Security. Next year americans who receive benefits will be getting a small cost of living increase,. 3 . Thats an average of just 4 a month. Can retirees who rely on Social Security payments survive on those numbers . Saving the safety net is this weeks cover story. Reporter each year the Social Security administration determines how much the cost of living or c. O. L. A. Increase will be based on the Consumer Price index, and thats a goods and services tracked by the federal government which includes everything from food to housing to gasoline. Increases have ranged from more than 14 in 1980 to 0 in 2016. Critics say that c. O. L. A. Does not properly weigh the rising cost of health care and groceries which impact seniors. The debate over the Social Security increase comes at the same time as concerns are increasing about the programs future and stability. The system is funded by workers or fica. The proceeds are paid out to retirees. Any excess is put into a trust fund which generates a small amount of interest, but that fund is projected to run out of money by the year 2034. Workers pay 6. 2 of their salary towards the program, up to a cap of 118,500 which will increase to 127,200 next year. The problem is the u. S. Population is aging with more people ri new workers joining the workforce to replace them. What needs to be done to keep Social Security sustainable . Neil irwin joins us, a New York Times senior economic correspondent. Good to see you, neil. Thanks for joining us. You know, an enormous amount of people rely on Social Security, of course. The question is why is the cost of living increase so small, especially recently . The simple answer is inflation is very low. Energy prices have been falling. Food prices this year have you know, theres plenty of costs, especially seniors and people on Social Security receive that are rising faster and health care is a big one. That begs the question whether or not we need to change the way its calculated. I mean, because if it doesnt include some of those things that are moving higher like the cost of fooled, like the cost of health care, is it really calculated in the correct way . Yeah. Theres an interesting question, should you calculate is on the basket of goods, things that ci are consuming and would that be a slightly different number, probably higher, than they calculate with a broad set of consumer goods and thats a real interesting argument. There is going to come a point where Social Security runs out of money. Is it going to take that for congress to take any kind of action . Do we have to get some would say were in a crisis now, but is it going to take that running out of money point, that that end of the road point before Congress Takes some action . Able to plan ahead. In 1983 there was Social Security reform and raised the retirement age over gradually phased in. Most people dont even notice. It happened kind of automatically so that was kind of a forwardlooking policy back in 1983. Theres not much evidence that theres a ton of momentum towards that now and this cuts in the other direction of what youre raising on the cost of living. If you want to increase the cost of living adjustments to use a different measure of inflation, that actually makes it more expensive and makes the financial challenges greater. Its a kind of c tradeoffs. Oh, yes. Its not easy. There are some who say that those who are wealthy get Better Health care and therefore live longer and as a result of that maybe they dont need Social Security. Maybe we should recalculate the entire system. Maybe not everyone should be eligible for Social Security. Yeah. Theres really interesting evidence thats come out just this year. Its always been the case that wealthy people live longer than poorer people hand that gap is widening, and the life span gap implications for Social Security. This program thats meant to be progressive, meant to hem people at the lower and middle end of the income difficulty abuse, you know, have a better life. If wealthy people are living a lot longer, thats more financially advantageous to them. How do you change that . That gets very tricky because the whole ideaed is to have a baseline income for retirees. What if you change the retirement age . I mean, there are arguments not just for Social Security but for others, you know, that say age to 67 or 70. Would that solve the problem or make the problem worse . Well, that would definitely make the solvency issue better, one approach to make the program solvent past 2035 when the trust fund is expected to run out. The problem to keep in mind is thats easy for people in white collar job, executives, jobs that people can keep doing into their 60s and 70s to say if your hands, a miner, a naturaler, you know, doing something thats more physically taxing, its hard to keep worker until youre 65 or 70. Thats true. So theres consequences if you try to range the retirement age thats problematic as well. Thanks so much, neil. We didnt solve the problem but we made some progress. Thank you. Now a look at whats making news as we head into a new week on mo americas economy was surprisingly strong last quarter. The Gross National product grew at an annual rate of 2. 9 . Thats better than expected and the best number in two years. Its in part due to strong exports in consumer spending. The gdp is the broadest measure of the size and scope of the u. S. Economy. The markets didnt do a whole lot most of the week. The dow was up one day and down the next, mostly following earnings news. The nasdaq soared early, up 1 on monday and gave back most of stocks fell on friday. Home Mortgage Rates continue to fall. Mortgage finance Company Freddie Mac says the average 30year fixed rate is now 3. 