🚨 NEW SSA RULES JULY 2026: Seniors Born in the 40s, 50s & 60s Are Affected First — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00If you were born in the 1940s, 50s, or
2. 0:0260s, something about your Social
3. 0:04Security changed this year. And almost
4. 0:06nobody told you which part lands on your
5. 0:09doorstep first. Some of these are brand
6. 0:11new rules. Some are old rules that just
7. 0:13finished phasing in. And one of them is
8. 0:16money the government may already owe
9. 0:17you. We're talking a back payment that
10. 0:20for a lot of people ran into the
11. 0:22thousands of dollars in a single
12. 0:23deposit. I'll get to that one. It's
13. 0:25change number four. And honestly, it's
14. 0:27the reason I'd watch this all the way
15. 0:29through. Here's what I'm doing today.
16. 0:31Six real changes hitting Social Security
17. 0:33in 2026. For each one, I'll tell you
18. 0:36what it is, who it hits first, and the
19. 0:38one thing you actually do about it.
20. 0:40[music] And I promise you this, at least
21. 0:42one of these six is sitting on your
22. 0:44check right now, whether you've noticed
23. 0:46it or not. Welcome back. And if this is
24. 0:48your first time here, glad you found the
25. 0:50channel. Quick thing before we start.
26. 0:52These rules shift every single year, and
27. 0:55nobody from the government calls to warn
28. 0:57you. So, hit subscribe, and you'll hear
29. 0:59it here first. And don't just take my
30. 1:01word for any of it. Every official
31. 1:03source is linked down in the
32. 1:04description. Go check the numbers
33. 1:06yourself. All right, change one. Change
34. 1:09number one. The full retirement age
35. 1:11finally hit the wall, and it landed on
36. 1:13the 60s crowd first. For years, the age
37. 1:16when you collect your full unreduced
38. 1:18Social Security crept up a couple of
39. 1:20months at a time. That slow climb is
40. 1:23over. If you were born in 1960 or later,
41. 1:26your full retirement age is now 67,
42. 1:29flat. No more and a few months. 67. This
43. 1:33part's for you if you were born in the
44. 1:35early 60s. You're the first full group
45. 1:38living under the 67 rule with no
46. 1:40exceptions. Say you're turning 62 this
47. 1:43year, born in 1964.
48. 1:45You can still start your check at 62.
49. 1:47Nobody's stopping you. But starting that
50. 1:50early now locks in a permanent cut of
51. 1:52about 30% every month for the rest of
52. 1:55your life. Not a one-time hit, forever.
53. 1:58And if you were born in 1959, you're the
54. 2:01very last group to squeak in under a
55. 2:03slightly lower bar, a full retirement
56. 2:06age of 66 and 10 months. 2 months of
57. 2:09birthday separates you from the people
58. 2:11who have to wait the extra stretch.
59. 2:13Funny how that works. Here's the part
60. 2:15most people miss. Waiting past 67 pays
61. 2:18you more. For every year you hold off up
62. 2:21to age 70, Social Security adds about 8%
63. 2:24to your monthly benefit. Wait all the
64. 2:26way to 70 and your check is roughly a
65. 2:28quarter bigger than it would have been
66. 2:30at 67.
67. 2:31>> [music]
68. 2:31>> Same person, same work record, just a
69. 2:34different start date. So, before you
70. 2:35file anything, log into your account at
71. 2:38ssa.gov and look at the three numbers
72. 2:40side by side. 62, 67, 70. The gap
73. 2:45between them tends to shock people.
74. 2:47Quick one while you're here. Which
75. 2:49decade were you born in? The 40s, the
76. 2:5150s, or the 60s? Drop it in the
77. 2:53comments. It tells me whose rules to dig
78. 2:55into next. Change number two. The phone
79. 2:58call isn't enough anymore. This is the
80. 3:00one catching folks completely off guard
81. 3:03and it hits the oldest group, the 40s
82. 3:05born, the hardest. Last spring, Social
83. 3:07Security changed how you prove who you
84. 3:09are. If you're filing for retirement
85. 3:11benefits, survivor's benefits, or a
86. 3:13spouse's benefit, you can no longer just
87. 3:16call in and verify your identity over
88. 3:18the phone. Same goes for changing the
89. 3:20bank account your check lands in. So,
90. 3:22you've now got two doors. Door one, you
91. 3:25verify online through your personal my
92. 3:27Social Security account at ssa.gov.
