Quote:
Originally Posted by stevej37
An 8.7% increase in SS is a lot better than nothing....also called a nice raise.
As far as inflation goes....not that noticeable here.
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Not noticeable here, either.
The ways inflation is measured (CPI, CPI-U, core CPI, PCE, etc) are at best averages. Everyone's experience is different, depending on your location and personal situation. You can't just look at the statistics and assume they apply to you. Pessimists look at the averages and assume their true costs are higher, but that may not be true.
For us, the COLA adjustment is a net positive.
The one of the biggest categories in the CPI is housing. My home is paid for, so my housing costs are basically the cost of insurance and maintenance - no way that is 30% of my budget. The category that includes the cost of buying a and maintaining a car is way too high for our situation. OTOH, our medical costs are a greater percentage than the CPI allows for.
Add the COLA adjustment, the fact that our interest-based savings are earning 400-500% greater returns (iBonds are paying close to 10% now), and the fact that our inflation on the cost side is only 3-4%, and inflation has been a good thing for us.
