Inflation only continues to increase, and Social Security recipients continue to struggle on a fixed income. 2023’s COLA increase could change that.
Different factors go into how much a person’s payment is going to be, but the COLA adjustment is one of them each year.
Every year the Social Security Administration looks at the Consumer Price Index to determine the rate of inflation for the year.
They then adjust the next year’s Social Security payments so they can keep up with the rate of inflation and let seniors keep buying power.
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For the month of March, inflation rose to a rate of 8.5%.
This happened due to the war between Russia and the Ukraine as well as inflation still rising from supply and demand.
What is the COLA estimate for 2023?
The Senior Citizens League has looked at their original COLA prediction and adjusted it accordingly.
The newest projection shows COLA for 2023 could be as high as 8.9%.
Social Security: What will checks in 2023 look like with new COLA?
At this moment the average monthly benefit is $1,657.
The most a person can receive right now is $4,194 per month.
If the increase was 8.9%, then the average monthly payment would reach $1,804.
The maximum monthly payment would be up to $4,567.
The previous COLA estimate was 7.6%.
While this is what it looks like currently, the upcoming months could change that.
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