The new cost-of-living change for 2025 means that seniors will soon find out how much their Social Security checks will go up. This will happen in about two weeks. Newsweek talked to experts about what to expect and why.
The COLA, which takes into account the previous year’s inflation, changes Social Security checks every year to make sure that seniors can still afford to buy things.
The COLA for this year was 3.2%, but experts say that wages probably will not go up that much next year. The Senior Citizens League used to think that the COLA would be 2.57 percent, but now they think it will only be 2.5 percent.
Social Security checks will increase as of October
If the rate went up by 2.5%, seniors would get an extra $48 a month, or $1,968 a year. Kevin Thompson, president and CEO of 9i Capital Group and a financial expert, thinks that the COLA will be about 2.5% because inflation is going down.
Thompson and Newsweek say that the COLA is connected to changes in inflation. This means that when inflation goes down, so does the COLA. There has not been a COLA raise this small since 2021, when it was 1.3%.
In the past few years, seniors may have grown used to bigger COLAs. The COLA was changed from 3.2% in 2024 to 8.7% in 2023, which is a big difference.
The last time the COLA went up was in 1981, when it was 14.3 percent. Also, older people who depend on their Social Security checks might be shocked to learn that the COLA could be as low as 2.5%.
Joseph Patrick Roop, owner of Belmont Capital Advisors, thinks the COLA will be between 2.1% and 2.5%, which is more in line with past Social Security raises.
People over 65 should know that their Medicare payments are going up at a rate of 7.42 percent for Part B and 6.73 percent for Part D, which is taken out of their Social Security.
Roop told Newsweek that this is happening “even though other inflation is much higher at the grocery store and on college campuses.” This is a big reason why Social Security’s new income often goes down, even when COLA goes up by a small amount.
The new increase in Social Security checks will partially cover monthly expenses
Financial expert and founder of Michael Ryan said that the COLA would be between 2.3% and 2.7%.
Ryan said that the 2025 COLA will help seniors financially, but it probably will not be enough to make up for the higher costs of things like rent, groceries, and Medicare.
It is also expected that the rates for Medicare Part B will go up. Because of this, the COLA change will be different. According to Ryan in Newsweek, seniors will have to spend a bigger chunk of their Social Security checks on medical costs.
He also said that even though food prices have gone up, inflation has slowed down. A lot of seniors will only get a part of their COLA, which will help with their higher grocery bills.

Many adults may need to find part-time work or a way to make money from their investments because of this. After getting the most up-to-date information on inflation, the Social Security Administration will announce the COLA on October 10.
The COLA saves seniors from inflation, but many of them think it is not enough to raise their Social Security checks, so they still have trouble making ends meet.
The Senior Citizens League did a poll and found that about 80% of seniors wanted more protection against inflation.
Some have suggested that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the old should be used instead of the CPI for workers and employees in cities in order to reach this goal.
This probably will not change, though, until the COLA for 2025 is set in stone. Lastly, Alex Beene, a teacher of financial literacy at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek that the data show that inflation is slowing, even though prices are higher than they were a few years ago.
On the other hand, more money is still needed to cover daily costs, even though this increase is not as big as others.
Also see:-There has not been a change to this Social Security benefit in 70 years. Things could change now
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