93. 3:31Door two, you do it in person, either at
94. 3:33a field office or in a lot of places
95. 3:35now, at a participating post office
96. 3:38because the agency partnered with the
97. 3:39Postal Service to handle it at thousands
98. 3:42of locations. This part's for the 40s
99. 3:44born especially. Anyone in their late
100. 3:4770s or 80s who has always done
101. 3:49everything by phone. The phone still
102. 3:51works for plenty of things to be fair.
103. 3:54Disability, Medicare, and SSI claims can
104. 3:57still be handled by phone, but
105. 3:59retirement and survivor claims and any
106. 4:01direct deposit change now need that
107. 4:03online account or an in-person stop. If
108. 4:06you've been meaning to set up your
109. 4:07online account, do it on a calm
110. 4:09afternoon, not the week you suddenly
111. 4:11need something. Change number three,
112. 4:14paper checks are going away for good. If
113. 4:17you or your parents still get that
114. 4:19Social Security payment as a paper check
115. 4:21in the mailbox, lean in because this one
116. 4:24has a clock on it. Under an executive
117. 4:26order signed in 2025, the federal
118. 4:29government is ending paper checks for
119. 4:31benefits. The phase-out started
120. 4:33September 30th of 2025 and the move to
121. 4:36all electronic is wrapping up across
122. 4:38this year. Two ways to keep your money
123. 4:40coming, direct deposit straight into
124. 4:43your bank account or the Direct Express
125. 4:45card, which is a prepaid debit card
126. 4:47built for people who don't use a bank.
127. 4:49Either one works fine. A paper check
128. 4:52going forward won't. Now, there's a
129. 4:54narrow exception. If you genuinely can't
130. 4:57go electronic, somebody in a remote area
131. 5:00with no bank nearby, certain hardship
132. 5:02cases, you can ask the Treasury
133. 5:05Department for a waiver. That line is
134. 5:071-877-874-6347.
135. 5:12Write it down. 1-877-874-6347.
136. 5:17But for almost everybody, the move is
137. 5:19simply direct deposit and the reason
138. 5:22behind it is real. A paper check is many
139. 5:24times more likely to get lost, stolen,
140. 5:27or forged than an electronic payment.
141. 5:29So, here's a favor to ask. If your mom
142. 5:31or dad is in their late 70s and still
143. 5:34waiting on a check in the mail every
144. 5:35month, pause this video and call them
145. 5:37tonight. Don't let this be the thing
146. 5:39that interrupts their money.
147. 5:41>> [music]
148. 5:41>> Change number four, the repeal almost
149. 5:43nobody filed for and the back pay that
150. 5:45came with it. This is the one I told you
151. 5:47to wait for. For more than 40 years, two
152. 5:50rules quietly shrank or flat out erased
153. 5:53the Social Security checks of people
154. 5:55who'd also earned a public pension,
155. 5:57teachers, firefighters, police officers,
156. 6:00postal and other public workers in
157. 6:02certain states. The rules had clunky
158. 6:04names, the windfall elimination
159. 6:06provision and the government pension
160. 6:08offset, but the effect was simple and
161. 6:11brutal. You worked a public job, you
162. 6:13also paid into Social Security through
163. 6:15other work or your late spouse did, and
164. 6:18when it came time to collect, the
165. 6:19government docked you. Sometimes by
166. 6:21hundreds of dollars a month, sometimes
167. 6:23wiping a survivor's check out
168. 6:25completely. That's over. A law called
169. 6:27the Social Security Fairness Act was
170. 6:29signed in January of 2025 and it wiped
171. 6:32both rules off the books, going back to
172. 6:35benefits for 2024. Then the agency did
173. 6:38something it rarely does, fast. It
174. 6:40started cutting checks. By the middle of
175. 6:42last year, Social Security had sent more
176. 6:44than 3 million people their back
177. 6:46payments, somewhere around $17 billion
178. 6:49in total, and a lot of those landed as
179. 6:52lump sums in a single deposit. This part
180. 6:54is for the public pension retirees and
181. 6:57for the widows and widowers who took the
182. 6:59worst of the old rules. Let me make it
183. 7:01real. Picture Carol, 68, retired school
184. 7:04teacher, lives just outside Dayton,
185. 7:06Ohio. Carol taught for almost 30 years
186. 7:09on a state pension. When her husband
187. 7:11passed, she went to claim a survivor's
188. 7:13benefit on his Social Security record
189. 7:15and the old offset rule zeroed it out.
