Social Security checks grow

Q: Are Social Security benefits increasing again in 2024?

H.G., Ashland, Ky. A: They are, indeed. Social Security benefits are adjusted for inflation via cost-of-living adjustments (“COLAs”) and are increased in most years. The increase for 2024 is 3.2% — close to the long-term average annual rate of inflation. Inflation has sometimes been high, which is why the 2023 increase was a hefty 8.7%, on the heels of 2022’s 5.9% bump. The nine increases before that were all less than 3%, with a 0% increase for 2016.

Q: Does a company’s management want its stock price to be high?

V.N., Honolulu A: Typically, it does. But a stock’s price trending higher doesn’t mean that the company collects more income that way. The company received money for the shares when they were first issued, perhaps via an initial public offering (IPO) or a later additional stock offering. Afterward, the shares trade in the open market between investors who buy and sell them. (It’s a bit like a collectible card company making money by selling cards — after which the cards’ values rise and fall depending on what buyers and sellers think they’re worth.)

Still, a high stock price can be useful for a company. If it wants to buy another company with stock instead of cash, for example, it will need fewer shares to do so. And if it wants to raise money by issuing more shares, it will get more dollars per share. Employees who have stock options (including top executives) will also want a high stock price.

In contrast, a lower stock price means a lower total market value, making a company more vulnerable to being pursued by a would-be acquirer.