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.
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…
Americans born in 1960 or later who file for Social Security retirement benefits at age 62 permanently lose 30 percent of their monthly payment compared to waiting until their full retirement age of 67. That five-year gap translates to 60 months of early claiming, and the reduction follows them through every future cost-of-living adjustment for…
Social Security beneficiaries got a fresh signal about the size of their next annual raise. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, the specific inflation measure that determines the cost-of-living adjustment for benefits, climbed 4.4% over the 12 months ending in May 2026. That year-over-year pace, paired with a 0.7% one-month…
A surviving spouse in a dual-earner household can lose thousands of dollars a month in Social Security income overnight. Federal rules bar benefit stacking, meaning the widow or widower keeps only the higher of the two payments the couple had been receiving. The smaller check simply stops. For couples who built retirement budgets around two…
Every American collecting Social Security retirement or survivor benefits faces a 22 percent cut to their monthly check in late 2032 unless Congress acts first. The Social Security Board of Trustees released its 2026 annual report on June 9, projecting that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will run dry in the fourth quarter…
Americans born in 1943 or later who postpone their Social Security retirement claim from full retirement age to 70 stand to collect a monthly benefit roughly 32 percent larger than the amount they would have received at full retirement age. That gain comes from delayed retirement credits that add 8 percent per year, or two-thirds…
Workers collecting Social Security before they reach full retirement age will be able to earn up to $24,480 in 2026 without losing any benefits, a $960 increase over the 2025 threshold. For every $2 earned above that line, the Social Security Administration withholds $1 from monthly checks. A separate, higher limit of $65,160 applies to…
Widows and widowers who already collect Social Security on their own work record can switch to a higher payment based on a late spouse’s earnings, yet a federal audit released in spring 2026 found that many survivors are not told about this option in time. The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General reviewed…
Workers who earned at or above Social Security’s taxable ceiling every year of their careers and waited until age 70 to claim benefits can collect $5,181 a month starting in January 2026. That figure, published by the Social Security Administration, represents the absolute ceiling for a single retired worker, and the vast majority of retirees…
Roughly 68 million Americans who depend on Social Security checks are tracking a number that keeps climbing. Forecasters now project the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment between 3.9% and 4.2%, which would add about $81 a month to the average retired worker’s benefit. That estimate draws on the latest Consumer Price Index data released by the Bureau…