Social Security Beneficiary to get $5 raise in2017

Gemma

Gemma

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Pennsylvania
The nation’s 65 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive a paltry 0.3% cost-of-living adjustment to their monthly checks in 2017, the government announced Tuesday. In dollars and cents, it means the average retired beneficiary’s check will rise about $5 to $1,360 per month in 2017.

The even more bitter pill: Many current Medicare beneficiaries won’t be able to spend any of that extra money. Instead, they’ll likely have to send their COLA straight back to Uncle Sam to cover higher Medicare Part B premiums.

Almost a third of Medicare's 56 million beneficiaries could see their premiums jump 22% next year, according to the Medicare Trustees Report, putting the cost at an estimated $149 per month. Those unlucky 30% of beneficiaries include people enrolling in Part B for the first time in 2017, people who are on Medicare but who aren't currently taking Social Security benefits and current enrollees who pay an income-related higher premium.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...la-medicare-premiums-cost-of-living/92051378/
 

Yup, SS, Medicare, and Medicaid are all going to be "trimming" their benefits in coming years. Congress will probably wait until these programs are nearly in Crisis Mode, before they do anything to keep these valuable benefits solvent for future generations. "Raising the Caps" would be the most obvious and sensible approach....but few people would use the words Government and Sensible in the same sentence.
 
I think in the past, this is fairly normal. Why not skip the middleman (us) and pay themselves directly. Surely, that will save some paperwork or as in today, less time and money spent on the computer.
 
Interesting to me that while the government has enough money bring over and settle 250,000 middle eastern refugees, assist with housing, food, etc., the govt cannot afford to give a decent COLA to its retirees who have spent the majority of their lives being productive citizens and paying taxes, and also cannot afford to take decent care of its veterans, not even the service-connected disabled ones.
 
Butterfly said:
Interesting to me that while the government has enough money bring over and settle 250,000 middle eastern refugees, assist with housing, food, etc., the govt cannot afford to give a decent COLA to its retirees who have spent the majority of their lives being productive citizens and paying taxes, and also cannot afford to take decent care of its veterans, not even the service-connected disabled ones.
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That $5.00 will be used for gas to get to and back from the grocery store in probably two round trips.

Then there is the hate of refugees. The more the merrier according to Hillary.[h=2]Politifact, the left-of-center mainstream media “fact-checker,” has some bad news for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.[/h] Donald Trump was RIGHT when he said Hillary Clinton wants “a 500 percent increase in Syrians refugees” in his Manchester, New Hampshire speech.

When it comes to hate shouldn't Trump be the one hated for wanting to stop the entry of illegals and refugees that haven't been properly vetted?



Understandable that civil service people would want Hillary over Trump. Firing incompetent civil service employees like the last 10 Administrators of the Arizona VA hospital isn't a popular idea with civil service employees.
 
I saw that report and laughed. After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks. Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?
 
That difference in the Medicare premium will be enough to create real hardship for many retirees who depend on their SS for most or all of their retirement income. My sister, for instance, lives very close to the edge and without my help she would be a bit over the edge. That increase is going to be a hardship for her.... BUT, better we spend the money on refugees than on people like her. Clinton has said she wants to bring in at least 65,000 refugees a year over the next four years -- how are we going to pay for that? We'll take it from our own poor and aged, that's how. My sister can't get housing help or food stamps, but the refugees will get much more than that. She's been a good, contributing citizen all her life, but she can't get the help third world refugees will.

What the hell is wrong with this country?
 
Butterfly said:
That difference in the Medicare premium will be enough to create real hardship for many retirees who depend on their SS for most or all of their retirement income. My sister, for instance, lives very close to the edge and without my help she would be a bit over the edge. That increase is going to be a hardship for her.... BUT, better we spend the money on refugees than on people like her. Clinton has said she wants to bring in at least 65,000 refugees a year over the next four years -- how are we going to pay for that? We'll take it from our own poor and aged, that's how. My sister can't get housing help or food stamps, but the refugees will get much more than that. She's been a good, contributing citizen all her life, but she can't get the help third world refugees will.

What the hell is wrong with this country?
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WAIT -- I did some reading around on the internet and found that the premium increase will not affect my sister, or me, for that matter, because neither of us fit into the "high wage earner" category. So we won't fit into the group whose premiums go way up.

STILL -- I think the COLA increase is pitiful. Internet sources say it is because there's no inflation, but whoever came up with that idea apparently hasn't been grocery shopping where I do, because food prices have been going steadily up and it looks like they will continue to do so. My sister's rent has gone up, utilities have gone up, everything else is going up -- how is that no inflation??
 
One of the important things in that announcement is that the taxable maximum has increased from $118,500 to $127,200. I'd like to see that max increase every year as a part of a plan to keep SS viable.
 
bluebreezes said:
One of the important things in that announcement is that the taxable maximum has increased from $118,500 to $127,200. I'd like to see that max increase every year as a part of a plan to keep SS viable.
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I would like to see them remove the wage cap altogether.

