Tiny COLA is Double Trouble

"...The 0.3 percent COLA federal and military retirees will receive in January is they will not get, in the opinion of many, what they deserve. The COLA, the smallest actual adjustment ever, is little more than a bad joke to seniors for whom living costs are going up, although their inflation-protector doesn’t seem to know it.

COLAs are based on a complicated system that compares the rise in the Labor Department’s CPI (consumer price index) for the current year over the level of the CPI in the previous years’ third quarter. The third quarter, of course, is July, August and September.

Normally, the 2017 CPI is based on any increase over the previous year (which was 2015). But since there was no COLA increase in 2016 — because the government said inflation was flat — they reached back to the third quarter of 2014 as the measuring point. Even so, the raise the retirees will get is just slightly better than nothing. And in the sense of dollars and cents, maybe it is worse than nothing...."

Read more at Federal News Radio

Military Retirees Will See 0.3% COLA Increase for 2017

"...Military retirees and individuals receiving veterans benefits will see only a 0.3 percent cost-of-living increase in their federal benefits next year, a nominal increase matching 2016’s hike.

On Tuesday, officials from the Social Security Administration announced the small raise, the third consecutive year the benefits adjustment will be under 0.5 percent.

Since 2009, the cost-of-living hike has been more than 2 percent only once, when it reached 3.6 percent in 2011..."

Read more at the Military Times