Social Security has announced the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for 2019 and it’s good news as there will be a 2.8% increase in benefits in the new year. This means that the standard SSI Federal Payment for an individual will go from $750 to $771 a month; an SSI couple will see their monthly income increase to $1,157. Once again there is no increase in the resource limits for SSI as the threshold remains at $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.
Other significant changes see the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) rate increase to $1,220 a month for non-blind individuals; blind beneficiaries’ SGA threshold will be set at $2,040 a month. The Trial Work Period threshold also increases, from $850 to $880 a month. There is additionally a comfortable increase in the monthly and annual Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE) limits as those figures will go up to $1,870 and $7,550 respectively.
For a full record of the 2019 changes please click here: https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/colafacts2019.pdf