Washington wants seniors to treat a larger check like a gift. It is not. A bigger 2027 cost-of-living adjustment means the grocery aisle, the pharmacy counter, and the power bill already ate last year’s raise. The only question left is how large the catch-up will be after September’s inflation print. [snip] That is better than this year’s raise. It is also the government admitting prices did not settle down. How the Formula Works By law, the Social Security Administration does not guess. It averages the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for July, August, and September, then compares that average with the same three months a year earlier. The percentage increase, rounded to the nearest tenth, becomes the COLA. No increase means no raise. August’s report already filled two of the three slots. Headline consumer prices were up 3.4 percent from a year earlier. The CPI-W, the index that actually drives the COLA, was up 3.5 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases September’s numbers on October 14. SSA announces the official 2027 COLA shortly after. New amounts show up on January checks, with personalized notices in December. [snip] What the Raise Looks Like on a Real Check The Senior Citizens League says a 3.5 percent COLA would add $67.90 to the average monthly benefit, lifting it from $1,940.08 to $2,007.98. The Epoch Times reported AARP’s 3.6 percent case using a higher average check of about $2,086 in July, which would mean roughly $75 more a month for retired workers, about $59 for disability recipients, and about $70 for an average surviving spouse. The New York Post noted that a raise in that range could push the typical spousal benefit over $1,000 a month for the first time. About two million people collect those checks. Percentage math is blunt. A $600 benefit grows by about $22. A $1,500 benefit grows by about $54. None of this is charity. It is last year’s inflation with a delayed stamp. The Index Was Built for Workers, Not Widows [snip] There is already an experimental index for Americans 62 and older. It weights medical care more heavily. Over long stretches it has run a couple of tenths higher than the worker index. Switching to it would take an act of Congress, which is another way of saying it will not happen until the political class needs a talking point. Benton has said seniors end up disappointed in the long run no matter which tenth the October number lands on. She is right. A raise that trails the real cost of staying alive is not a raise. It is a slower leak. The Check Goes Up While the Fund Runs Out Do not confuse a January bump with a solvent program. The 2026 Trustees Report projects the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032. At that point, incoming taxes would cover about 78 percent of scheduled benefits. That is an automatic 22 percent cut unless Congress acts. Combined with Disability Insurance, the so-called OASDI picture lasts until 2034 before a smaller but still brutal haircut. [snip] Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. A mid-3 percent COLA will help some households through 2027. It will not fix a system that pays today’s retirees with tomorrow’s workers while Washington spends the difference. Seniors should take the extra dollars. They should not clap for the government that inflated the grocery bill, indexed the raise to the wrong shopper, and left the trust fund six years from empty. Buy physical precious metals before the next gold and silver surge. Don’t buy numismatics! Buy pure bullion instead. Whether with cash or retirement funds, learn how we can help you prepare for financial turbulence ahead. (*) Full article: https://retirement.media/social-security-expected-to-see-bigger-benefit-boost-in-2027/ Post navigation Natural gas is cheap, so why is your bill so high?
