WASHINGTON, D.C. — Could retirees be getting a bit more in their social security checks next year?
Right now, the answer is yes.
Cost-of-living adjustments are on track to being the highest in decades.
You don't need a TV reporter to tell you going to the store lately has been expensive.
Shopping for groceries is around 3% more expensive this year than last. Beef prices are up around 12%. And if you are someone who has needed to buy a car, you've really felt it. Used car prices are up 31 percent year over year.
But there may be a glimmer of hope for Americans who rely on social security checks to get by, especially retirees.
Cost of living adjustments could be the highest since the early 1980's, back when Ronald Reagan was president.
Why is that the case?
Well it has to do with inflation and the reality over the last several months the price of goods have increased dramatically.
Each year, the Consumer Price Index is used by Social Security officials to calculate how much of a benefit boost retirees will receive.
The cost of gasoline, is heavily weighted into any final calculation, a product that like food is up this year.
The non-partisan Senior Citizens League estimates Social Security Checks could see 6% boost in 2022. That would increase the average benefit about $93 a month or so - the largest increase since 1982.
For now all of this is just a prediction, the Social Security Administration will officially announce the number sometime toward the end of October.
Of course as retirees know, cost-of-living adjustments are often wiped out by hikes in Medicare Part B premiums.
And those won't be announced until sometime in November.
