Retired Actuary Flags COLA Freeze as Likely Social Security Fix

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Retired actuary Ken Steiner, writing in Advisor Perspectives, argues that Congress will need to act quickly to address Social Security's short-term financing crisis around 2033, and breaks the funding problem into short-term and long-term components. One option he highlights is a three-year freeze on the annual COLA (cost-of-living adjustment — the yearly inflation bump to benefits), which would affect current beneficiaries. William Perry, writing on HumbleDollar, draws attention to this scenario and says it has shifted his own planning to take a potential COLA freeze seriously as a concrete possibility rather than a remote one.