Smaller COLA
Due to persistent low inflation, the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 is expected to be about 1.8% — a full percentage point below this year’s COLA of 2.8%. The official COLA announcement, which will measure the increase in the Consumer Price Index during the third quarter of 2019 over the third quarter of the previous year, will be unveiled in October. But with an average COLA of just 1.4% over the past decade, Social Security benefits have lost one-third of their buying power since 2000 as many of the goods and services purchased by typical retirees, including housing costs and health care, have increased several times faster than Social Security COLAs during that period.
