Increased Social Security checks in 2025 – Here’s how much extra money retirees will receive compared to recent years

The Social Security Administration said Thursday morning that in 2025, Social Security payouts will be raised by 2.5% to reflect the rising cost of living.

The expert for Newsweek talked about the worries of seniors and their financial plans for the coming year.

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Even though the 2.5% increase will add about $50 to seniors’ monthly benefits, many people are upset that it does not reflect the rising costs of everything from food to medical care.

Many seniors are used to bigger COLAs these days because of the high inflation rates at the start of the epidemic.

Social Security checks will increase as of January 2025

Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are what raise Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) every year. They are meant to counteract the effects of inflation and rising prices in the market.

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Most of the time, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) percentage increase for a specific period is used to figure out COLAs. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used to figure out inflation.

It shows the average price of a group of goods. The COLA for 2024 was 3.4%, but in 2023, Social Security payments went up by an amazing 8.7%.

Here’s a look at how the 2025 COLA compares to those in the past, with the COLA for each year’s Social Security payments shown below:

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So, the 2.5% COLA for 2025 is much smaller than the increases seen in the last few years, but it is still higher than what has happened in the past during a number of time periods.

There were years with little or no inflation, like during the Great Recession, when COLAs were 0%. Some experts, though, say that the COLA will not help seniors’ finances at all if they only get Social Security payments.

Alex Beene, an expert in financial literacy at the University of Tennessee at Martin, says that when older people hear that, their first thought is, “Well, the prices I am seeing are still outrageous.”

This can make them angry. Not because prices are dropping all of a sudden, but because the rate of growth is slowing down.

Even though this year’s slowing inflation is good for the economy as a whole, Beene said that prices for basics would stay higher than they were a few years ago.

Since living costs have gone up by 4.9% and health care costs have gone up by 3.6%, Kevin Thompson, founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group and an expert in finance, said that the criticism of the cost of living increase (COLA) for the next year is fair.

He said that these prices have the most impact on seniors’ needs for a fixed income.

Thompson told Newsweek that the criticism is fair because these prices are not likely to go down but will instead rise more slowly. People know that when someone says “inflation is slowing,” they mean that prices are still going up, but not as quickly.

A lot of people have also suggested changing the way the COLA is calculated so that it more closely matches the real costs that seniors face every day. Thompson said that this year’s Social Security COLA is the lowest in recent memory.

This is because inflation has been slowing down since the big jump after the pandemic.

I believe that the cost of living adjustment should take into account costs like rent and medical care, which are very important to seniors. This would give retirees a bigger raise, which would help them with their real money problems.

How much money will beneficiaries earn with the new 2.5% boost from COLA?

The new cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2025 was set at 2.5%, which was confirmed by the Social Security Administration.

This means that starting in January 2025, Social Security checks will go up by that amount. Here are all the accepted amounts for next year’s payments:

Also see:-New Social Security Payment to Retirees Today After COLA Increase – Watch Your Bank Account