How much you are REALLY losing without your COLA

How Significant Is Losing Your COLA?

By Dean Dennis, Bob Buerkle and Mary Ronan
May 17, 2018

Many retirees assume that having their COST of Living Adjustment (COLA) reduced and then frozen amounts to losing only a thousand-plus dollars a year. Many don’t take the time to calculate just how much they are losing. By May 2022, the earliest that STRS will consider restoring your COLA, you will have lost a lot of money. For an idea, see the chart below.

If you retired prior to July 2012, STRS promised you a simple 3% COLA. STRS has reneged. First, they froze your COLA for a year. Next, your COLA was reduced from 3% to 2% for three years. Now your COLA is frozen for another 5 years. In short, you will be losing 8 years of a promised 3% COLA. The actions of STRS will be reviewed in 2022 by STRS. There’s no guarantee you will ever live to see another Cost of Living Adjustment again. You were lied to, and now are being robbed. A COLA was built into your pension formula, and at every step you were told you would receive a COLA. Below is an example of a retiree with a $50,000 pension who should be receiving a simple 3% COLA; three percent of $50,000 is $1,500.

Click image to enlarge:

Go to restoreourcola.com to sign the COLA petition, and keep the date of 06/21/2018 open to join in a mass protest at the STRS Board meeting. WEAR A BLACK SHIRT/BLOUSE and be there by 10:00 a.m. for speakers. After the speakers finish, we plan to exit and march the 33 blocks to the Statehouse and protest there also. TV stations will be there for coverage. Make up signs that refer to fairness for teachers, retirees and the importance of COLAs to maintain purchasing power.