Social Security payments receive annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to protect the purchasing power of benefits from inflation. Americans have ranked inflation as their most pressing financial concern for three consecutive years,

A 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment increase will mean an extra $50 a month for most Social Security and SSI recipients.

With that as the backdrop, although I'm not retired yet, those days are on my radar. Here's what I'm planning to do, based on what I'm seeing now. Feel free to borrow my inflation-beating retirement strategies for yourself.

The 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) came in at just 2.5%. That's well under the 3.2% retirees got last year and far less than what many were hoping for. The high inflation over the last few years has made it difficult for retirees to afford their basic expenses,

Social Security has been around for nearly nine decades, but the program has had a major overhaul since then. And now its gearing up for some big changes in 2025 that could affect millions of people.