17.4% increase to Social Security in 2023. I have all the details and what you need to know right here in the topic, so let’s get right into it. I know in this topic I want to discuss the details of what should have been a 17.4% increase for about 70 million beneficiaries receiving Social Security, retirement disability, SSDI, survivors SSI, and VA benefits. I also want to discuss the details of some new information circling around suggesting this would have translated into an extra $144 per month on average, above and beyond what you already received. Let’s get into it and talk through all the details, however, really fast.

And I’m here for you right by your side each and every day. As your one and only daily advocate, I truly want to bring you the best information and help you out in any way that I possibly can as things continue to change, as in information announcements, new bills, packages and proposals, there’s a lot of things going on out there right now every single day.

Let’s get into it and talk about the new reports and what they’re now talking about. How Social Security beneficiaries should be getting significantly more every single month to your benefit, not only this year but forever, every single year into the future. Again, a lot of great information out there. So I’m so happy when I see these reports that come out like this because this is exactly outlining, exactly what we’ve been talking about here on the channel for so incredibly long now, which is Social Security beneficiaries continue to get the short end of the stick literally every single year and we’re sick and tired of it.

I think everybody here in the community, I don’t want to speak for you, but I think we can probably agree benefits are not keeping up with the real cost of living, right? We’ve been seeing this, especially the last few years here with very rapidly increasing inflation, very high inflation, with prices increasing on food and shelter and health care and gas and literally everything that we all buy on a regular basis and need on a regular basis as necessities. Again, it’s getting very expensive. It remains very expensive and as a result of that, benefits should be compensated properly rather than just giving some willy nilly, ah, we’ll give you a little raise here and I think Beneficiaries will be great. The biggest raise in 40 years.

Right, well, let’s talk through the details about this because this new report that was released is suggesting exactly that. And again, I found this to be very interesting. So remember at the beginning of 2023, 70 million people, or thereabout, I always say 70 million just because honestly, it’s a little bit more than 70 million when you consider everybody but I always say 70 million rather than 71,258,062 people or whatever, you know what I mean? So I always just say 70 million. But realistically it’s actually a few million more than that.

But my point is about 70 million people should have been receiving significantly more in their benefits starting in 2023. Remember we all got the 8.7% Cola, okay? Well that was technically the biggest increase to Social Security benefits since 1981. Okay? So we all look at that and think, wow, this must be historic.

This must be the biggest one ever. No, it’s just the biggest one since 1981. Okay, so like what was that, 52 years ago, right? It’s the biggest one since then. However, here’s what they’re suggesting.

And there’s been other information circling around over the last several months. Now basically since we started 2023, and even late last year where they suggested the Cola really should have been doubled to really keep up with the actual necessities and actual price increases on the things that seniors, as in those people living on a fixed income, actually spend their money on. Now again, I know that I just said seniors, but the reason that I said that is because they have another calculation, which is the CPIE Consumer Price Index for the elderly. Basically what this does is it tracks the expenses of those people aged at 62 and older. Okay?

Now this is actually kind of a good thing because it gives a higher weighting into things like housing and health care and things like that, versus the weightings that the CPIW has, which is the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers. Let me ask you, which one better fits a fixed-income beneficiary?  Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers or Consumer Price Index for the elderly? I think probably the second one, right?

The CPIE better tracks the actual expenses of a fixed-income beneficiary receiving Social Security benefits, right. However, as a result of that, and based on everything we saw last year with inflation significantly higher and food inflation, which by the way, many people don’t talk about this, even though we saw inflation last year top out at 9.1% in June, we saw inflation well over 8% for the vast majority of last year. 2022, most people don’t talk about. But food inflation last year was over 13% for the vast majority of the year. That’s just food.

Just food. They’re not talking about anything else. Not gas prices, not shelter prices, nothing. Just food alone. Last year was over 13% for most of the year.

Okay? Even this year alone for the vast majority of this year food has been well over 10%. Now, again, it started out the year at about eleven and a half percent. It’s come down a little bit, but it’s still over 10%. Food inflation, that’s just food alone.

