Starting this month, millions of Social Security recipients will receive larger checks with a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment. However, many say the increase isn't enough to keep up with rising prices, particularly healthcare costs.
For retired workers, monthly Social Security checks will average $2,071 starting in January, up about $56 per month compared to last year. While this year's cost-of-living adjustment marks the highest five-year average in 40 years, a survey from The Motley Fool finds more than half of recipients say the raise isn't enough.
Robert Brokamp, a senior retirement adviser and financial planning expert at The Motley Fool, points to a significant flaw in how the adjustment is calculated.
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"It's based on the CPI (consumer price index) for wage earners from the third quarter of one year to the next," Brokamp explained. "But wage earners have different expenses than retirees. For example, retirees will be spending more money on health care."
While cost-of-living adjustments help, they often don't keep up with medical costs. For many retirees, higher Medicare costs will offset part of the Social Security increase.
Brokamp says anyone on a fixed income should review their spending and budget carefully, adding that inflation "is a very individualized experience."
"If you're eating at home, your food expenses actually have gone up, not quite so much. If you dine out a lot, it's actually gone up more than 4%. Some retirees do spend part of their retirement going out to eat," he said.
How COLAs impact the workforce
For people still working, the company Payscale expects salary increases to slow by a tenth of a percent in 2026.
Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, says cost-of-living affects how workers feel about pay, but employers don't necessarily factor it into raises.
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"Cost-of-living definitely has an impact on how workers feel about whether their compensation is fair or not, but that's not necessarily something that employers take into account directly," Zhao said.
Instead, he says compensation is based on the cost of labor, while raises are typically rewarded based on performance.
"Whether one worker has a really large mortgage or another worker is putting a child through school and has childcare costs as a result, that doesn't necessarily affect their performance in a way that's visible to the employer," Zhao said.
Returning to work
The Motley Fool survey revealed that 54% of retirees have returned to work or considered it due to Social Security benefits not covering day-to-day expenses.
"Social Security was designed to provide maybe 40% of your income compared to when you were working. So, there's no question that people should not be relying exclusively on Social Security," Brokamp said.
According to the survey, the more someone relies on Social Security payments for their everyday expenses, the more dissatisfied they are with this year's cost-of-living adjustment.
