☕ DrinkCoffeeAndProfit
Smart money moves before breakfast
Inspiration Quote for the Day
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”
Benjamin Franklin
The Morning Ritual
Social Security Announced Your Raise. Medicare Has Not Announced Its Cut.
Social Security published the 2027 adjustment on October 14. Benefits rise 3.6%, the largest increase in four years, for nearly 72 million people. The agency put the average retirement increase at about $75 a month. That is the figure that made the news.
The figure that decides what actually lands has not been published. Medicare sets the Part B premium in mid November. That premium comes out of the Social Security payment before the payment moves. The raise is public. The deduction is still three weeks away.
· · · From Our Partners · · ·
Cybercab
By the end of this month, Elon Musk is about to shock the world again.
And will unleash enough wealth to make every household in America $2.38 million.
The claims above are the advertiser’s own.
THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT
In One Sip
► Social Security announced a 3.6% raise for 2027 on October 14, the largest in four years
► Nearly 72 million beneficiaries are covered, and the average retirement benefit rises about $75 a month
► The Part B premium is taken out of the payment before it arrives, and CMS publishes the 2027 figure in mid November
► The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, with a $283 annual deductible
► Medicare trustees project $209.50 for 2027, a $6.60 rise, and that is a projection rather than the official number
Why It Matters for Your Money
Two agencies decide your January, and they do not announce on the same day. Social Security publishes the raise in October. Medicare publishes the premium in November. The second is subtracted from the first before the money moves.
The trustees put the 2027 premium at $209.50, up $6.60. If that holds, roughly one dollar in eleven of the average raise goes back before it arrives. The projection is not binding. Last year the premium went from $185.00 to $202.90, a jump of 9.7%.
The premium is not the only line on that letter. The Part B deductible was $283 in 2026, and the trustees project $292 for 2027. You pay that out of pocket before Medicare covers an office visit.
Then comes the part that catches people out. Your 2027 premium is not set by your 2027 income. It is set by your 2025 tax return, the one filed this spring. A home sale, a Roth conversion or a severance cheque in that single year can move you into a surcharge tier.
That surcharge is a cliff rather than a slope. One dollar over a threshold moves you into the next tier for the whole year. The notice arrives in November alongside the premium, and for many people it is the first they hear of it.
One protection sits under all of this. For most people drawing a benefit, the dollar rise in the premium cannot exceed the dollar rise in the payment. A raise can be swallowed, and it is not supposed to go backwards. That protection does not extend to the surcharge tiers.
You can read your own answer before either agency sends it. Find your 2025 tax return and read the adjusted gross income line, then add any tax exempt interest. That sum is the figure Medicare uses for 2027. If it sits close to a threshold, you will know before the letter does.
☕ Key Insight:
The raise you read about is a gross figure. The number that decides your January arrives next month, and for some households it was already decided by a tax return filed two years earlier.
· · · A Word From Our Sponsor · · ·
M.A.G.I
Elon Musk’s new patent protects a new invention that could rewrite the future of wealth forever.
It’s a radical new form of AI Jeff Brown calls “M.A.G.I...”
One so revolutionary that Elon called it an “infinite money glitch.”
Click here to see the details because he believes this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to potentially create wealth on a scale most people can’t even comprehend.
The claims above are the advertiser’s own.
THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT
The Coffee Break Move
If a one off event pushed that figure up and the event has since passed, there is an appeal. Form SSA-44 covers life changing events such as retirement, the death of a spouse or the loss of a pension. File it when the notice arrives rather than paying a surcharge for a year.
Then hold the budget until mid November. The raise is confirmed and the deduction is not. Pencil in the trustee figure if you need something to work with. Replace it the week CMS publishes.
A raise that arrives net of somebody else’s line item is one way to fund a retirement. The next message is from a partner, on another.
· · · Paid Partnership · · ·
Dear Friend,
Nobody told you this, but the moment SPCX listed, your retirement account may have already bought it.
At the worst possible price.
Index funds and 401(k)s are forced to buy giant new listings the day they hit the market.
No choice. At a $1.7 trillion valuation, that’s the top.
The insiders who got in at $20 billion needed someone to sell to.
That someone is millions of retirement accounts, yours possibly included.
Here’s what they’d rather you not do: look past the headline ticker to the small supplier Musk’s empire physically can’t run without.
It’s still cheap.
It’s not jammed into every index yet.
Don’t be the exit liquidity. Be early.
See the stock the insiders aren’t selling
“The Buck Stops Here,”
Kelly Maguire
Behind the Markets
© 2026 Behind the Markets. 4260 NW 1st Avenue, Suite #55 · Boca Raton, FL 33431. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Personal results may vary. All investing involves risk of loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. The information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any specific security.
THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT
One Last Sip
This is the largest raise in four years and it is still a gross figure. The net version arrives in a letter next month, and that letter carries two numbers rather than one.
Read it the way you read a statement rather than the way you read a headline. The premium line tells you what January looks like. The surcharge line, if it is there, tells you what a quiet year in 2025 is costing you now.
Both agencies have done this on the same calendar for years, and the October figure always travels further than the November one. Mark the middle of November the way you marked the middle of October.
Nothing in that letter is negotiable on the day it arrives. The one piece still moving is the income the next letter will read, and that year is running now. The raise is the announcement. The letter is the answer.

Keep Reading