COLA Count Approaches Finish Line Ahead by a Nose

With just one month left in the count toward the January 2017 federal retirement COLA, the count stands at 0.3 percent, following an increase of 0.05 percent in August in the inflation index used to set that adjustment. That suggest that unlike 2016 there will be a COLA in 2017, although likely a small one; also, the chance remains that a dip in the figure to be reported for September next month will show a decrease large enough to wipe out the so-far indicated amount. The count has fallen in five of the 11 months in the count so far.