How to Peek at Your 2022 Social Security Increase Early

The Social Security Administration will start sending out 2022 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) notices by mail throughout December. If you want to see your new benefits early you can do that by logging into your MySocialSecurity account.

You will be able to access early information about your social security starting early December. Just log in and go to the message center to locate your COLA (cost-of-living adjustments).

If for some reason you cannot find the information or it’s not available yet, just make sure you update your account to notify you when getting new changes. Go to your message center and then choose which delivery preference you would like either email or text.

About 70 million Americans will be able to see a 5.9% increase to their monthly Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments. This will all start early next year.

This will be the largest cost-of-living adjustment in nearly 40 years.

To make sure you are getting all your Social Security information we will need to get you an account. It can be created at any time there are no dates or rules to create one. If you have created an account already before November 17 you will automatically receive your 2022 COLA notice online.

It is honestly a good idea to create an online account because all your Social Security and SSI benefits are on there, it’s good to be able to get that information real fast if you need it.

With a MySocialSecurity account you can also:

Request a new Social Security card.
Set up or change direct deposit.
Get your Social Security tax form (SSA-1099).
Print a benefit verification letter.
Change your address.

To create an account, you’ll need to do the following:

Verify your identity by entering personal information about yourself.
Answer some security questions.
Create a username and password.
Confirm your email address or phone number by entering a one-time security code.

Also if you cannot or do not want to create an online account then have no worries you will get a paper notice in the mail in the next few weeks.

This is the biggest COLA increase since 1982.

Here’s what that looks like for the average recipient:

Retired workers will get an extra $92 a month on average, that will bring in the average monthly benefit to $1,657.
Disabled workers will get an extra $76 a month on average, that will bring in the average monthly benefit to $1,358.
The maximum Supplemental Security Income benefit for each individual will increase by $47 a month, which will bring the maximum monthly benefit to $841.

Why Your 5.9% COLA Might Not Go Far

The Social Security COLA is tied to inflation.

This increase is meant to help offset the rising cost of things such as everyday essentials like food, housing, and gas.

But, they seem to lag once again. They never seem to hit their mark as they are always lagging including this year as well.

The Consumer Price Index, a government measure for the change in prices over time, hit 6.2% in October — so the 5.9% COLA already falls short.

Don’t forget that there will be higher Medicare costs in 2022, which will likely erode the new Social Security adjustment even further.

Most Medicare beneficiaries have their monthly Part B premium automatically deducted from their Social Security checks.

Also on Nov. 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that Part B premiums are increasing by $21.60 a month in 2022. This is the biggest increase in Medicare history.

Medicare beneficiaries are also facing higher Part A and Part B deductibles next year. On a fixed income? Learn more about the 2022 Medicare premium increase — along with steps you can take to lower your health care costs. Check out your state’s Medicare deductibles so you know what to expect next year.

If this keeps up people might have to find side jobs just so they can pay the bills.