Social Security announces exact date for announcement of Social Security check increase

There are less than four weeks left to know what the future of the new Social security audits will be, and here we'll explain why you should care. It's not just about how much money it amounts to, but the net impact, taking into account the behavior of the economy. Read on to learn more about the process and how to forecast your Social Security increase for the following year.

How are Social Security checks updated?

Social Security checks are updated once a year. The purpose of this update is simple and has been the same since 1975: to reflect the impact of inflation. When the economy fluctuates, prices tend to rise and the value of money falls. Therefore, over time, you can buy the same amount of goods and services with the same amount of money. Although citizens who are part of the workforce also suffer the burden of this phenomenon in their daily lives, it can be managed if they adjust their salaries, get a raise or simply change jobs. These simple strategies will give them more money to compensate for the loss of Purchasing power that comes with time.

The same problem occurs with investments. Most financial advisors will recommend that you must receive at least an interest rate on your money that is equal to or higher than inflation in order to Purchase value of your capital. However, past situations are not as manageable as the money people receive from their Social Security checks. Once you have started any kind of Benefit paymentthere aren't many strategies to increase your income from this source, let alone adjust it for inflation with your means. In addition, Social Security checks may be your only source of income, making them much more relevant to your well-being.

For this reason, the government has implemented a mechanism to maintain the purchasing power of Social Security benefits through an index that tracks inflation. This index is called COLA, or cost-of-living adjustment. The principle for calculating the COLA is simple. The essential information is the prices of goods and services and how they change over time. This is done using a consumer price index called CPI-W, or Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which groups and tracks the prices of about 200 goods and services, which are then weighted according to the preferences and needs of families that receive at least 50% of their income from wage earners or clerical workers.

This information is generated by the Office of Labor Statistics (BLS) every month. For COLA purposes, only the values ​​from the third quarter of the year (July, August, and September) are averaged and compared to the same data points from the previous year. This happens in October. For this year, the only CPI-W that is still unknown is that for September, and it will be announced on October 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET. After that, you will receive a letter indicating the value of your Social Security checks, usually in December. The same information can be verified in the Message Center section of your My Social Security account on the SSA's official website.

What is the most likely value for the following Social Security checks?

According to the latest report from The Senior Leaguean organization whose mission is to advocate for the rights and welfare of retirees, the projected COLA will be around 2.5%, which is consistent with the decline in the inflation rate observed since March 2024. Although the impact of COLA on your Social Security checks will not be direct, it is a good practice to provide an estimated increase for each of the available programs: