The Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Forecast for 2025 Was Just Updated, and It Comes With Bad News and Worse News for Retirees
Social Security payments get an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to protect the buying power of benefits from inflation. COLAs depend on how the CPI-W (a subset of the Consumer Price Index) changes in the third quarter, meaning the three-month period running from July through September. For example, the CPI-W rose 3.2% in the third quarter of 2023, which led to a 3.2% COLA for Social Security benefits in 2024.
The Social Security Administration cannot calculate the official COLA for 2025 until the Labor Department releases its September inflation report later this year, on Oct. 10. But The Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy group, has already made several COLA forecasts, each one higher than the last.
That may sound like good news. Unfortunately, the most recent COLA forecast comes with bad news and worse news. Here's what you should know.
Source Fool.com
