Many retired Americans have struggled with rising prices in recent years. A survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 58% of retired workers worry they will have to make substantial spending cuts due to inflation.

Naturally, rising prices have drawn attention to Social Security benefits, often the largest source of income in retirement. Specifically, while Social Security payments get an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to offset inflation, those adjustments are calculated using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Some experts see that as a problem. The CPI-W measures price changes from the perspective of workers, but active workers tend to spend money differently than retired workers and other Social Security recipients.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com