Social Security benefits going up by 5.8 percent

EmploymentCrossing.com Social Security benefits for 50 million people will go up 5.8 percent next year, the largest increase in more than a quarter century. The increase, which will start in January, was announced by the Social Security Administration. It will mean an additional $63 per month for the average retiree. The increase is the largest since a 7.4 percent jump in 1982, and is more than double the 2.3 percent increase that retirees got in their monthly checks starting in January of this year. The typical retiree's monthly check will go from $1,090 currently to $1,153. But the fatter Social Security check may still seem insufficient to millions of retirees affected this year by huge increases in energy and food costs, and who have also watched helplessly as their retirement savings were depleted by the biggest upheavals on Wall Street in seven decades. In one break for most retirees, the cost of living increase will not be eaten up by higher monthly Medicare premiums for physician services. Because of gains in the Medicare Part B trust fund, that premium will hold steady at $96.40 a month, although higher-income people including couples making more than $170,000 annually will see their premiums increase. Barring changes in the next administration, the Social Security trust fund is projected to deplete its reserves in 2041 and will begin paying out more than it collects in benefits even sooner, starting in 2017.

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