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Smart money moves before breakfast
Partner Message

Everyone is obsessed with SpaceX. That’s the wrong play

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SpaceX is already valued at $1.75 trillion before a single share trades publicly.

The investors who got rich on SpaceX got in years ago.

Larry Benedict — the trader who didn’t have a losing year for 20 consecutive years — says while the world is fixated on the IPO, billions of dollars are quietly being set up to flow into ONE forgotten ticker.

He’s revealing the name completely free.

Click here to see where Larry is actually positioning his readers — and why it isn’t SpaceX.
Inspiration Quote for the Day
“The question isn’t at what age I want to retire. It’s at what income.”
— George Foreman
The Morning Ritual
Social Security Is Giving You a Raise. Your Bills Already Spent It.
My aunt Carol poured her second cup of coffee Sunday morning and called me. “Did you see the news? They are saying Social Security might give us `3.8%` next year.” She sounded hopeful. She has not sounded hopeful about money in a while. I could hear her dog barking in the background. I grabbed a pen.
I did the math while she was still on the phone. The excitement lasted about ninety seconds. That raise adds roughly `$77` a month to the average check. Sounds like real money. But Medicare Part B is projected to climb another `$16` a month in January. Gas is up `30%` over the past year. Food is up `3.2%`. By the time the raise hits her bank account, most of it is already spoken for.
In One Sip
► The 2027 Social Security COLA is projected at `3.8%`, per The Senior Citizens League. That is one full point above this year’s `2.8%` raise. Some analysts project it could reach `4.7%`.
► For the average retiree collecting `$2,026` a month, the raise adds about `$77`. New check: `$2,103`. That is before Medicare takes its cut.
► Medicare Part B premiums are projected to rise from `$202.90` to roughly `$218.60` a month. That `$15.70` increase comes out of your Social Security check before you see a dime.
► In 2026, the Medicare Part B hike wiped out one-third of the COLA. The pattern is on track to repeat next January.
► The buried story: `24.8` million older Americans draw all of their retirement income from Social Security. Average senior cost of living: `$2,700` a month. Average check: `$2,026`. That is a `$674` gap the COLA does not close.
Why It Matters for Your Money
Start with Carol’s kitchen table. Her Social Security check is `$1,840` a month. The full `3.8%` raise adds `$70`. She circled that number on a napkin. Then I asked her to write down what already went up.
Gas added about `$55` a month since last summer. Groceries climbed roughly `$28`. Her Medicare Part B premium already rose `$18` this January. And next January, another `$16` is projected. She stared at the napkin for a long time.
Add it up. She gains `$70`. She loses roughly `$101` to costs that already climbed. Read that again. She is worse off after the raise than before it. That is the math nobody reads when the headline says “biggest COLA in two years.”
The Wealth Angle
Here is the part that should bother you. The COLA formula is based on inflation from July through September. But your bills started climbing in January. You paid higher gas prices for nine months before the formula even started counting. The raise is always playing catch-up to a race that already finished.
I think the COLA was built for a world where prices crept up slowly. That is not this world. Gas jumped `30%` in twelve months. Your grocery receipt looks different every week. The formula catches up eventually. But by then, you have already felt it at the pump and the checkout line.
`44%` of retirees told The Senior Citizens League this year that their check no longer covers basic expenses. That survey went out before the latest gas and food increases hit. The COLA is not broken. It is just permanently one step behind your actual life.
I have watched Carol trim her budget every January for three years straight. Each time the raise comes. Each time it falls short. She is not bad with money. She is living on a fixed check in a world where nothing else is fixed.
☕ Key Insight:
The 2027 Social Security raise looks like the biggest in two years. After Medicare takes its cut, the average retiree nets about `$61` a month. Your costs already climbed more than that.
Coffee Break Move
If you are on Social Security, pull up your account at ssa.gov this week. Check your current benefit. Now subtract `$16` for the projected Medicare Part B increase. That is closer to your real raise than the headline number.
If you are within five years of claiming, run the numbers on delaying. Each year you wait past `62` increases your benefit by `6%` to `8%`. That compounding matters more than any single COLA.
Carol and I sat at her kitchen table Sunday afternoon with a pen and her bank statement. We found `$40` a month in subscriptions she forgot she had. We moved her savings into a high-yield account paying `4%` APY. Small wins. But on a fixed income, small wins are the whole game. Pour your coffee. Then check your numbers.

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