The Social Security COLA increase for 2025 is going into effect soon, and so is your boosted benefits check. Here's when you can expect it.

Social Security's 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) bumped the average benefit from $1,927 per month to $1,976 per month. It's a $49 increase, but many hoped for more. Despite slowing inflation, some retirees still find it difficult to make ends meet,

Social Security is an earned benefit. You become eligible by paying the payroll tax during your working years, and the amount you get is geared to your wage history - with a glaring exception.

The U.S. Senate recently voted to proceed with the Social Security Fairness Act, a bipartisan bill that could expand Social Security benefits for nearly 3 million Americans. The bill passed in the House of Representatives in November and is now on its way to President Biden's desk.

Social Security has a big birthday coming up next year -- it's turning 90! It's kept many millions of people out of poverty for decades and was recently supporting more than 71 million people with around $1.5 trillion in benefits for the year.

In 1983, Congress passed a law that gradually increased the age at which people may receive 100% of their Social Security benefits from 65 to 67, a change that was felt over the following decades as Americans approached their retirement age, according to Bipartisan Policy Cente r. The increase aimed to match increasing life expectancy.

Social Security is best known for providing monthly income to retirees based on their earnings over the course of their working lives, but there's more to the program than that. One important aspect of it that married (and divorced) couples ought to know about is its spousal benefit,