47 , down from a week earlier. The rates are relatively stable and near record lows. Twitter is killing vine. The videosharing service will shut down in the coming months. Vine allows users to share sixsecond video clips. Twitter is also laying off about 10 of its work force or about 300 people. Up driven to perfection, well, not quite. Well have Consumer Reports ranking of the most reliable cars, and there are a few surprises, and a bit later we are off to the races. How one woman is using an unusual platform to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer. Now a look at how the stock theres no one road out there. No one surface. No one speed. No one way of driving on each and every road. But there is one car that can conquer them all, the mercedesbenz cclass. Five driving modes let you customize the steering, shift points, and suspension to fit the mood youre in. And the road youre on. The 2016 cclass. Lease the c300 for 369 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. N wants to build an economy that works for all of us, creating good jobs, expanding solar energy, and improving our schools. But with Danny Tarkanian, you cant escape the sleaze. Tarkanian lost 17 million in a failed Development Scheme and stuck taxpayers with the bill. He even helped set up Fake Charities used to scam nevada seniors. Danny tarkanians out for himself. Dccc is responsible if youre spending a whole lot of money to buy or lease a car, reliability has to be near the top of your list. Well, Consumer Reports has a list of its own that can help. It is the annual reliability rankings put together by the magazine, and there are a few surprises. Some are at the bottom and one at the top. Phil lebeau reports on the american brand that shines. Reporter they are not the buicks are turning heads, especially after the latest report on Auto Reliability by Consumer Reports which ranks buick as the third most reliable brand behind lexus and toyota. If if you look at the top three, its toyota, lexus, no surprise there, conservative companies with a real good reputation of putting out reliable vehicles, but above any of the other japanese automakers, above honda, above subaru, we see reporter while buicks are getting bert according to Consumer Reports, hondas are not as reliable. In fact, the late version of the civic, one of the most popular cars in america, dropped in the survey due to problems with the power train and infotainment system. Honda says it respects the survey results and is working to enhance the usability and functionality of its vehicles. Meanwhile, issues with the falcon wing doors in the new tesla model x Consumer Reports ranks it as the least reliable luxury midsized suv, but the brands with the poorest rankings are ram, fiat and chrysler. Fiat chrysler really continues to stumble. The platforms that they have for fiat have not proven reliable. Fiat chrysler says despite the survey result companys own internal measurements continue to show positive growth towards vehicle quality. This report is based on subscribers of consumer saying heres what works and what is not working with my particular vehicle, and the number one complaint, sue, infotainment systems or incar connectivity systems that arent working the way they are snowed to. Or complicated. Thanks, phil. The sole female driver in the indy 500 last year as well as the only one to do so in pink. Pippa mann joins us now from racing capital indianapolis to talk about her drive to raise cancer research. Pippa, thank you so much for joining us. I would like to start with how you got your start in racing. Most drivers have someone in their family or a family friend who is involved in racing, but for me i just grew up as a race fan, and then one day one of my friends had a Birthday Party at the indoor go cart track and, you know, man for me, that was it. That was the moment and i should never have looked back from that day forward. Year. Your car obviously stands out in the pack. Bright pink, and thats because you became involved with the susan g. Komen foundation. How did that happen . It does stand out, and, you know, i have to start this story but saying i was never the girl who wore pink at the racetrack. I was antipink at the racetrack because i just wanted to be one of the other drivers, i wanted to blend in, but i started to follow the career of sarah fisher in indycar. She was the whom ive ever heard of having that level of success in hope wheel. Sarah and her team turned her car pink in october in support of Breast Cancer awareness, and i thought, you know what, this is something that runs in my family, a really cool thing to do with your platform as an athlete. Absolutely. And then sarah retired as a driver and so this sort of went away from indycar racing, and you have these thoughts of, you know, someone should do something . And so this started with taking my red and yellow helmet and turning all of the red areas pink, adding the susan g. Komen running ribbon and allowing my local affiliate here in Central Indiana to auction it off after the indy 500. Youve been an inspiration and not only are you helping raise awareness for Breast Cancer, you really have become an inspiration for young girls, especially those who look at the sport which is a maledominated sp you to xeelt and do as well as you have in this in this maledominated sport . You know, racing is a tough sport, but one of the things ive really enjoyed since moving to the u. S. Is racing in the u. S. I really am treated as an equal by nearly all of the other drivers on the track. My team treats me just as another driver. And as the girl who never wore pink at the racetrack, that was all out there with the pink race car. It was how this would affect all of those