190. 7:18Nothing. For years, she figured that was
191. 7:21just the law and she got on with it.
192. 7:23Then the rule was repealed. Her survivor
193. 7:26benefit switched back on, a little over
194. 7:28$1,100 a month, and a few weeks later a
195. 7:31retroactive payment for the months she'd
196. 7:33been owed showed up in her account. She
197. 7:35had no clue it was coming. Here's the
198. 7:37good news and the catch, [music]
199. 7:39together. For most people, you don't
200. 7:41have to file a thing. If Social Security
201. 7:44has your current information, the
202. 7:45adjustment and the back pay are
203. 7:47automatic, but most is not all. If you
204. 7:50moved, if your banking changed, if your
205. 7:52record was complicated, or if you never
206. 7:55claimed a spousal or survivor benefit in
207. 7:57the first place because the old rule
208. 7:59made it pointless, you could be sitting
209. 8:01on money the system hasn't routed to you
210. 8:03yet. So if you or your late spouse ever
211. 8:05worked a job with a public pension,
212. 8:07check your status. Log in to ssa.gov or
213. 8:11call the main line at 1-800-772-1213.
214. 8:16One phone call could be worth a year of
215. 8:18checks. Change number five, your raise
216. 8:21came in and Medicare took a bite before
217. 8:23you ever saw it. Back in January, every
218. 8:25Social Security recipient got a cost of
219. 8:28living raise of 2.8%
220. 8:30for the average retiree. That's about
221. 8:32$56 more a month, real money. But here's
222. 8:35where it goes sideways. The standard
223. 8:37Medicare Part B premium also jumped in
224. 8:402026, up to $202.90
225. 8:43a month, an increase of almost $18. And
226. 8:46[music] because that premium comes
227. 8:48straight out of your Social Security
228. 8:49check before it ever reaches your bank,
229. 8:52a big slice of the raise vanished on the
230. 8:54way in. For a lot of folks, close to a
231. 8:56third of the cost of living bump got
232. 8:59swallowed by the Medicare increase. This
233. 9:01part's for the 50s born who are still
234. 9:03clocking in. If you're under your full
235. 9:05retirement age the whole year and you're
236. 9:07working while you collect, 2026 lets you
237. 9:10earn up to $24,480
238. 9:13before Social Security starts holding
239. 9:15back $1 for every two you make over that
240. 9:18line. In the year you actually reach
241. 9:20full retirement age, the limit jumps way
242. 9:22up to $65,160
243. 9:26and the hold back eases to $1 for every
244. 9:28three. And once you've hit full
245. 9:30retirement age, the limit disappears
246. 9:32entirely. Earn whatever you want. Now
247. 9:34here's the part people panic over for no
248. 9:36reason. The money they hold back isn't
249. 9:39gone. Once you reach full retirement
250. 9:41age, they recalculate and give it back
251. 9:43to you over time. It feels like a
252. 9:46penalty. It's really just a delay.
253. 9:48Change number six, and this one's
254. 9:49actually in your corner. There's a new
255. 9:51tax break written for older Americans
256. 9:53and it showed up on returns starting
257. 9:55with the 2025 tax year. If you're 65 or
258. 9:59older, you can claim an extra deduction
259. 10:01of up to $6,000 per person, $12,000 for
260. 10:04a married couple where both of you are
261. 10:0665 and up. You get it whether you take
262. 10:08the standard deduction or itemize. And
263. 10:10as the law stands now, it runs through
264. 10:12the 2028 tax year. It does fade out at
265. 10:15higher incomes. The deduction starts
266. 10:17shrinking once your modified income
267. 10:19passes $75,000 if you're single or
268. 10:22$150,000 for a couple, and it's gone
269. 10:25completely up at $175,000
270. 10:28single, $250,000 joint. But for a whole
271. 10:31lot of retirees living on a check and a
272. 10:33modest pension, that's real money
273. 10:35staying in your pocket come tax time.
274. 10:38Tell whoever does your taxes to make
275. 10:39sure it's applied. Don't leave it
276. 10:41sitting there. Now, before the recap,
277. 10:43two things you need in the same breath.
