Is Social Security’s Annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Guaranteed?

Interest in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is building, as it typically does around this time. Looking ahead to 2027, we’re seeing wild swings in media accounts of what the 2027 increase will be. Earlier this year, for example,…

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Social Security COLAs are failing retirees

Social Security COLA is calculated by comparing the average Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of the current year to the same period in the previous year, with the percentage increase…

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New legislation would put caps on retirement balances

New legislation introduced by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) would require distributions for individuals with very large IRA and defined contribution retirement plan account balances.…

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Social Security Administration Announces New Online Tools and Notices for Disability Claims

Agency enhances online platform to expand service for disability cases The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced major enhancements to my Social Security, expanding self-service options and the notices available to individuals navigating the disability claims and appeals process. The…

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Is the Flat-Rate COLA a solution to the insolvency issue?

One of the proposed parts of the solutions to the impending Social Security Trust Fund insolvency issue concerns how the annual cost-of-living adjustment is calculated and applied. Two terms that have been used are COLA cap and Flat-Rate COLA.  …

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“Ask Rusty – When Should My Wife File for Spouse Benefits?”

Dear Rusty: My wife is 66 (born February 1960) and started taking Social Security retirement benefits just over one year ago at age 65. She was a stay-at-home Mom for most of her adult life. I turned 62 this past March and received my…

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