A news and educational resource pooling excerpts from various news and information sources from the web for the Federal Retiree.
Article Excerpt: "...Social Security recipients will see a 2.5 percent increase in their monthly checks next year, the federal government announced Thursday. It’s a smaller hike than in recent years..."
Article Excerpt: "There's more to Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) than meets the eye. ...In March, the nearly 50.7 million retired workers who collected a Social Security benefit took home an average of $1,913.31. Though this might not sound like much...the SSA doesn't rely on a full year's worth of CPI-W readings to calculate its annual COLA. Rather, only readings from the third quarter (July through September) factor into the calculation. If the average CPI-W reading in the third quarter of the current year increases from the average CPI-W reading in the third quarter of the previous year, inflation has occurred, and Social Security beneficiaries are due a larger payout in the upcoming year. The amount that payouts rise is determined by the year-over-year percentage increase in the average third-quarter CPI-W, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. ...Based on the $1,913.31 that the average retired-worker beneficiary took home in March, a 2.6% cost-of-living adjustment would increase benefits by nearly $50 per month next year."
Article Excerpt: "...An old adage says, “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” What is the worst outlook for the upcoming cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)? Here’s the lowest your Social Security increase will likely be. ...The good news is that you won’t have to wait very long to know for sure what the 2023 Social Security COLA will be. SSA plans to announce the benefits increase in mid-October. It’s likely that the announcement will come on Oct. 13, 2022. That’s the day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to reveal inflation data for September, including the CPI-W. Whatever the exact amount of the increase is, it will almost certainly be the biggest COLA in more than 40 years."
Article Excerpt: "...Each year, Social Security recipients are eligible for a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. COLAs are calculated based on data from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which measures fluctuations in the cost of common goods and services. When inflation strikes and the CPI-W rises, seniors on Social Security are given a raise. But when the CPI-W drops or stays flat, seniors can be denied a COLA..."
Article Excerpt: "...the Chained index would result in a six percent income decrease over 30 years for COLA recipients..."
Article Excerpt: "...Overall U.S. inflation (CPI-U) is running at 2.9% as of June, but the index used by Social Security Administration - the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) - is slightly higher at 3.1%. The SSA's equation for the COLA is rather complex..."