Your future Social Security benefit increases could be affected by which candidate wins the upcoming presidential election.

On Oct. 10, the Social Security Administration (SSA) dropped a bombshell by announcing that monthly benefits would be rising by 2.5% in 2025. That's a considerably lower cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, than 2024's 3.2% increase. And it's also the smallest Social Security COLA to arrive since 2021 when benefits rose by just 1.3%.

A recent survey from the Motley Fool shows 50% of retirees have considered going back to work to make ends meet.

With the 2025 COLA announcement, the average Social Security check for individual retirees will increase from $1,927 per month to $1,976

Social Security averages the CPI-W data for July, August, and September and compares it to the previous year's number. If the number is higher than the previous year's, the increase becomes the COLA. If the number is lower than the previous year's, Social Security doesn't reduce monthly benefits -- they remain the same.

The extent to which your monthly Social Security payments will increase in 2025 will hinge on a few factors. These include an official COLA number, whether you're enrolled in Medicare, and whether the cost of Part B rises in 2025.

There's been lots of speculation about Social Security's 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), but on Oct. 10, it all came to an end. That's because the Social Security Administration announced a 2.5% raise for 2025,

With the announcement of the 2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment, next year's COLA will officially do something seniors of this generation have never seen.

This double SSI check is due to Dec. 1 falling on a Sunday this year. Recipients, who usually receive their checks the first of the month, will get their November payment on Nov. 1, and their SSI payments for December will be distributed on Friday, Nov. 29, according to the SSA calendar.