A 10% COLA Could Happen — If Social Security Changes its Calculator
Social Security recipients will receive an extra $56 each month on average in 2026. That nominal increase is due to the 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). While something is better than nothing, nearly one in three retirees responding to a survey by The Motley Fool said, “they ideally want a COLA of 10 percent or more to keep up with their current cost of living.”
Beneficiaries received an 8.7 percent COLA in 2023, so this is not unheard of. But it is highly unlikely.
New COLA Calculator
To see a double-digit COLA, we would need extremely high inflation and a new COLA calculator.
According to the article, “one popular proposal is to use the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) to calculate COLAs instead of the CPI-W, which doesn’t actually include retirees in its dataset.”
The Seniors Trust is onboard with that. The CPI-E shows how inflation actually impacts the typical retiree based on seniors’ spending habits.
It’s not too late to make a change. We are calling on Congress to enact the Social Security Expansion Act, which calls for adopting the CPI-E as the COLA calculator, better ensuring that Social Security benefits keep pace with inflation.
Additionally, this landmark piece of legislation would also extend the solvency of the Social Security trust fund through 2096, expand Social Security benefits by about $200 a month for current and new beneficiaries, require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share into Social Security by lifting the wage cap, and improve the Special Minimum Benefit for Social Security recipients which would help low-income workers stay out of poverty.
Is this something you can get on board with? Join us in urging lawmakers to enact the Social Security Expansion Act. You can show your support by signing our petition.
