Rates could boost the cost of living adjustment to Social Security next year

While Washington and Beijing face tariffs, an invisible group could be affected: retirees.

The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan advocacy group for seniors, released its latest report Tuesday on the power of buying social security benefits.

The group also projected this year a social security cost of living adjustment, or COLA, at 1.7% for 2020. The Social Security Administration announced this adjustment for the following year, every month of the year. # 39; October.

If tariffs come into effect, it could increase the cost of living, which could also increase the cost of living for next year.

However, this is not necessarily good news for retirees who depend on these benefits, according to Mary Johnson, social security policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League.

"That would raise the COLA higher, which, of course, will relieve people who live on social security because they rely on that," said Johnson. "But the cost of the goods would be higher."

Last year's LCA was 2.8%, the largest increase since 2012.

The estimate is based on data from the Consumer Price Index of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the last 12 months. The estimate is higher now than data tracking at the start of the year, while the organization predicted that the COLA could be as low as zero for 2020.

Soaring gas prices and rising housing costs have helped drive up the numbers for this year, according to Johnson.

The projection for 2020 is only an estimate at this stage.

The Social Security Administration generally uses data from three months of the year – July, August and September – to determine whether there will be an increase for next year and its amount.

The Senior Citizens League report also confirmed the reality already suspected by many retirees: your monthly social security checks cover less spending than in previous years.

Its annual purchasing power report analyzes the amount of social security benefits since 2000 and has revealed a 33% reduction in purchasing power over the past 19 years.

For retirees since 2000, or about 10 million individuals, the power to purchase their benefits has only increased by 1%.

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While COLA increased pension benefits by 50% in those years, the goods and services that retirees typically purchase increased by 100%.

Prescription drugs, which have grown the fastest, have increased by 253% since 2000. Then come homeowners' insurance, which rose 199%, and Medicare Part B premiums, which rose 198%.

Although retirees have no control over rising costs, they control when they claim their benefits.

To increase your monthly check, you must wait to be eligible for benefits until the age of 62. At the age of retirement, which depends on your year of birth, you will receive 100% of your benefits. (The age of retirement is 65 for those born in 1937 or earlier and increases gradually to 67 for those born in 1960 or later.) For each year of delay in social security benefit claims after the retirement age, you risk an increase of 8%. , until the age of 70 years.

But some people – 3 out of 10, in fact – file claims at age 62 or under, according to a new investigation by the insurance company MassMutual. And about 4 out of 10 – 38% – would like to have filed later, MassMutual found.