Okay, well, long story short, basically what they’re saying is the Cola, rather than 8.7% really should have been doubled up to 17.4% this year in 2023. So basically what this comes down to is for the average Social Security retirement Beneficiary, the average Beneficiary got an extra $144 a month as a result of the Cola this year in 2023. However, they’re suggesting that if the Cola would have been increased again from 8.7 to literally doubling it to 17.4%, it wouldn’t been giving Beneficiaries an extra $144 on top of the extra $144 from the Cola, a total of $288 more per month for the average Social Security retirement Beneficiary. Now, the average SSDI Beneficiary, Social Security disability got in $118 a month. So basically the same thing would have applied.

Right? So rather than the average SSDI Beneficiary getting $118 a month, they should have been getting $236 a month. Again, not bad. Would that maybe better reflect the actual living expenses and how much money you’re coming out of pocket every single month because of higher inflation on things like food and rents and utilities and all sort of things like this? Probably, right?

Not only that. SSI Beneficiaries Supplemental Security Income. The raise was $72 a month. Okay? Again, doubling that would have been $144 a month. Would that better reflect your actual living expenses and out-of-pocket expenses for things that you’re paying for right now again, food, transportation, shelter, utility prices, things like that? I think so. Right. So again, that’s exactly what this report is now showing here.

Now here’s what else is interesting. I want to throw this out there really quickly, which is this. I’ve talked about this before in other topic, but I want to throw this out there really fast. They found over the last two years between 2021 and 2022, get this on energy prices, electricity is up over 11% just during that two year period of time. Heating oil is up over 27%.

Natural gas is up nearly 27% over the last two years. Again, is that being reflected in the Cola? That alone is craziness, right? Those increases alone. So again, remember, the Cola is to adjust for the annual cost of living.

In other words, cost of living because of inflation. Inflation caused by no fault of our own. Right? So we’re the ones being punished by it. We’re the ones that are coming out of pocket more.

We’re the ones that are paying more because of inflation that was caused by no fault of our own, but yet they don’t do the proper adjustments to benefits. I don’t know. Do you see the disconnect here? Does anybody else see the red flags here? Basically the major discrepancy that I’m describing.

Yeah, and that’s exactly what they’re talking about in this report as well, is Social Security Beneficiaries, about 70 million people really should have been getting literally double what your raise was this year in 2023. That all started back at the beginning of this year, 2023 January. Right. So whatever that raise was, according to these reports, really should have been a double on top of that. Right.

So if you got 100, you should have got 200. If you got 72, you should have got 144. If you got 144, you should have got 288. If you got 118, you should have got 236 Right?

Crazy, right? But again, I think this would better reflect actual expenses and things that Beneficiaries are actually paying for right now and how expensive things have really gotten. However, let’s throw this out there. Now, again, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but let me throw this out there really fast, just as maybe a simple reason why something like this didn’t actually take place. I’ve talked about this before in other topics as well.

Social Security alone is going to pay out an extra 120 plus billion dollars this year alone just because of the Cola. Well, that 120 would have been 240 okay. Do you think maybe they looked at this again, I don’t really know if this has any play into this, but I’m just saying let’s just think about this for a second. Do you think there was any influence looking at the Social Security trust fund and the insolvency date and the lack of action out of Congress, maybe suggesting, hey, if we come forward with an extra quarter trillion dollars out, of Social Security this year because of the cola being doubled. Do you think that’s going to draw down the Social Security trust fund and possibly bring that insolvency date sooner?

Yeah, that’s going to bring the insolvency date probably a lot sooner by years Right.

Again, I don’t really know if that’s something they looked at, if that was a consideration, but I don’t know, considering all the talk right now about the insolvency date and lack of funding and all kinds of lack of action out of Congress, you’d have to think that maybe this was a discussion at some point. Who knows? Either way, just want to throw it out there is an interesting connection between all of this and I want to bring it to your attention. Anyway, I like reading through all these reports here because then again, not only do I like to bring you all the information, the transparency of what’s really going on here, but I like to look at all this information. That’s going on and translate all that information to you in these short topics so you can also see what is actually going on and how may impact you, your benefits, your lifestyle, and of course, your bank accounts going forward. Remember, your monthly benefit is your livelihood. Your monthly benefit is your lifestyle, it’s your bank account, it is your income and ultimately it indicates the quality of your life essentially to some degree, right?

Enjoy your day. Take care, have a good one and I’ll catch you again later.