10/15/2015 – The retirement costs that are rising faster than Social Security benefits (The Washington Post)

It’s official: Tens of millions of retirees receiving Social Security benefits will not get a raise next year. The situation comes up any time inflation is low, a shift that was driven largely by low gas prices this year.This marks the third time in the last six years — the last two years were 2010 and 2011 — that benefits will stay flat for retirees. But retirement experts say the measure of inflation that is used to calculate changes to Social Security benefits, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, doesn’t accurately match the expenses typically faced in retirement.Some costs that are counted heavily in the index, such as gas and transportation expenses, don’t matter as much for retirees who are no longer commuting. Other expenses that are a major part of a retiree’s budget, such as Medicare premiums, aren’t counted at all in the index.

Read the full article in The Washington Post.