Social Security COLA could rise by 3% - how much will your retirement payments be?
Seniors are guaranteed to be awarded a rate rise to their Social Security payments but how much someone gets is dependent on their individual circumstances.
The cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security payments is expected to be three percent, according to experts.
Last month, the Senior Citizen League estimated the COLA increase would only be 2.7 percent in 2024.
However, the organization has since revised its prediction after the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), rose slightly.
This is the index that is used by Social Security to determine what the COLA rate will be for the following year.
In real terms, a three percent hike to COLA would raise the average retirement payment by $53.60 a month.
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However, retirees will have to wait a couple more months to find out how much exactly they will get personally.
On its website, the Senior Citizens League outlined what retirees should expect to receive next year based on current inflation figures.
The organization explained: “A COLA of three percent would raise an average monthly benefit of $1,787.00 by a little more than $53.60.
“But Social Security recipients won’t learn the bottom line until the Medicare Part B premiums are announced.
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“Part B premiums are automatically deducted from most beneficiaries’ Social Security benefit.
“In many years, the Part B premium increase can take most, or even all, the COLA leaving little else to cover other rising prices.”
COLA is the acronym used to describe the payment increase given to retirement benefits to help seniors with the cost of living.
For 2023, the adjustment was 8.7 percent due to the US economy struggling to return to normality after the pandemic.
This represented a 40-year high in COLA rises with 70 million people reportedly benefiting from this hike.
With the economy improving, Americans are expecting to receive a much lesser increase year-on-year.
According to the Senior Citizens League, retirees need to be aware of potential costs that could lower their retirement payments.
They added: “If inflation continues to slow and the COLA for 2024 is lower, the risk that the Part B premium increase may exceed the amount of the COLA increases, especially for those with the lowest Social Security benefits.”
Outside of direct claimants, the spouses and surviving dependents of deceased Social Security recipients may be allowed to get their support in certain circumstances.
