The financial news that actually matters
Covers Social Security benefits, eligibility rules, payment calculations, and policy changes. It explains how benefits are determined and how they impact retirement income.
Americans who collect Social Security before reaching full retirement age and earn more than $2,040 in any month during 2026 will see their benefit checks reduced automatically. The Social Security Administration withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above an annual cap of $24,480, a threshold that rises to $65,160 in the calendar year…
Millions of Social Security beneficiaries who owe money to the federal government now face a sharper bite from their monthly checks. The Social Security Administration shifted its default withholding rate for Title II overpayments to 50 percent for notices issued after April 25, 2025, up from a lower baseline that had been in place for…
Roughly 73 million Americans who collect Social Security could receive a 4.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment for 2027, a figure that would rank as the fourth-largest increase in 36 years. The projected bump traces directly to a sharp run-up in gasoline and energy prices recorded through May 2026, which feeds into the Consumer Price Index for…
Americans who spent decades raising children or managing a household without earning a paycheck can still receive Social Security retirement income, and the amount can reach half of a working spouse’s full benefit. Federal regulations set that ceiling at 50 percent of the worker’s Primary Insurance Amount, the monthly figure calculated at full retirement age….
Widows and widowers who lose a spouse face an immediate financial shock, but Social Security offers a two-step claiming strategy that can significantly increase lifetime income. A surviving spouse can begin collecting a reduced survivor benefit as early as age 60, then later switch to a higher retirement benefit based on their own earnings record….
Tens of millions of Social Security recipients could see their monthly checks jump by the largest amount in years if current inflation trends hold through the summer. Forecasters tracking the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, the specific price gauge that determines annual benefit adjustments, now project the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment…
Fraudsters who break into a beneficiary’s my Social Security account can swap the direct deposit routing in minutes, sending monthly payments to bank accounts they control. Between January 2013 and May 2018, $33.5 million in Social Security benefits was successfully redirected from 20,878 beneficiaries through unauthorized online changes, while another $23.9 million was caught and…
Retirees with unpaid federal tax debt could see up to 15% of their Social Security benefits withheld through a continuous IRS levy, a mechanism that applies even if the remaining check drops below $750. The Federal Payment Levy Program, run jointly by the IRS and the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, targets Social…
Retirees carrying past-due federal debts such as defaulted student loans face a renewed threat to their monthly Social Security checks, but a longstanding federal rule shields the first $750 of each payment from collection. The protection means the smallest benefits will pass through untouched, while retirees receiving slightly more than $750 a month stand to…
Roughly 70 million Americans who depend on Social Security retirement benefits now have one fewer year before the program’s dedicated trust fund is projected to be exhausted. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, known as OASI, is expected to be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, according to the annual Trustees Report released…