COLA for Federal Employees

John Faith
June 12, 2014

Some updates on COLA:

The Cost of Living Adjustments are based on the changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Many of us don’t pay much attention to the CPI, but as we reach retirement age keeping informed about anything that impacts our financial picture is just smart planning.

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Retirees live on a fixed income for the most part and it pays them to know about how their money is being impacted by policy changes, rules and regulations. Retirees must keep their ears open and their eyes peeled because they are no longer in the workforce where information flows consistently whether right or wrong. The Office of Personnel Management will make certain you are kept abreast through information bulletins and other correspondence. However, the real job lies with you to make sure you are keeping up with what is important for your well-being.

Both for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the accumulation for the 2015 COLA was 1.4 percent after the release on May 16th of the CPI for April 2014. The COLA for next year will be predicated on the increase in the average CPI of the third quarter of last year and the third quarter of this year.