One of the pleasant things about retirement is that you can make your own schedule. What you do is what you want to do. At least that’s how an ideal pension looks like.
If you have retired and receive social security benefits, you may want to draw on your calendar next month. October 15 All social security pensioners should do.
Before starting “what”, let’s first talk about “when” and “why”. 2025 October 15 There is a special date for recipients of social security, as the most important events are scheduled for that day. To understand the importance of this event, we need to learn a little about changes to social security living costs (Colas).
The social security “Colas” is designed to help protect the benefits from being destroyed by inflation. Inflation metrics, which the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses to calculate the annual increase, is called the consumer price index of the city salaries and the CPI-W employees (CPI-W).
However, SSA does not use CPI-W statistics all year to determine Cola. Instead, the agency compares the CPI-W numbers from the third quarter of this year with the same quarter numbers in previous years. The percentage difference (if any) is rounded to the nearest tenth 1%to set Cola for next year.
So why 2025 October 15, a special date? It is then that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is planned to publish inflation data, including CPI-W in September. After the release of that data, SSA has all the information she needs to calculate 2026 Cola.
After the 15th of October 8:30 p.m. The BLS will release September inflation numbers, and the SSA will not take a very long time to reduce next year’s cola numbers. If the story is a manager, the agency will announce the 2026. Social security benefits will increase a little later in the morning after the BLS monthly update.
Social security pensioners should enter the SSA communications angle website to learn the amount of cola. You should easily find a reference to a press release with a headline according to “Social Security Measures announce the increase in the XX percent benefit in 2026”.