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The Social Security Administration is expected to announce a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, of at least 8% Thursday amid a rising inflation rate that has been punishing for Americans on fixed incomes. The annual adjustment is forecast to be the largest one -time increase since 1981, and the largest experienced by beneficiaries alive today. The nonprofit Senior Citizens League predicts an adjustment coming in at 8.7%, implying that Social Security recipients could see an increase of about $144 starting Jan. 1, 2023. The increase that took effect this year was 5.9%. The annual adjustment is calculated by averaging inflation readings among urban wage earners and clerical workers from July, August and September. Inflation readings in those first two months came in at approximately 9.1% and 8.6%. Despite the expected increase, the methodology the SSA uses to calculate the annual adjustment could still leave most older people financially vulnerable, according to Mary Johnson, policy a...

Consumers who have been squeezed by higher prices may be experiencing a little relief. Fewer adults now say they are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report. As of July, 59% of Americans   said they lived paycheck to paycheck, down from 61% in June but still higher than a year ago, when the number of adults who felt stretched too thin was 54%. Lower-income workers have been the hardest hit by price spikes this year, particularly for food and other staples, since those expenses account for a bigger share of the budget, studies show. Roughly three-quarters of consumers annually earning less than $50,000 and 63% of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 were living paycheck to paycheck in July, based on LendingClub’s numbers. Even though top earners have also been struggling to make ends meet, wealthier Americans feel less financially strained, the report found. Of those earning $200,000 or more, roughly 30% reported living paycheck to paycheck, down from ...