Social security benefits to increase: What to know

More than 70 million seniors are set to receive a boost in their checks come January, marking the biggest increase since 2023. Finance professor Dan Riccardo joins us live with what this means for retirees and workers preparing for retirement. Great to see you, Dan. What's up, Katie? How are you? I'm great. How are you? I'm doing great, thanks. Thanks. This is important, of course, for so many seniors in America. What does this increase mean for them? Grandmom's getting a raise. How about 3.6%, as you said? It's the largest in a few years. Extra 75 bucks or so each month. But that's the good news, Kate. The bad news is, you know, it's still not a lot of money. Think about this. The average Social Security check is about $2,100. And 20% of our seniors who are collecting Social Security, 20%, Kate, have no other savings at all. So when you think about it, this really is a lifeline to a lot of American seniors. Yeah, they need it. You're right, it's not too much, so don't boost how much you're spending, right? What other advice do you have for seniors on a fixed budget? Well, that's the good news. Let's focus on what we can control. For example, part-time work. More and more of us, when we're beyond 65 or 67 years old, still work part-time. I'm all for it. Sounds great. Right size your lifestyle. What I mean by that is, at some point, a lot of seniors, I can tell you the number of cases I've seen, have these big, beautiful homes that are worth a lot of money here in Austin and elsewhere, and they can't afford medicine. Well, that doesn't make sense. At some point, Grandma, granddad, you've got to reconcile that, right? And that means there's a family dialogue that goes on. Open the kimono, involve the family, and talk about, hey, you know, we've got the Social Security, but we're struggling to get by. Let's come up with a family plan. Yeah, very, very smart to include the kids in that conversation. What should workers who are approaching retirement be doing right now so they can afford medicine if they still want the big house? I call it an income surge. Kate, the way Social Security is calculated is kind of complicated. It makes your hair hurt. Well, not my hair, but your hair. But basically, an income surge means you add as much income as you can to those last few years where you're working. Just keep piling up bonuses, sales commissions. Work real hard if you have to. And then that income surge you have at the end will help boost your benefits when you do get Social Security. How about prioritizing that 401k? If you're in your 50s and you haven't been stuffing money in, now's the time. A phased retirement. I don't like the word retire from something. I like to retire to something. So maybe you're, you know, going off in a different direction, but still getting some sort of paycheck part time. Why not? And finally, Kate, every year you and I wait to collect our Social Security up to age 70, we get about an 8% raise. It's a good thing. I'll take that. Yeah. Delayed as long as you can. Dan, great to see you. Have a happy Halloween weekend. Thanks for the tips. You too, Kate.