little girls who were fans racing just as i was when i was a little girl. Pippa, thank you so much. You are indeed an inspiration, and it has just been a pleasure and privilege to have you with us. Thank you. Well, thank you. Up next were on the money. Its election season and, no, were not talking about hillary or donald. How to make the best choices when it comes to your benefits. And later,ow experience . See what demons, ghouls and, yes, clown narrator the target. Seniors. Danny tarkanian set up thirteen Fake Charities that preyed on vulnerable seniors. Fronts for telemarketing schemes. Seniors lost millions from the scams Danny Tarkanian helped set up. Jacky rosen has always led with integrity. In congress, jacky rosen will protect seniors and strengthen Social Security. If you work for a living, you want a van that does the same. Mercedesbenz vans. From the fullsize sprinter to the midsize metris. These are vans for professionals. Strictly professionals. Were good. Mercedesbenz vans. Featuring the new worker vans, mercedesbenz. Vans. Born to run. Merce . . Sbenz. Vans. Born to run. Sing girl, come on. . [ singing ] . Sorry, ariana you gotta go. Seriously . Verizon limits me and i gotta get home. Youre gonna choose navigation over me . Maps get up here. Umm. That way. Girl you better get on tmobile why pay more for data limits . Get four lines just 35 a month. Open enrollment season is just around the corner. The time when you elect health, life and Disability Insurance for 2017, and if you dont pay close attention it could cost you, joining us now is certified Financial Planner doug boneparth. Good to see you, doug. Great to be here. Welcome back. Thanks. You know, its very if your employer has multiple plans available, so how do you evaluate an Insurance Plan on the surface . What do you look for . So, most people are going to look at costs. Thats the big driver. How much am i going to pay, and which plan is right for me . So when youre going to evaluate these plans, it might be a good idea to look back at the year past and see what did you actually spend on Health Care Costs this year . For example, if you ended up not deductible plans could be right for you because you dont want to pay a lot in people yurnlgs and the opposite might hold true if you see a lot of doctors and have a lot of prescriptions then maybe you want to look for plans with lower deductibles where paying more premium could be advantageous. A lot of people also want to put money in hsa or an ffsa. How much ideally should you put away . Even though theres tax benefits for putting money into those plans, you first what you can afford to do and go up as much as you can to the limit based on that affordability. What about Disability Insurance . I mean, everybody worries about being, you know, having an accident, being disabled. Is it worth it to take on that Disability Insurance . Are there some parameters as to who should do it hand maybe who shouldnt . Yeah. Im a big fan of receiving group Disability Insurance. Typically thats more affordable to receive a group plan than it is to go out and buy an individual plan and protecting protecting one of the most important things that you have, your ability to earn money, so i would encourage you to take advantage of what you can afford again to apply for through your employer. Typically longterm disability plans will allow you to protect up to 60 of your base salary, and you can receive that benefit taxfree assuming youre paying for those premiums on an aftertax basis. Now, whats the biggest mistake that you see people making in open enromment . I think to enroll. I mean, it seems so obvious, but when youre caught up in your life and busy and its most of it is online now, its very easy to forget that. You actually have to log in hadnt make your elections and that can be a real bummer to say hey, its one day past open enrollment and you just missed out. And also make sure that you dont let too much benefit or too much insurance again due to affordability. Look at the news at the week ahead and ham wean taking an amazing haunted attraction. Is this frightful experience coming to your town next . Recently, a 1954 mercedesbenz grand prix race car made history when it sold for a record price of just under 30 million. And now, another mercedesbenz makes history selling at just over 30,000. Stereo. The 2016 cla. Lease the cla250 for 299 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. . Jake reese, . Day to feel alive . . . Jake reese, . Day to feel alive . . Weve got a choice to make. Jacky rosen wants to build an economy that works for all of us, creating good jobs, expanding solar energy, and improving our schools. But with Danny Tarkanian, you cant escape the sleaze. He even helped set up Fake Charities used to scam nevada seniors. Danny tarkanians out for himself. Dccc is responsible for the content of this advertising. For more on our show and our guests go, to our website otm. Cnbc. Com, and you can follow us on twitter at on the money. That may impact your money this week. Look out for ghosts and goblins ringing your doorbell because monday is halloween. Well also get a read on the consumer with personal income and spending. On tuesday well get the latest report card on manufacturing from the institute of supply management. Well also see how the automakers are faring with octobers car sales. On wednesday, the federal open Market Committee ends its twoday meeting with an announcement on interest rates, and on friday jobs the economy gained or lost when the employment report is released. If youre looking for a scare this halloween, you could probably find one at a haunted house, but what if the ghoulses and zombies were outside and stalking you under the d