80% of Retirees Say Social Security Benefits Need Better Protection From Inflation
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Retirees will receive an above average cost-of-living-adjustment (or COLA) to their Social Security benefits in 2024 — but the vast majority feel the federal government needs to do more to protect their monthly payments from being eaten up by inflation.
A recent survey from advocacy group The Senior Citizens League found that 80% of retirees think Congress should provide an annual COLA that more accurately measures price increases affecting older Americans. The group claims that calculating the yearly Social Security COLA with a specialized index would provide greater inflation protection and higher benefits growth over time.
The Social Security Administration announced last week that the 2024 COLA will be 3.2% — much lower than 2023’s 8.7% historic increase, but still higher than the average COLA of 2.6%.
Even so, data gathered by The Senior Citizens League indicates more than half of retirees are worried their income won’t cover the cost of essentials in the coming months. An analysis from the group shows that using an alternative index to calculate the COLA would result in bigger benefits for retirees on average.
