...providing retirement news snippets from various sources for federal employees, postal employees, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who receive Social Security . Your resource for retirement living, investment, employment, health care, and retirement leisure. - Stay Informed!
Title: Social Security Announces 2.5 Percent Benefit Increase for 2025
Article Snip: "...Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for more than 72.5 million Americans will increase 2.5 percent in 2025, the Social Security Administration announced today. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by about $50 per month starting in January. ...Over the last decade the COLA increase has averaged about 2.6 percent."
Reference: www.ssa.govTitle: Armed Gangs of Illegal Aliens Taking Over Aurora, CO Apartment Buildings - and Nothing Is Being Done
Article Snip: "...In Aurora, Colorado, armed criminal gangs are taking over apartment buildings. The gangs are charging rent on the apartments they have seized; they are selling drugs and, according to accounts from displaced residences, engaged in sex trafficking. And the local authorities seem unable, or unwilling, to do anything about it. ... Potential gang activity was caught on surveillance camera in a Colorado apartment building after what one former resident calls "no accountability" kept law enforcement from assisting."
Reference: redstate.comTitle: Trump Blames Biden, Harris for Market Losses
Article Snip: "...The Dow appeared it could be headed for its first 1,000 point decline since September 2022.
Soon after the bell sounded on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 1,064 points, or 2.7%, following a 611-point loss Friday, CNBC reported.
S&P 500 futures were down 3.6% after the benchmark lost 1.8% on Friday. Nasdaq-100 futures lost 4.8% as big tech stocks got hit hard in early trading.
"STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!! KAMALA DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE. BIDEN IS SOUND ASLEEP. ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!" Trump posted Sunday night. ...
"
Title: Retirees' Social Security checks have lost significant buying power since 2010, a new report says
Article Snip: "...Retirees would need, on average, a $370 monthly boost in their Social Security checks to make up for a 20% loss of buying power since 2010.
That means today’s average monthly benefit of $1,860 for retired workers would need to rise to about $2,230, according to a new report from the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan group.
The spoiler: inflation.
...common senior household expenses such as car insurance, food, out-patient hospital care, and housing rose much more than that.
“The reality is that COLAs have become less and less likely to match inflation over time,” Benton said. “In the 1990s and 2000s, 60% of COLAs beat inflation. In the 2010s, only 40% did. Through the 2020s so far, only one COLA out of five—the 8.7% increase in 2023— has done so.”"
Title: Balancing a fixed income with inflation, a Georgia retiree feels stuck
Article Snip: "... Retired and taking care of her husband, Breland has seen rising prices for everything from groceries and utilities to insurance and home maintenance eat into her fixed income. She has also seen her friends struggle with inflation, as well, through the church she volunteers at. ... increasing financial pressure and has been looking to cut her monthly expenses in the face of rising prices for groceries, utilities, insurance and home maintenance. “All the money I will ever have come in is what I have now,” she said."
Reference: www.nbcnews.comTitle: Credit card balances past due reach highest level since at least 2012: Philly Fed
Article Snip: "percentage of credit card balances past due reached the highest levels since at least 2012. ...New card originations also fell on a Y/Y basis, falling by $3.8B, or 3.6%. Number of accounts fell by 3.4M, or 17%, Q/Q and by 1.3M accounts, or 7.4%, Y/Y.
Mortgage originations bottomed out at a series low at $44.4B and 80,100 accounts in Q1 2024, the study said. However, with the price of houses continuing to climb, the average new loan size rose to $554,450. The median new mortgage size increased 9.6% to $335,000..."
Title: West Virginia is the most affordable state, study says
Article Snip: "...CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — If you’re looking for an affordable state to live and buy a home, several recent studies say that West Virginia is your best option in the U.S. A recent report by doxo used the 2024 Cost of Bill Index (COBI) found that West Virginia’s standard cost of living is 25% lower than the national average. ..."
Reference: www.wboy.comTitle: Cooling Inflation Has 2025 Social Security COLA Estimate Dropping
Article Snip: "These latest estimates are based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) consumer price index (CPI) data for May, ... For the month, the index decreased 0.1% prior to seasonal adjustment. ...As such, the CPI-W can undercount when compared to spending patterns of older consumers Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), which means it can subsequently underpay Social Security recipients, she notes. “This disparity suggests that my COLA estimate, which is based on the CPI-W, may be undercounting real senior inflation by more than 10%,” says Johnson. "
Reference:Title: What Risks Do Near Retirees and Retirees Face from Inflation
Article Snip: "...High inflation tends to harm older households, but the size of the impact varies due to three factors: the extent to which income and assets...retirees are hurt more than near retirees as, outside of Social Security, their income is less indexed to prices and they hold less debt. ..."
Reference: crr.bc.eduArticle Snip: "...cope with the runaway inflation of earlier this decade and the continued high prices for food, housing, utilities and other necessities.
That’s forcing more of them to spend their emergency savings, carry debt on credit cards or apply for assistance programs, according to The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan public education and advocacy group. ...senior citizens are often in a more difficult predicament because many live off fixed incomes. Many depend heavily on Social Security – some 42% of elderly women and 37% of elderly men rely on the monthly payments"
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