A couple of important financial numbers for today: 3% and 2.8%
Posted By RichC on October 24, 2025
First up, the Consumer Price Index inched up a tenth of a percentage point in August from 2.9% to 3% on an annual rate (numbers were pre-government shutdown). This is ties into the second important number of 2.8% — the Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA). This is key for Social Security recipients as it is designed to offset the impact of inflation (cough, cough) by giving them the previous year’s increase in 2026.
Personally, I have a little more interest in Social Security the closer we get to it, in that it becomes a big part of my (our) financial planning going forward. The bigger decision is should we delay applying in 2026 … hoping that we live long enough for the increase to pay for itself? Also there is the real concern that Social Security might 
not exist in its present form once the Trust Fund is depleted in the early 2030s?
Comments