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

The reason Social Security benefits are eligible for an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) each year is that without an inflation-based boost, seniors would be guaranteed to lose buying power from one year to the next.

With a little more than a month before the 2025 COLA kicks in, here's what you should know about the upcoming adjustment.