payees" – people who were accepting benefit checks on behalf of another because the beneficiary was unable to manage his Social Security payments by himself. Seventeen percent of these representative payees were illegal aliens, according to the audit. Washington Times: Over the last decade, the agency paid $1 billion to 22,426 representative payees who "did...