Removing the wage cap can help the average person that has some very high income years and then hits a period of low wage years "bank" some extra credit. Under the current system, with the caps, those high wage years are of no benefit when the SS is calculated.
 
maggiemae said:
I saw that report and laughed. After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks. Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?
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This web site might provide an answer to your question.

http://www.fedsmith.com/2013/05/23/government-owes-2-7-trillion-to-social-security/

At some point politicians will have to bite the bullet and do something that could affect their re-election. Maybe with term limits that wouldn't be the kind of looming problem it is now.
 
to be honest if the difference of a cola increase or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a severely underfunded retirement and you
better give some thought to the situation your are in and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..

if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .
 
maggiemae said:
I saw that report and laughed. After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks. Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?
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the medicare increase can not be more than the cola adjustment . quite frankly that is a better deal than i had working . if i got a raise the health insurance premiums saw increases that were more .
 
mathjak107 said:
to be honest if the difference of a cola increase or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a severely underfunded retirement and you
better give some thought to the situation your are in and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..

if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .
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If you are referring to my post, you obviously don't know that I'm the class clown. I don't really have to eat dog food, heated or otherwise..... Although, it would probably be healthier than some of the people food I enjoy.
 
mathjak107 said:
to be honest if the difference of a cola increase or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a severely underfunded retirement and you
better give some thought to the situation your are in and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..

if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .
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"Let 'em eat cake," eh? I think you need to remember that not everyone has been fortunate enough to be in a situation to be able to save a pile for retirement.
 
My husband and I are still working while collecting SS. Our increase, (based on taxes on current wages) has only increased a few dollars. Seriously not worth working, but we both enjoy our jobs, so what're you gonna do, kwim?
 
no , not referring to any post in particular. just a general comment that if that tiny cola adjustment range matters that much then that is a red flag . you have an under funded retirement and need to give serious thought to that fact .

no matter what the cpi -w shows it is not reflective of anyones actual personal inflation rate . it is only a price change index on a basket of goods , most of which you may have no use for or use .

this country consists of 1500 mini economy's all not reflecting what you see .

take the example that here in nyc 1/2 the housing stock , which effects millions of people has no rent increase for the 2nd year in a row and our 2nd biggest cost is energy . that is lower than last year .

my sister is in arizona and refinanced . her monthly expenses are less than they were 5 years ago .

on the other hand we rent so our expenses are higher than 5 years ago .

all of us are different and for much of the country life has actually gone up very little over last year . our medical insurance costs are way more than they were because i am on cobra , but next year i go on medicare and they drop by half .

so the point is you need slack in your plan dollar wise to allow for your own personal rate of inflation .

if you are that close to the bone that 5 or 10 bucks a month matters then that is bells and alarms going off you need to look at your situation because odds are you are going to run out of money before you run out of time at that rate.

keep in mind the cpi-w index tends to overstate inflation . it uses no substitutions like the other cpi indexes . i know we use a ton of strawberry's and blue berries and every week we either buy them or buy something else depending on price . the other index's allow for that fact . so the index used for ss actually runs a bit higher .

keep in mind too that seniors are effected a lot less inflation wise than someone raising a family . study after study shows seniors spend in a smile shape .

we spend more early on in retirement , then spending falls off a cliff as we no longer do or buy a lot of things , then it ramps up again because of health care spending in our 80's .

all those things we tend not to do or buy as we age helps pay for the increases in the things we continue to buy .

yeah , not everyone will conform to that because of personal issues ,i get that . but as a group that is exactly what happens .

but the bottom line is if your cash flow is that close that 12 bucks a month matter you need to seriously review your budget and your plan because you are in pretty good danger of ending being one of those casulaty's in the failed retirement graveyard .

hoping a cola adjustment was more is not a plan . hope is never a strategy in life . take the fact that you are aggravated and stressing over less than 10 bucks a month as a red flag and review your plan..
 
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Butterfly said:
"Let 'em eat cake," eh? I think you need to remember that not everyone has been fortunate enough to be in a situation to be able to save a pile for retirement.
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which is why i am saying what i am . if their cash flow is so impacted by 10 or 12 bucks a month difference and they have no control over those cola's ,they have to seriously take this as a wake up call and review their plan or they are likely to fail financially . 10 or 12 bucks should have zero effect if your plan is viable and healthy . it does not matter if you have smaller amounts of resources . what matters is you are spending more than you can comfortably spend and have no slack in your plan for future bumps in the road and you are getting a warning that you are living hand to mouth and that never ends well .

it is like complaining about the weather .complaining about it does no good . preparing for what weather you get is the plan .
 
When you hit 90 and inflation has eroded the value of your pension, investments and SS you can't do much to revise your plan.

The steady drip, drip, drip, adds up over the years and in some cases COLA is not enough to keep these people from abject poverty during the last few years of life. A time IMO that should be worry free.
 
the cola's will never make a difference . they are not ever going to match anyone's personal cost of living . in fact they are based on a price change index not a cost of living index .

they are correct in what they are supposed to reflect which is price changes in 1500 mini economy's , not your cost of living .

if you counted on every time your electric goes up or your rent that there would be a matching increase in income to keep you solvent than your plan was not very good .

the truth is , and none of us want to hear it , but retirement is a privilege for those who can afford to stop working .it is not a right and not everyone may have that choice .

when you do it , for whatever reason , whether because you can't or don't want to work anymore here in america the burden is on you to stay solvent through retirement . living hand to mouth is never going to work out well and when you count on cola's to match your personal cost of living it will never work out well for you .

i would love a bigger cola adjustment but based on the basket of goods and services this is just what it equates to .
 


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