Social Security: Live Updates — July 14, 2022

What Are Some Downsides to Social Security and Retirement?

The realities you face when you stop working might be a far cry from your retirement dream. Of course, retiring broke or not being able to retire at all are among the worst-case scenarios.

But there are plenty of other snags you might encounter. If you haven’t properly prepared for leaving the working world and living without a paycheck, you’ll have to face the ugly truths about retirement.

Click here for 14 downsides to retiring/Social Security, along with solutions.

Stretch Social Security: Best Cities To Retire on $1,500 a Month

Living on a fixed income doesn’t mean you have to miss out on a satisfying retirement. In the right place, you might discover that you can stretch your budget further and spend your golden years enjoying yourself. To help you find such a place, a GOBankingRates study identified American cities where you can realistically retire on a budget of $1,500 a month.

The study took the cost-of-living index from Sperling’s Best Places and applied it to customer expenditure data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find the average cost of living in the given city. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in each city was also sourced from ApartmentList. Locations that fell below a certain livability score on AreaVibes or had a below-average portion of the population above 65 were eliminated, and only the places offering the best combination of bills under $1,500 and strong livability for seniors were left.

Which American cities give you a chance to retire with more even if you’re living on Social Security?

Retired and/or on Social Security? You’ll Regret These Purchases

Many people reach their peak net worth right when they retire. This also happens to coincide with the feeling that it’s time to spend some of that net worth after working so hard to accumulate it over the years. However, without proper financial planning and budgeting, this can sometimes lead to a disastrous combination.

If retirees overspend immediately after they stop working, they may find themselves coming up short in their later years for even the most basic needs. To help avoid that situation, there is a list of purchases that retirees almost always regret.

Make sure these 8 purchases fit into your long-term budget before you make a financial misstep.

Significantly Younger Spouse? How To Plan Social Security

Differences in age take extra consideration when you and your significant other are planning retirement. If one spouse is much younger, standard retirement advice may not work for age-gap couples.

Early retirement for a younger spouse can be very costly and ensuring that that partner will have sufficient income to last the duration of his or her life is a crucial aspect of retirement planning for these couples.

There are several things to keep in mind for spouses born years, if not decades apart when it comes to retirement planning.

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Social Security: 10 Number You Need To Be Familiar With

Social Security is well-known as a supplemental retirement income program for Americans, but it also provides benefits to disabled workers, spouses and dependents. The numbers behind the Social Security program can be staggering, but they’re also fascinating.

Whether you’re planning for your Social Security benefits, already drawing payments or simply interested in the facts and figures surrounding the program, here’s a look at some of the numbers behind the massive government program.

Many Lack Work Retirement Plans to Supplement Social Security

Nearly half of workers in the U.S. don’t have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to a new study by AARP. The study found that nearly 57 million people, or 48% of private sector employees between the ages of 18 to 64, work for an employer that does not offer a traditional pension or a retirement savings plan.

For more info on America’s lack of access to retirement plans through employers, click here.

Social Security in 2023: What’s the Maximum Taxable Income

As a worker, there’s a limit on the amount of your earnings that are taxed by Social Security. This is known as maximum taxable earnings, which shifts on a yearly basis in line with changes in the national average wage index. For 2022, that amount is $147,000, but the Social Security Administration (SSA) has suggested several provisions that could modify that amount in 2023.

The OASDI tax rate for wages paid in 2022 is currently set at 6.2% for employees and employers, each. For self-employed workers, the rate is 12.4%. According to the SSA, a worker with wages equal to or larger than $147,000 would contribute $9,114.00 to the OASDI program in 2022, and his or her employer would contribute the same amount. If the worker is self-employed, they would contribute the full amount of $18,228.

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What Countries Are Best To Live on Just Social Security?

The average Social Security benefit in 2022 is $1,657 per month or right under $20,000 per year, according to AARP. If you’re planning to live on just your Social Security check as a retiree in the U.S., it will be extremely difficult with only that amount of money at your disposal. According to International Living, the average retiree household in the U.S. spends about $50,000 per year.

However, if you’re willing to spread your retirement wings and settle down in another country, you can make your government check go much further — and even live quite comfortably if you can budget $24,000 per year.

GOBankingRates referenced data collected by International Living for its 2022 Global Retirement Index to find countries where you can live on the cheap. To reap cost-saving benefits like low-cost healthcare to a grocery bill that’s much less compared to what you’ll pay in the U.S., here are the 10 best countries to live on just a Social Security check.

E-Verify Extended Timeframe for Social Security Ends Today

The Social Security Administration (SSA) will no longer provide an extended timeframe for employees to resolve mismatched E-Verify cases. As of July 15, 2022, employees whose E-Verify cases are referred to SSA will have the normal eight federal working days to contact their local SSA office to begin resolving the mismatch, the SSA said in an announcement on its website.

E-Verify is a web-based system through which employers electronically confirm the employment eligibility of their employees. In the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, E-Verify had extended the timeframe for an employee to take action to resolve a Social Security (SSA) Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch), due to SSA office closures to the public, according to an announcement at the time.

Now, only E-Verify cases referred between March 2, 2020, to July 14, 2022, with an SSA mismatch will still have an extended timeframe to be resolved until September 29, 2023, according to the announcement.

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Social Security COLA Estimates for 2023 Hit 10.5% After CPI

Social Security beneficiaries could see their 2023 cost-of-living adjustment hit double digits for the first time in more than four decades as inflation in the United States continues to spiral ever higher despite government efforts to rein it in.

Based on Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — which showed inflation in June surging 9.1% from the previous year — the COLA for 2023 will be about 10.5%, according to the Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan seniors advocacy group.

If that happens, it will be the first time the COLA has reached double digits since it hit 11.2% in 1982, according to the Social Security Administration. This year’s COLA of 5.9% is the highest since 1981. As recently as last year the COLA was only 1.3%.

To learn more, continue reading the full article.