{"id":101790,"date":"2025-08-22T12:28:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/101790\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T12:28:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:28:22","slug":"cola-count-stands-at-2-5-percent-with-two-months-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/101790\/","title":{"rendered":"COLA Count Stands at 2.5 Percent with Two Months to Go"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img width=\"760\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cola_shop_receipt_cart.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tThe same full calculated COLA is paid on Social Security benefits, with no prorating for those retired less than a year.\t\t\t\t\t Image: Andrey_Popov\/Shutterstock.com<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tBy: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/about\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FEDweek Staff<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Through ten months remaining in the count toward the January 2026 federal retirement COLA, the figure stands at 2.5 percent, following an increase in July of 0.1 percentage points in the inflation index used to set that COLA.<\/p>\n<p>The increase for July was on the low end of most increases during this counting period. With only two months left in the count, it seems that\u2014barring a major change in direction one way or the other\u2014the count will finish around 3 percent.<\/p>\n<p>If the count finishes between 2 and 3 percent, the applicable adjustment for FERS retirees who are eligible for COLAs (generally not until age 62, with some exceptions) will be a flat 2 percent; if it finishes at or above 3 percent, they would receive 1 percentage point less. CSRS retirees get the full amount, with no restriction by age.<\/p>\n<p>Under both FERS and CSRS, increases are prorated for less than a full year at the payout. That would be worth remembering for the unknown, but likely large, number of employees who will be retiring in September at the end of their \u201cdeferred resignation\u201d periods (in some cases, those accepting that incentive have been allowed to put off retirement through the end of the year).<\/p>\n<p>The same full calculated COLA is paid on Social Security benefits, with no prorating for those retired less than a year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek\/ruling-on-cfpb-job-cuts-could-affect-challenges-to-other-rifs-and-reorgs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ruling on CFPB Job Cuts Could Affect Challenges to Other RIFs and Reorgs<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek\/opm-calls-off-viewpoint-survey-next-edition-to-be-revised\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">OPM Calls Off Viewpoint Survey; Next Edition to be Revised<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek\/several-federal-agencies-disavow-union-contracts-with-more-likely-to-follow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Several Federal Agencies Disavow Union Contracts, with More Likely to Follow<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek\/only-high-performers-should-receive-awards-agencies-told\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Only High Performers\u2019 Should Receive Awards, Agencies Told<\/a><\/p>\n<p>See also,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/tsp\/is-a-1m-tsp-the-right-goal-for-me\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Should I be Shooting for a $1M TSP Balance? Depends<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/careers\/what-to-know-about-the-new-federal-application-process\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">What to Know About the New Federal Application Process<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Attorney Schnitzer:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek-legal\/how-to-challenge-a-federal-reduction-in-force-rif-in-2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How to Challenge a Federal Reduction in Force (RIF) in 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Attorney Schnitzer:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/fedweek-legal\/a-pre-rif-checklist-for-every-federal-employee-from-a-federal-employment-attorney\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A Pre-RIF Checklist for Every Federal Employee, From a Federal Employment Attorney<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/experts-view\/top-10-provisions-in-the-big-beautiful-bill-of-interest-to-federal-employees\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top 10 Provisions in the Big Beautiful Bill of Interest to Federal Employees<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/reports\/primer-early-buyout-reduction-force-rif\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Primer: Early out, buyout, reduction in force (RIF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedweek.com\/store\/federal-employees-handbook\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2025 Federal Employees Handbook<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The same full calculated COLA is paid on Social Security benefits, with no prorating for those retired less&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-101790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}