278. 10:45First, why all of this is moving at
279. 10:47once. On June 9th of this year, the
280. 10:50Social Security and Medicare Trustees
281. 10:52released their annual report. The
282. 10:54headline is this. The main retirement
283. 10:57trust fund is now projected to run short
284. 10:59in late 2032. If Congress does nothing
285. 11:02before then, incoming taxes would only
286. 11:04cover about 78% of promised benefits,
287. 11:07which means an across-the-board cut of
288. 11:09roughly 22%.
289. 11:11Nothing changes today. Your check is
290. 11:13safe right now. But that date is exactly
291. 11:16why you keep hearing about reform, and
292. 11:18it's worth keeping in mind when you
293. 11:19decide when to claim. Second, and please
294. 11:22hear me on this one.
295. 11:23>> [music]
296. 11:23>> Every time Social Security changes its
297. 11:26rules, the scammers go to work because
298. 11:28confusion is their best friend. Right
299. 11:30now, the big one is a phone call.
300. 11:33Somebody rings you up, says they're from
301. 11:34Social Security, tells you your number's
302. 11:37been suspended over fraud, and the only
303. 11:39way to fix it is to confirm your Social
304. 11:41Security number or pay them, sometimes
305. 11:44with gift cards. It is all fake. Social
306. 11:47Security will not call and threaten you.
307. 11:49They will never ask you to fix something
308. 11:51with a gift card. The move is simple.
309. 11:53Hang up. Just hang up. Then report it
310. 11:56either online at oig.ssa.gov
311. 12:00or by phone at 1-800-269-0271.
312. 12:05You can also report it to the FTC at
313. 12:07reportfraud.ftc.gov.
314. 12:10Let me say that scam reporting line one
315. 12:12more time. 1-800-269-0271.
316. 12:17Be the person in your family who knows
317. 12:19it's a fake. Quick question while it's
318. 12:21fresh. Have you gotten one of those your
319. 12:23Social Security number is suspended
320. 12:25calls? Tell me in the comments how they
321. 12:27tried it on you. Your story might be the
322. 12:29thing that keeps somebody else from
323. 12:31falling for it. So, here is the full
324. 12:33picture. One, the full retirement age is
325. 12:36locked at 67 for everyone born in 1960
326. 12:39or later and claiming at 62 means a
327. 12:42permanent cut of about 30%. Two, [music]
328. 12:46you can't verify your identity by phone
329. 12:48anymore for retirement, survivor, or
330. 12:50spousal claims or to change your
331. 12:52deposit. It's the online account or in
332. 12:55person now. Three, [music]
333. 12:56paper checks are ending so get on direct
334. 12:59deposit or the direct express card and
335. 13:01use that Treasury waiver line only if
336. 13:03you truly can't go electronic. Four, the
337. 13:06windfall and government pension rules
338. 13:08were repealed and if you or your late
339. 13:11spouse had a public pension, there may
340. 13:13be back pay and a bigger monthly check
341. 13:15waiting often with nothing to file.
342. 13:17Five, your 2.8% raise got trimmed by the
343. 13:21higher Medicare premium and if you're
344. 13:23still working, know your earnings
345. 13:24limits. And six, the new senior
346. 13:27deduction up to $6,000 a person is yours
347. 13:30to claim through 2028 if your income
348. 13:32qualifies. Of those six, which one did
349. 13:35you not know about or which one's been
350. 13:38quietly hitting your check this whole
351. 13:39time? Tell me down below. I read these
352. 13:42and I want to see how many of us are in
353. 13:43the same boat. One last thing before you
354. 13:45go. None of this is legal or financial
355. 13:48advice and I'm not the government. I
356. 13:50just read the rules so you don't have
357. 13:52to. For your exact situation, check the
358. 13:54official pages linked in the description
359. 13:56or talk to Social Security directly
360. 13:59because the details can shift by state
361. 14:01and by your own record. If this helped
362. 14:03you, share it with someone who needs it.
363. 14:05A parent still on a paper check, a
364. 14:07retired teacher who never got their
365. 14:09offset money back, a neighbor who's
366. 14:11about to claim at 62 without knowing
367. 14:13what it really costs. Send it to them
368. 14:15today. The rules never come looking for
369. 14:18you, but now you know exactly where they
370. 14:20landed. I'll see you in the next one.