Retirees Brace for $10,000 Hit to Social Security

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Americans, who lost a combined $1 trillion in 401(k) retirement plans during the stock-market crash, could each lose another $10,000 in Social Security benefits as the government fails to give cost of living increases for the first time in 35 years.

The Social Security Administration this month announced that seniors won't receive an annual cost of living adjustment, which is linked to inflation, in their checks next year. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting no increase in 2011 either. It's the first time since 1975 that the benefits won't be tied to the consumer price index. The move has been justified because consumer prices declined 2.1% during the economic recession of the past year. President Obama has proposed giving Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250 to cushion the blow.

Compound interest acts as a snowball effect for retirement accounts. It adds a small percentage to principal and layers future interest on top of the total, repeating the process through the term of the investment. To put it in perspective, a $1,000 investment earning 10% in compound interest a year would grow to almost $45,000 after 40 years.

But this multiplying effect also means that even a slight reduction to either the principal or interest rate looms large over the years. For the average beneficiary receiving $1,161 a month, it means losing an additional $35 a month. According to an analysis by The Senior Citizens League (SCL), an advocacy group with 1.2 million members, the 2010 freeze will reduce benefits by $10,134 during the course of a 20-year retirement. If there's no increase in 2011, the loss would jump to $20,144.