The Social Security Administration will begin applying the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for payments in 2024. Today 55% of beneficiaries are women. Do you know how much their pensions will be?
More than 71 million Social Security and SSI pensioners will see their payments impacted with the COLA report, which, ultimately, will not be like 2023, which reached a historic 8.7%, but will still help with expenses. The new amount, which will have a 3.2% increase, will be applied as of December 29, 2023 for 7.5 million people who get SSI, the rest, will collect as of January 2024.
According to the SSA, more women today are working, paying Social Security taxes and accumulating credits toward monthly retirement benefits than at any time in our nation’s history. Many also often put aside their professional and work lives to devote themselves to the home, watching out for many people, such as spouses, children and parents, which affects their retirement.
HOW MUCH WILL WOMEN GET WITH THE 2024 COLA ADJUSTMENT?
Social Security benefits are based on time worked, earnings and age at retirement. Women usually get a smaller pensioner’s pension than men because their salary is usually lower, plus many put aside their professional life because they devote themselves to the home. As a result, they also get spousal benefits. Here is the average amount that a retired woman will earn in Social Security in 2024.
The benefit of about $1,711 per month by 2024, up from $1,658 in 2023, according to the media outlet Solo Dinero, which relies on recent data from the Social Security Administration. That’s an increase of $53.
Compared to the average monthly payment a male retiree gets, which is $2,039 and next 2024 will be $2,104, women get $393 less, approximately, each month.
WOMEN’S ETERNAL CHALLENGE TO REACH RETIREMENT
The Social Security Administration notes that women face greater financial challenges in reaching retirement:
- First, women tend to live longer than men: Today, a 65-year-old woman can expect to live to about 87 years of age. A 65-year-old man can live to 84.
- Second: women have less lifetime income than a man’s income.
- Third: women may reach retirement with smaller pensions and other assets than men.
That is why the struggle of women is currently active in order to achieve equal conditions.