Inflation in the United States means that each year the Social Security Administration has to increase benefits. The Cost-of-living-adjustment, better known as COLA, is responsible for doing so. Through that adjustment, Social Security retirees may have better purchasing power. At least, they may not lose it, since that is the ultimate goal of the COLA. The retirement age, moreover, also affects the COLA, since all these percentages are linked together in such a way that they increase and decrease depending on many different factors.
That is why it is common to ask how retirement age affects the COLA and Social Security in 2023. You have to be clear about one thing first and foremost, and that is that retirement age always affects SSA checks. Depending on the age at which you retire, your check will be higher or lower. There is a limit of 70 years old, because after that you will not receive any extra benefit for continuing to work or delaying retirement.
Therefore, we can say that the retirement age affects Social Security and the 2023 COLA. This is because the COLA increases SSA checks through a percentage. With this percentage in mind, we can tell in a very simple way how much the retirement age may affect all of this. The announced COLA percentage for the year 2023 is 8.7%. Through this figure we will be able to know how much retirees will be collecting as of January next year.
Retirement Age and Social Security COLA 2023
In order to think about how retirement age affects the 2023 COLA we need to know a few details. The first is that if we apply for retirement at age 62, we will only get about 70% of the money we contributed as a worker. So, if we have contributed a benefit of $1,000 per month, at the end our monthly Social Security check will be $700 per month.
With that in mind, Social Security will pay us 8.7% more next year. This means that that same $700 check will go to $760.9. This math we’re doing is just an example. To find out how your retirement age affects your final Social Security benefit, use your own data. It is easy to use and is also a very practical tool.
You can also use the Social Security calculator to get an approximation of what your Social Security benefit will be. To the estimate you get, add an 8.7% COLA for the year 2023. If you are already collecting your SSA benefit, it will increase starting in January. If you start collecting your retirement starting next year, the COLA will be added automatically.