Why Oct. 15 Will Be the Biggest Day of the Year for Social Security Retirees

There are many important dates pertaining to Social Security that retirees should be aware of. For instance, depending on when retirees' birthdays are, most Social Security recipients will get paid on the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of each month.But I'd say the biggest annual Social Security event is the determination of the following year's annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), which typically raises benefits each year to help keep pace with inflation and maintain the purchasing power of benefits. While the COLA has not yet been determined, incoming data over September will soon change that. Mark your calendar for Oct. 15, because it's the biggest day of the year for Social Security beneficiaries.Each year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses inflation data to determine the following year's COLA. The broader stock market tends to closely follow the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which tracks the price changes on a market basket of goods and services. But the SSA looks at the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), which is a subset of the CPI-U and looks at prices heavily affecting blue collar workers.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool