Social Security checks to rise by most since 2012

[reible]

2.8% what will I do with all that extra money????

Ed

[highpockets1658]

Gonna buy a new pickup with mine!!!

[garys]

At least that is +2.8% and not a minus.
"can't hoit"

[dusty]

I see this just a little bit differrently!

At least there will be an adjustment. I just wish I understood how they figure "cost of living". I must be doing something wrong!

[Gene Howe]

I'm just glad it's not a "merit raise".

[jsburger]

Not only SS but all other federal compensation also. This is from the VFW Weekly News Letter.

Dusty, it also tells you how the COLA is calculated.


"3. 2019 COLA Increase Will Be Largest in 7 Years: Military and federal retirees, veterans receiving compensation from VA, and Social Security recipients will see a 2.8% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase beginning in 2019. This is the largest COLA increase since 2011 when it was 3.6%, and a 0.8% increase from last year. Annual COLA increases are based on the Consumer Price Index, which measures the inflation during the 3rd quarter of each fiscal year (July, August, and September) and compares it to the previous 3rd quarter."

[dusty]

Actually, I will see less of an increase in 2019 than I did in 2018 and that increase might be eroded when the tax changes are included.

[jsburger]

Actually, I will see less of an increase in 2019 than I did in 2018 and that increase might be eroded when the tax changes are included.

Why is that? The increase percentage is higher this year than last. I did a quick calculation on our take home pay amounts from military retirement, VA, Social Security and both of our Civil Service retirements and it is about $200 a month.

If you have tax changes so be it. That does not change the amount of the actual increase. It just changes the amount you take home. That is a personal situation.

After all 2.8% is more than last year at 2% and better than the previous years when we got nothing.

[reible]

I haven't done the math yet but I know that my wife got no increase due to the added cost of medicare last year. I haven't seen figures on that but it would be nice to see some money at the end rather then just paying in more due to that medicare increase. She still hasn't gotten to the level where some of the increase money will be in the bank, hope that is not the case again this year.

Ed

[jsburger]

I haven't done the math yet but I know that my wife got no increase due to the added cost of medicare last year. I haven't seen figures on that but it would be nice to see some money at the end rather then just paying in more due to that medicare increase. She still hasn't gotten to the level where some of the increase money will be in the bank, hope that is not the case again this year.

Ed

I have said this before. The law is that they can never pay you less SS than you are getting today. In most (all) cases the Medicare premium is deducted from your SS payment. In my wife's case (she just turned 65 last month) her Medicare premium is deducted from her Civil Service retirement pay. She does not get SS because she worked and retired under the old CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System). You did not pay SS tax under that system so she earned no quarters. The retirement was very lucrative and her take home today is almost the same as when she was working.

So here is the point! When you retire and sign up for Medicare they deduct your Medicare premium from your SS. In subsequent years if the COLA increase amount is less than the Medicare increase then they only deduct the COLA increase from SS to catch up your Medicare. So they are taking less out from SS than the Medicare premium. They can't take it all out because your SS can never go down. We are all in that situation.

SS does not always go up. You may be behind because of the above laws.