Social Security recipients will receive a 1.7 percent cost-of-living boost in 2015, which amounts to about $260 in extra benefits over the course of a year.
How can you spend that extra money productively? Cameron Huddleston at Kiplinger has some ideas:
Protect your identity. Scammers and identity thieves often target seniors. One way to prevent your personal information from falling into the wrong hands is to shred statements and other documents containing vital details such as account numbers after you no longer need them. A good cross-cut shredder costs about $100 (we found a Fellowes Powershred DS-2 model for $97.12 on Amazon.com). It might also pay to enroll in a credit monitoring service that can help if you do become a victim of identity theft. For $14.99 a month, TrustedID will monitor your credit reports for suspicious activity, scan black-market sites for your Social Security, credit card and bank account numbers, help you cancel and replace stolen cards, and provide insurance to cover costs you incur after identity theft.
Make a wise investment. Kiplinger recently pinpointed nine stocks with significant growth potential. Among our picks is Facebook, which is now trading at about $80 a share. So you could buy three shares with the extra $264 in Social Security benefits, and have change left over. Or consider a great mutual fund you can begin investing in for just $100.
[…]Fill gaps in your homeowner’s policy. Most standard homeowners policies don’t include sewage-backup coverage, but you can purchase a rider that will pay for $10,000 to $20,000 of damages for about $50 a year. You might also want to boost your liability coverage with an umbrella policy, which is an inexpensive way to protect yourself from lawsuits. Insurers generally require that you have at least $300,000 in liability coverage on your home and automobile before you can buy umbrella coverage, which picks up after you’ve exhausted your homeowner and auto liability limits. You’ll pay about $175 to $300 a year for $1 million in umbrella coverage.
[…]
Fund a Roth IRA for your grandchild. Give your grandchild a jumpstart on retirement savings by helping him or her open a Roth IRA. Children of any age with earned income from a job — even if it’s from lawn mowing or babysitting — can contribute to a Roth. Schwab will let a parent open a custodial IRA for a minor for just $100. If you contribute just the $264 in extra Social Security benefits you get in 2015 and not a cent more, that amount will grow to $5,735 in 40 years (assuming an 8% return).
See all 12 suggestions over at Kiplinger.
Photo Credit: Chris Potter via Flickr Creative Commons License
