Growth

Social Security recipients will get a 2.5% boost in their checks in the new year.The cost of living adjustment, or COLA, will average around $50 more for retirees every month in 2025. The Social Security Administration calculates the number based on changing prices and the economy. Though next year’s COLA is a bump, it accounts for less than a third of the record-high raise seen in 2023.”That was a reflection of the 40-year record inflation high that Americans suffered as a result of all of the stimulus spending that occurred during the pandemic,” said Romina Boccia, of the Cato Institute. “The Federal Reserve has since tightened down on price changes with the interest rates, etc., and that has brought inflation down.”Recipients should have received a notice about exactly how much more they’ll get when the first Social Security payments go out in about two weeks.Congress recently passed a bill expanding Social Security benefits for 3 million public sector workers and their surviving spouses, some of whom didn’t pay into Social Security. The average benefit will rise between $360 and $1,200.But the bill’s $200 billion price tag adds to a larger funding problem with Social Security. Experts predict the program will be insolvent by 2033 if current spending and revenue streams aren’t addressed and reformed immediately.