Principal Attorney
Social security changes happening in 2019
The year 2019 will mark a lot of optimal changes for the social security beneficiaries. Good news is, even when some of the changes like an increase in taxable income seem doubtful as positive, most of the changes are in your favor!
Let’s dive in and learn what 2019 has brought to the social security beneficiaries:
Beneficiaries are getting a raise!
Thanks to the cost-of-living, COLA adjustments, the Social Security Administration has decided to give beneficiaries a raise – the beneficiaries will be getting a 2.8% increase in the amount of the monthly disability benefits. The premium amount of an average person’s benefits will increase to almost $40 increasing from $1422 to $1461.
Full retirement age will continue to rise
Sadly in many cases if you make the mistake of claiming your social security benefits before you reach the maximum age of retirement, you would lose a lot of amount in the process. Whereas, if you wait up till your retirement age (minimum 62 and maximum 67) you can get the maximum amount of benefits you could receive from the SSA.
Social security disability thresholds are increasing
This is by far the best beneficiaries ever got. About 10 million Americans are on the receiving end of the Social Security benefits each year. The legally blind will now receive upto $2040 per month, a threshold raise of $70 per month since 2018. For the non-blind, the benefits threshold has raised to $1220 per month. The amount could be as great as $1461 in some cases.
You can view your COLA notice details online
Previously many beneficiaries lost a lot of important notices from the SSA or were straight away denied benefits if the mail did not reach them. Although not responding to the SSA’s queries may still cancel the benefits, the beneficiaries may now view their notices and current benefit’s status online at mysocialsecurity.
*Note that notices would still be sent through mail for the year 2019, but beneficiaries will have the option to choose from online or mail notices from 2020.
The $16,122 social security bonus
If you are still a few years ahead of your retirement and are working, then claiming your benefits before the retirement age i.e., 62 would cause you to lose $1 in benefits for every $2 your earn through work. Although in some cases you don’t have the option to delay claiming your benefits even at the cost of losing a substantial amount by claiming it before the age of retirement, this is for those who can still choose to wait before they claim their benefits.
Once you learn how to maximize your benefits, you would be able to earn that additional amount of up to $16,122 by choosing the right time to claim your benefits.
You can contact a professional social security attorney who can guide you to a lucrative strategy for claiming your benefits.
