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It's that time of year again in which many of us are wondering how big the Social Security COLA will be for next year. It seems to be fairly certain that it will be at 3% or quite close to that.
The increase is 9.80 a month. What kind of math are you using?
And if you are reduced due to WEP, isn't that the whole point of the WEP - to eliminate double dipping? I know there are some confusing rules, pretty sure even I don't understand them all completely.
My increase is 13.92 but 10 goes to part b so have around 3 left. WEP is an equalizer if you have 30 years with an employer that doesn’t pay into SS. Unfortunately my career was split so I have 15 years in each system yet get a 60% reduction.
The last 3 years of increases (including 2024) are 5.9, 8.7, and 3.2%. We haven’t seen 3 years in a row of COLAs that high since the 1980s. “Unfair” COLA has been a hallmark of the SS COLA since there were COLAs (there were none for many years) and it has only been readdressed once.
It sadly amuses me that even though posters here constantly state that SS was never meant to be your only or even main source of retirement income, there is still the usual number of posters that will constantly state how they pay X more now than before and the SS COLA doesn’t cover it. For those with solid multi sources of income, which are typically the same ones with higher than average SS checks, the increases are substantial. I NEVER had 3 consecutive years in a job with raises of 5.9, 8.7 and 3.2%. Any increase beyond that was due to changing jobs, promotions etc. Not for just waking up and breathing which is all we have to do to collect SS.
We have pensions and none of them have even remotely gotten that large of an increase. Ever. We would depend on increased withdrawal amounts from retirement savings/investments to cover any needed increases. Even the 4% “rule” has you withdrawing an inflation driven increased amount each year, to define success. Everywhere you look, when it comes (and came) to planning for retirement, REQUIRED you to expect an plan for an average increase in costs each year. Like many that were able (certainly not the majority by any stretch) to actually plan, save & invest for their retirement income, we planned for the worst, and in the end, so far, have come out ahead thanks to many years good returns coupled with many of low inflation (which too many seem to have expected to go on forever) with available incomes exceeding costs and allowing savings to remain mostly stable or increasing.
My SS check, which I will start to collect next year after age 66, exceeds the amount I thought I would have gotten at age 70, even 10 years ago, IIRC. I can’t complain about that, especially since when I first got my SS estimates in the 90s, I practically ignored SS as a major retirement source, the numbers were so low. I remember my grandparents getting SS checks of about $100/mo in the 70s! My father used to say it paid for their food, heating snd electric, so they didn’t need much more to live on. So my view of SS was never one of retirement income, but more like “kept you fed and not homeless” if you took care of business. My expected SS amount will be a substantial part of my income, and far exceeds keeping me fed and not homeless.
For those where SS is their only sources of retirement income, did you ever think that it was going to be an easy retirement that way? I’m not being smug or condescending; I am fully aware that there are circumstances that prevented many from ever having an easy life. But the reality of this certainly had to be obvious for many many years before retirement. “Hope for the best and take it a day at a time” is no way to plan and expect a good outcome.
Last edited by Perryinva; 10-15-2023 at 08:11 AM..
What's happening in early Dec? Nothing personal but I hate incomplete sentences like this
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