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About the Annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)
Although you may have seen early predictions, it is too soon to know for sure how next year’s Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) will increase your monthly Social Security payment. That news will actually be revealed in mid-October, after completion of the national inflation measure for the 3rd quarter of the year. Each year, COLA is determined by comparing the average inflation for the months of July thru September to inflation in the same period last year. A difference becomes next year’s percentage of COLA increase.
The good news, of course, is that inflation has slowed considerable from previous years, thus the costs of goods and services you buy are likely not dramatically higher. However, even with normal inflation, depending primarily on Social Security is, at best, a struggle so even a small increase in your Social Security benefit will be welcomed. Unfortunately you’ll need to wait until October 15th to find out how much your Social Security payment will be increasing for 2026. While slower inflation this year is a good thing, it also means a smaller increase next year in your Social Security payment, as revealed in this Yahoo! Finance article by Motley Fool’s Maurie Backman.
This posting is presented for informational purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. Any opinions or interpretations presented are either those of the original author or, in the case of articles authored by the AMAC Foundation, are the opinions of AMAC Foundation staff, originally trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA) and certified via the AMAC Foundation. Any links included in the article are valid on the posted date; socialsecurityreport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the links’ validity. NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (https://amacfoundation.org/services/) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Because we are a non-profit organization, there is no charge for these services.