Retirees will need to wait a little bit longer to qualify for Social Security from 2025 as the retirement age hikes up to 66 years and 10 months, a change of an additional two months working.

As humans continue to live longer and the economy continues to get harder, governments around the world have little issue making you work longer before you’re allowed to put your feet up and enjoy the last 10, 20, 30 years of life.

And the USA is no different with the age of retirement for full benefits only continuing to rise with those born in 1959 being required to work two more months than 1958, whilst anyone born after 1960 will wait until the age of 67 (beginning 2026) before being able to claim full SSI.

Americans can still retire at the age of 62 and claim Social Security but that will only see them collect a limited sum compared to sticking it out for the extra four/five years to unlock the full retirement amount.

However, keep an eye on the latest developments in upcoming years because this can be adapted and adjusted by the federal government in order to save costs and with Donald Trump and the Republicans heading to the White House, it almost certainly means cuts are on the way.

COLA to change for 2025

A new Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) will come into effect from 2025 and will be set at 2.5% which will impact the amount of money Americans receive through benefits such as SSI, SSDI and Veterans’ Affairs.

The COLA is worked out by taking the Customer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which is then used to measure the real-time impact of the rising costs such as inflation.

From there, the Social Security Administration will then adjust the percentage of benefits paid out above the norm and for 2025 that is 2.5% meaning if an American is eligible $1000 in SSI at zero percent COLA, they will actually get $1025.