The annual COLA is undoubtedly one of the most useful tools for United States citizens who get their Social Security check each month. While it is true that the amount that the COLA increases is not something excessively large, it is true that it keeps up with inflation in most cases.
The big disadvantage that a United States Social Security beneficiary may have is that he or she cannot ask for a wage increase, as a worker can. For that reason, having access to COLA can be key to being able to effectively deal with inflation and general price increases.
We should always keep in mind that the idea behind the COLA is not to make the United States citizen with a Social Security payment wealthy. The real purpose of this benefit is actually to be able to cope with inflation in the best possible way, as we have discussed. That is why we never have a COLA increase that is too large.
We will soon be able to know roughly what the COLA will be so we will have a guesstimate figure in the 2025 Social Security check. Because of this increase, inflation will not seem so large and we will be able to have a more or less balanced standard of living.
Social Security COLA 2025 Dates
To find out if the 2025 COLA will be higher or lower we will have to pay attention to the CPI-W for the months of July, August and September. The third quarter of the year is a key date to know if our retirement money will increase a lot or not. This year, the CPI-W has had inflation, but not as high as in previous years.
For that reason, many experts talk that the 2025 COLA may not be too high. Even so, we still have to wait until the United States Government announces the exact figure, which it will do in October of this year 2024. So we have to keep an eye on the end of October because that is when we will know what the increase will be in 2025.
Whatever the increase is, it is good to remember that we don’t have to do anything to get it. The Social Security COLA is applied directly, so we don’t have to apply for it in any way. If we already have a retirement benefit check or Supplemental Security Income, the increase will be applied automatically.