Social Security recipients will receive a 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, in their 2024 benefits checks, a drop from 2023’s bump of 8.7%.
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People on Social Security will receive a much smaller bump of 3.2% in their benefits checks next year, as the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, after government data on Thursday showed inflation steadied in September from the prior month.
Annual inflation was 3.7% in September, matching August’s increase but off a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. Without the volatile food and energy sectors, the so-called “core” inflation rate fell to 4.1% from August’s 4.3%.
Although inflation remains about double the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, it remains mostly lower, which means Social Security recipients will see a lower COLA.
The 3.2% increase is about one-third of the four-decade-high 8.7% COLA in 2023. And while the hike in benefits remains higher than the 2.6% average over the past 20 years, older adults are pessimistic about their finances and the growing possibility of Social Security benefit cuts, according to the latest retirement survey of 2,258 people by The Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit seniors group.
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