The 2026 Social Security COLA Could Be Higher Than Expected -- but There's a Big Caveat

Every year, Social Security adjusts payments to help retirees keep up with inflation. The short explanation is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) looks at consumer price data from the current year and compares it with data from the previous year to determine the annual increase.This process is known as the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. It is an important feature of the Social Security program, and retirees eagerly await news of what the COLA will be each year. And the good news is that the 2026 COLA could be more than was originally expected.According to the latest estimates from the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League, the 2026 COLA could be 2.6%, which is one percentage point higher than the prior estimate of 2.5%. Overall inflation data paints a similar picture, with a 2.6% increase in the CPI-W (the version of the Consumer Price Index used to calculate the COLA) in the latest inflation report.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool