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2027 Social Security COLA projected at 3.6% by AARP after CPI data
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Social Security beneficiaries are expected to see a larger cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2027 than they received for this year, according to new estimates that follow the release of August inflation data.
By law, the annual Social Security COLA is calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index (CPI) inflation data for the months of July, August and September based on a variant of the dataset known as CPI-W. The COLA boosts beneficiaries’ payments to account for a rise in the cost of living, and the COLA for 2026 amounted to a 2.8% increase.
The BLS released the August CPI inflation data that showed consumer prices were up 3.4% from a year ago, while the CPI-W was up 3.5% over the last year.
Several groups have released estimates for the 2027 COLA based on the data from the last two months and estimates for September’s data, which have the COLA landing in a range from 3.4% to 3.6%.
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Social Security’s annual COLA will be officially announced after the release of the September CPI inflation data next month. (Getty Images/stock)
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) estimated that based on the latest data, the 2027 COLA will be 3.4%.
AARP projected that the 2027 COLA will be 3.6%, based on its analysis of recent inflation readings and projections for the coming weeks.
Rich Johnson, vice president of financial security at the AARP Public Policy Institute, noted that many older adults rely on Social Security for the bulk of their income and that the group’s forecast aims to help them plan based on how the COLA may affect their finances.
“Family budgets have been under increasing pressure because of rising prices. The sooner that we can give them reliable information as to how much their benefits might [increase next year], the sooner they can start planning,” Johnson said.
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Johnson said that the AARP’s estimate incorporates the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s inflation projections for September and that while those figures aren’t “set in stone,” the data helps compile the estimate.
“With only one month of inflation data to go until the 2027 COLA is finalized, there’s less uncertainty about what that increase will be,” he added. “Unless prices change dramatically in September, we’re confident that the COLA will be in the mid-3% range.”
The Senior Citizens League predicted the 2027 COLA will be 3.5% following the release of the August CPI inflation data, down slightly from its estimate of 3.6% the prior month. A 3.5% COLA would increase average benefit checks by $67.90 and would boost the monthly benefit from $1,940.08 to $2,007.98, TSCL reported.
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Social Security’s COLA is expected to be larger in 2027 than in 2026 due to higher inflation. (Mark Felix/The Washington Post)
“The biggest thing we’re watching with the COLA announcement coming are short-term shocks to the economy that push inflation way up or down in the next 30 days,” said TSCL executive director Shannon Benton.
“No matter if the COLA announcement comes in slightly higher or slightly lower than our prediction, seniors will probably end up disappointed in the long run. The reality is that older Americans allocate their budgets differently than people still in the workforce, so inflation hits them differently. The CPI-W captures the experience of urban wage earners, which doesn’t represent the average senior’s budget,” Benton added.
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The final piece of data for the 2027 COLA will be released on Oct. 14, when the BLS releases the September CPI inflation data.
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Crypto outlook: Why RWA utilization may matter more than issuance, Binance Research explains
According to Binance Research, total real-world asset (RWA) assets under management reached $34.18 billion, up 85.2% year-to-date through September 15, 2026. Bond and money-market funds remained the largest category at $18.29 billion, while equities recorded the fastest growth, rising 390.4% YTD.
Together, bond and money-market funds and equities accounted for more than three-quarters of the market’s additional value this year. Bond and money-market funds contributed 54.7% of the increase in on-chain AUM, while equities contributed another 22.4%.Other asset classes also recorded growth, with gold and commodities rising 46.6% YTD, private credit increasing 43.6% and real estate gaining 17.9%, according to the report.
Binance Research describes the shift as the “RWA Activation Era”, where a growing range of tokenized assets become usable across lending, exchanges and collateral markets.
The report uses two measures to track this development: the Programmable Asset Ratio (PAR), which measures tokenized assets against their underlying markets, and the Capital Activation Rate (CAR), which measures how much of the tokenized asset base is deployed in verified on-chain financial applications.
Tokenization remains a small part of underlying marketsDespite the growth in RWA AUM, tokenization remains a very small share of the underlying markets.
The principal asset categories addressable by tokenization exceed $300 trillion globally, while more than $34 billion is currently on-chain. This translates into an overall PAR of approximately 0.01%, according to Binance Research.
Equities highlight the gap between growth and penetration. Tokenized equities grew 390.4% YTD, reaching $4.43 billion, but that represents only 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion listed-equity reference market.
At the same time, equities’ share of tracked RWA AUM increased from 4.9% to 13.0%.
Bond and money-market funds, meanwhile, had $18.29 billion on-chain and an indicative PAR of 0.0171%. Binance Research said their larger existing asset base provides a pool of interest-bearing assets for on-chain applications, while equities are expanding faster through broader distribution and access.
Utilization becomes the next measure
The report argues that the growth of tokenized supply needs to be considered alongside how much of that supply is actually being used.
CAR measures the share of qualifying tokenized assets deployed in applications such as liquidity pools, lending and collateral markets. The overall CAR stands at approximately 12%, meaning around US12ofeveryUS100 in tracked tokenized asset value is currently deployed.
Binance Research said this leaves scope for utilization to grow “without requiring additional issuance.”
CAR varies significantly by asset class. Private credit has the highest CAR at 49.67%, while equities recorded one of the largest increases, with their CAR rising from 1.95% to 7.54% YTD.
For tokenized equities, utilization is currently concentrated in market infrastructure. Liquidity pools account for 65.4% of equity DeFi TVL, while lending accounts for another 28.1%. Together, the two categories represent 93.5% of deployed equity value.
Binance Research said current adoption therefore points primarily to “trading liquidity and collateral use” rather than broad utilization across every potential tokenization application.
Equity tokenization shows the gap between adoption and activation
Binance Research uses tokenized equities as a case study because adoption remains low relative to the underlying market, while utilization is increasing.
The report’s 2030 scenarios, based on forecasts from its earlier Tokenization’s Trillion-Dollar Runway report, put tokenized equities at approximately US61billion,US349 billion and $987 billion under its Conservative, Base and Bull cases respectively. From the current $4.43 billion market, those scenarios would correspond to roughly 0.04%, 0.23% and 0.65% PAR by 2030.
The report notes that higher AUM should generally translate into higher PAR, while CAR can develop independently depending on whether liquidity, lending and collateral applications scale alongside issuance.
Under the Base PAR case of 0.23%, approximately $349 billion of equities would be programmable. If CAR increased from 10% to 20%, deployed capital would rise from US34.94billiontoUS69.87 billion, without any additional tokenized supply.
“This shows how asset growth and utilization can compound,” Binance Research said, adding that “activation can become as important as issuance.”
What comes next for RWA markets?
According to Binance Research, distribution can increase PAR by bringing more assets and users on-chain, while liquidity, lending and collateral integrations can increase CAR by providing holders with additional ways to use tokenized assets after purchase.
The report said platforms with integrated distribution and trading infrastructure can connect the two.
Earlier research cited by Binance Research found that 58.5% of early bStocks users also used perpetuals or direct equities, suggesting that distribution can build on existing user relationships. The next opportunity, according to the report, is to translate that access into recurring liquidity and financing activity.
Binance Research also said PAR and CAR can reinforce each other, with higher PAR creating a larger asset base for financial applications and higher CAR increasing the utility of tokenized ownership.
“The stronger signal for the industry is therefore not AUM growth alone, but PAR and CAR rising together,” the report said. “That would indicate tokenization is progressing from asset issuance toward repeat financial use.”
Disclosure: This article has been written by Kumar Gaurav, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an investment advisor. Gaurav does not hold any financial interest in the company as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of the EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.
Business
Apple’s $250M Siri class action settlement opens claims for iPhone users
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Apple customers may be able to collect up to $95 from a class action settlement that stems from a lawsuit alleging the tech giant put out false advertisements about the AI capabilities on devices which didn’t have the tech fully integrated.
This spring, Apple reached a $250 million agreement to settle the class action lawsuit related to delays in the integration of AI and Siri capabilities in new devices.
The September 2024 release of the iPhone 16 created a “clear and reasonable consumer expectation” that AI features would be added to the devices. While the company did release Apple Intelligence features that year, the integration of ChatGPT with Siri and an emoji tool fell short of those expectations, according to the lawsuit.
Under the terms of the settlement, members of the class who submit valid claims would receive a cash payment of $25 per device, which may be adjusted up or down to a maximum payment of $95 per device depending on the total number of valid claims submitted.
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Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit. Eligible customers may receive up to $95 per covered device. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
To be eligible to receive compensation from the class action settlement, a customer must be a resident of the U.S. and have purchased an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025.
Eligible customers must also acknowledge that they “expected at the time of purchase to receive certain Siri Apple Intelligence features on your device, which you did not.”
To receive a payment, eligible customers must complete and submit a valid claim form by Dec. 21, 2026. They may submit a claim for each eligible device.
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Customers eligible to participate in the class action settlement must submit claims by Dec. 21, 2026. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
The claimant must be the original purchaser of the device covered by the class action settlement, and may not have purchased it on a resale basis. Businesses are also eligible to submit claims for devices they bought.
Claims will be rejected if the submission is incomplete, contains false information, or isn’t submitted by deadline, according to the settlement website.
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Claim forms must include current contact information and confirm that the class member purchased an eligible device that they expected to have Siri Apple Intelligence features within the timeframe of June 10, 2024, to March 29, 2025. They must also include information to confirm the purchase and ownership of an eligible device.
Eligible claims will be paid via physical or digital check after the final approval of the settlement. Payment may be delayed by any appeals to the settlement, though payments would be processed promptly if there aren’t any subsequent appeals, according to the settlement website, which will provide further updates.
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A final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2027, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.
The hearing will give the court the opportunity to determine if the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, while also considering any objections.
Business
Hard Mountain Dew will pay $1M if you can prove Bigfoot exists
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Hard Mountain Dew is offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can provide proof that Bigfoot exists, as the alcoholic beverage brand launches a fall marketing campaign built around the legendary creature.
The “Bigfoot Bounty” promotion opened Wednesday and runs through Nov. 30, giving adults 21 and older the chance to submit what the company describes as “verified evidence” of Bigfoot’s existence.
“Hard Mountain Dew has always been about chasing bold experiences, and Bigfoot Bounty takes that mindset to the next level,” Erica Taylor, senior brand director for Hard Mountain Dew, said in a statement.
According to Hard Mountain Dew, entries will be evaluated using standards developed with Bigfoot researcher Bryce Johnson, who has appeared in and produced a docuseries exploring reports of the creature.
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Hard Mountain Dew recently announced it is offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can provide verified proof that Bigfoot exists. (Hard Mountain Dew)
In order to be considered for the $1 million grand prize, participants must submit compelling evidence that meets the contest’s verification requirements, including at least four types of supporting material.
Examples listed by the company include alleged Bigfoot footprints, handprints, thermal imaging, hair samples, audio recordings, environmental evidence and photographs purportedly showing the creature.
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Examples listed by the company include alleged Bigfoot footprints, handprints, thermal imaging, hair samples, audio recordings, environmental evidence and photographs purportedly showing the creature. (iStock)
Even if no one claims the grand prize, the company said 100 entrants will receive the equivalent of a free 12-pack of Hard Mountain Dew in the form of cash.
“Every fall, someone’s got a story of a shape in the trees or a sound they can’t explain. Whether you catch Bigfoot or just catch a good story trying, there’s nothing better than an ice-cold Hard Mountain Dew at the end of the hunt,” Taylor added.
Legends of Bigfoot have circulated for centuries, particularly across the Pacific Northwest, where stories describe a large, hairy, human-like creature roaming forests, according to the Washington State Military Department.
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Even if no one claims the grand prize, the company said 100 entrants will receive the equivalent of a free 12-pack of Hard Mountain Dew in the form of cash. (iStock)
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The creature has long been the subject of reported sightings, footprint discoveries and blurry photos and videos.
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The Value Pendulum is an Asian equity market specialist with over a decade of experience on both the buy and sell sides.He is the author of the investing group Asia Value & Moat Stocks, providing ideas for value investors seeking investment opportunities listed in Asia, with a particular focus on the Hong Kong market. He hunts for deep value balance sheet bargains and wide moat stocks and provides a range of watch lists with monthly updates within his investing group.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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