MW The 6 biggest changes to Social Security over the past 20 years that affect how much money you'll get in retirement
By Beth Pinsker
Maximum benefits are up 103%, but dark days loom
Social Security has changed a lot in 20 years, and more reform is needed.
When Marcia Mantell started her retirement consulting business 20 years ago, the most anyone could get in Social Security was $1,982 a month, which today is closer to the average payout. Now people with the highest earnings over their career can qualify for just over $4,000 in a monthly benefit - if they know all the right strategies for working the system.
Mantell has mastered these strategies over these past two decades and is now a sought-after speaker on Social Security, Medicare and other retirement topics. She has been compiling a list of big changes to Social Security, Medicare and retirement planning since she started in the business, and to put together all she has learned, she has released an updated version of her book on the topic, now titled, "Social Security: Lightly Toasted, Not Burnt."
Social Security is a chief source of income for the 71 million Americans currently receiving benefits, according to the government. While it accounts for about a third of most budgets, there are many people who do not have access to pensions or do not have other private retirement savings plans. That leaves about 27% with Social Security as their sole source of income, according to Pew research. The stakes could not be higher.
"It's a stunning lookback, I have to say," said Mantell of the search for perspective, especially as the rules around retirement savings have changed to include more women. "My mom was a stay-at-home mom and she could never save in an IRA, because she didn't have earned income of her own. Women could not do anything to help themselves save for retirement."
Now there are rules to allow for a nonearning spouse to contribute to an IRA based on their partner's earnings. There are Social Security benefits for divorced spouses that don't rely on any communication with the earning spouse. And there are ways for two-income couples to team up with claiming strategies to make sure they get the most they can in their monthly check.
Here's what Mantell told MarketWatch about the six biggest changes to Social Security.
1. The maximum benefit paid to the highest earners has increased from $1,982 to $4,018
One piece of the puzzle that most people miss is that Social Security is calculated on your own work history, which accounts for your taxed contributions into the system throughout your career. "This is a case where more is more," Mantell said. "If you keep working and earning more, you get a higher starting foundation benefit."
That base amount, known as the primary insurance amount, or PIA, is where you start, and after that, the amount is adjusted each year for inflation. All future cost-of-living adjustments are applied on top of the base, year after year. Obviously, a 1% increase on $4,000 is worth a lot more than on $2,000. Over the past 20 years, the maximum benefit paid to the highest earners has increased 103%, from $1,982 to $4,018.
"It's a really powerful compounding situation," said Mantell. "I'm doing an analysis right now for a couple where his PIA is $4,050 and hers is not too shabby, either. They could have $100,000 coming in as income per year. That's a huge foundation."
2. Three years out of the last 20 had no COLA
Now think about what happens when that compounding effect stops for a year. You're going up, up, up, and then you flatline. That's what happens when there's a 0% cost-of-living adjustment for a year with Social Security benefits - as happened in 2009, 2010 and 2015. "When you're in retirement and at an older age, like 85, you have no other choices for income. So Social Security gets increasingly important," Mantell said. "In years without high inflation and thus no COLA, seniors lose even more buying power, because Social Security COLAs don't exactly keep up with cost of living, anyway. Those years of zeros set the seniors back."
3. 2022 saw the largest COLA increase since 1980 - 8.7%
There are zero years, but there are also high years. The peak was in 2022, with an 8.7% increase to offset exceptionally high inflation. "It's still not that powerful," Mantell said bluntly. "It's way better than zero, but we have to keep things in perspective." The COLA is applied mostly to very small amounts of money in the grand scheme of things. Most people, after all, are not getting $100,000 in income per year from their benefit. The 2022 increase worked out to about $56 a month on average, according to Mantell, "But Medicare Part B went up, so your net is like $30 on average. Everything else went up more than $30 a month. It doesn't deliver cash in a meaningful way that people need."
4. The file-and-suspend loophole was closed, eliminating the restricted spousal early claim
The file-and suspend loophole used to allow people a way to access more Social Security benefits - it was claim now, claim more later. "It inadvertently allowed one spouse to claim just their spousal benefit when they reached full retirement age," Mantell explained in her book. "This way, their spousal benefits started at age 66, while their own primary insurance amount, based on their work record, increased by 8% per year with Delayed Retirement Credits. Then, at age 70, they would switch to a much higher benefit based on their own work record."
This strategy is no more, but Mantell said most of her clients still come to her thinking it is available. "They're trying to eke more out of the program, but spousal benefits are tricky. That's why people still need a rulebook," she said.
5. WEP and GPO were repealed, boosting income for some 3 million public sector workers
The repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset in 2025 was a big boon to public sector workers who got retroactive payments that year, and it will continue to help workers going forward. "You need to know it and claim it," Mantell said. But those big payments and extra money going out will also deplete the Social Security trust fund faster. "It did move the needle to liquidating the reserve fund about six months earlier," Mantell said. "Normally that would not be of a concern, but now Congress will have to move that much faster."
6. The reserve account was tapped in 2021 to meet 100% of benefit payments due
The Social Security reserves started getting tapped in 2021 to meet 100% of benefits due, which caps Mantell's list of major changes over the past 20 years. By 2034, the trust is forecast to only be able to cover 80% of benefits unless further action is taken by Congress. The future of Social Security is of grave concern to most Americans, but Mantell has hope for the future. "The goal for all of us is we want 100% of what we earned," she said. "The reserve is doing the job it was set up to do, but it's getting ready to run out in six years. Congress needs to act. There are many good ideas out there. We now just need to implement a variety of them."
Got a question about investing, how it fits into your overall financial plan and what strategies can help you make the most out of your money? You can write to me at beth.pinsker@marketwatch.com. Please put "Fix My Portfolio" in the subject line.
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March 21, 2026 12:30 ET (16:30 GMT)
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