You might give some thought to getting the grandkids only half as much as you’re planning for Christmas this year.

Not to short-change them but just to try to break even because, according to The Senior Citizens League, senior citizens have lost more than 50 percent of their buying power since 2000.

While the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) boosted the average Social Security benefits by 24 percent, typical senior expenses quadrupled during the same period, according to this study by one of the nation's largest non-partisan seniors’ organization.

Recent inflationary trends in gasoline and food prices, among others, only widen the gap.

The average monthly Social Security benefit in 2000 was $816, according to study data. The comparable 2008 figure is $1,013.50.

However, to keep pace with rising costs during that same period, the average monthly Social Security check would have to be $1,531.80, reports the Alexandria, Va.,-based league.

“This study clearly illustrates the dilemma facing seniors living on fixed incomes,” said league chairman Daniel O’Connell.

“Seniors with an average Social Security check in 2000 could have purchased 647 gallon of gas with their monthly check,” O’Connell said.

At $4 a gallon, the average Social Security check buys about 252 gallons.

“If gas prices won't get you, the price of eggs will,” he added.

The average Social Security recipient could buy 877 dozen eggs in 2000, according to the league report, compared with 460 dozen eight years later.

“Medicare Part B premiums, which are automatically deducted from most seniors’ Social Security benefits, have more than doubled since 2000,” O’Connell said.

As part of its campaign to protect seniors' freedoms and finances, the league is lobbying for a change in the consumer price index (CPI) used to determine the COLA that increases senior benefits.

The COLA is calculated on what is called the CPI for urban wage earners, which is known as CPI-W and tracks the spending habits of younger workers, who don't spend as much of their incomes on health care as do most seniors.

League lobbyists want COLA to take into account the CPI for elderly consumers (CPI-E).

Using this index, “a senior who retired with average benefits in 2007 would receive about $18,277 more in benefits over a 25-year retirement” than under the current measuring system, according to O’Connell.

“By the end of a 25-year retirement, the person who had average benefits in 2008 would have a monthly benefit that's $150 per month higher using the CPI-E," he said.

For more information, visit the league's Web site at tscl.org.

Mature Life Features

Copyright 2008