{"id":9330,"date":"2025-02-01T09:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T09:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=9330"},"modified":"2025-02-01T09:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T09:13:10","slug":"2-moves-retirees-may-make-now-to-boost-benefit-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=9330","title":{"rendered":"2 moves retirees may make now to boost benefit checks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A customer walks by a display of fresh eggs at a grocery store on Sept. 25, 2024 in San Anselmo, California.<\/p>\n

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The first Social Security benefit checks for 2025 include a 2.5% increase \u2014 the lowest annual cost-of-living adjustment since 2021.<\/p>\n

For retirees, that amounts to an increase of about $50 per month, on average, according to the Social Security Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, amid stubborn inflation and persistent elevated costs for everyday items, some retirees may feel that the increase is not enough.<\/p>\n

“I think overall folks are glad to see the raise,” said Jim Blair, founder at NSSA Professionals and a former Social Security administrator. “It’s not necessarily keeping up with everything, but it’s better than nothing.”<\/p>\n

The latest government inflation data shows the measure used to calculate the annual Social Security COLA \u2014 the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W \u2014 was up 2.8%<\/a> over the last 12 months as of December.<\/p>\n

More from Personal Finance:<\/strong>
Why retirees may feel the 2025 Social Security COLA isn’t enough
Here’s the changes Americans would make to close Social Security’s financing gap
Social Security Fairness Act beneficiaries face lengthy wait for higher payments<\/p>\n

Another measure used by the Federal Reserve to gauge long-run inflation \u2014 core inflation excluding food and energy under the personal consumption expenditures price index \u2014 was up 2.8% in December, according to data released on Friday.<\/p>\n

For retirees who would like to see bigger Social Security benefit checks, there are a couple of strategies they may consider trying, Blair said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>Adjust your tax withholdings<\/h2>\n
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Social Security beneficiaries may have up to 22%<\/a> of their benefits withheld for taxes.<\/p>\n

“If you’re struggling a little bit, particularly if you’re not in too high of a tax bracket, you can always adjust that,” Blair said.<\/p>\n

If you’ve been getting refunds, reducing how much you have withheld will allow you to access those funds sooner, though you will get back less during next year’s tax filing season, Blair said.<\/p>\n

But there may be a risk you may owe money at tax time next year, depending on your personal circumstances, he said.<\/p>\n

Beneficiaries can adjust the tax withholdings on their benefits by filing Form W-4V<\/a> with the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>Ask to have your Medicare premiums adjusted<\/h2>\n
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Most retirees pay a standard monthly premium rate for Medicare Part B, which covers preventive care, medically necessary services and durable medical equipment.<\/p>\n

In 2025, that standard monthly premium is $185 per month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But higher-income retirees pay more for what’s known as an income-related monthly adjustment amount, or IRMAA.<\/p>\n

That also applies to monthly premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, which have average estimated monthly premiums of $46.50 in 2025.<\/p>\n

The premiums are based on income tax filings from two years prior. If you’ve since had a life changing event that has prompted your income to go down \u2014 such as if you’ve retired, sold an income-producing business or survived the death of a spouse \u2014 you can apply to have your Medicare withholdings adjusted.<\/p>\n

To do that, complete Form SSA-44<\/a> and submit it to the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A customer walks by a display of fresh eggs at a grocery store on Sept. 25, 2024 in San Anselmo, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images The first Social Security benefit checks for 2025 include a 2.5% increase \u2014 the lowest annual cost-of-living adjustment since 2021. For retirees, that amounts to an increase of about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[291,247,785,72,353],"class_list":{"0":"post-9330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance-news","8":"tag-benefit","9":"tag-boost","10":"tag-checks","11":"tag-moves","12":"tag-retirees"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}