Investment firms and news headlines reward that thinking ... She is on a waiting list for a subsidized apartment for seniors. Rent will be about $800 a month, roughly half of her Social Security income. “It’s not optimal to just get by,” she ...

Seniors awaiting bigger Social Security checks next year may be shocked to discover higher Medicare premiums will eat up a chunk of their cost-of-living adjustment.

But a 2.5% COLA for 2025 stings because it's the smallest one to arrive in years. At the start of 2024, seniors on Social Security saw their benefits increase by 3.2%. And the year prior, Social Security recipients got a record-breaking 8.7% COLA. So a raise of just 2.5% seems awfully meager by comparison.

Delaying Social Security past full retirement age results in a boosted monthly benefit for life. If your full retirement age is 67, which is the case for anyone born in 1960 or later, then you have an opportunity to increase your monthly Social Security paychecks by 24% by signing up at age 70. That's an appealing thing when you're shy on savings.

Though President-elect Donald Trump has often promised to protect Social Security, he has not explained exactly how he would save the beloved – but financially troubled – entitlement program. Nor did he take any meaningful steps to shore up Social Security during his first term in the White House.

Policymakers will need to act in coming years to shore up the long-term financing of Social Security, and when they do, they should also strengthen the program by improving its minimum benefit,