A selection of Social Security recipients will receive their monthly payment this week.
Payments of up to a maximum of $4,873 will be sent out this week to some Americans who collect retirement benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). Payments are made to retired individuals aged over 65, qualifying disabled people and survivors of deceased claimants. However, not every claimant is paid on the same date each month.
Amounts are paid directly into bank accounts each month, with the payment date being set according to when the claimant was born. While the maximum amount available to Social Security beneficiaries is nearly $5,000, how much an individual receives is calculated by the number of years they have worked and how much they earned. According to the SSA, the estimated average monthly Social Security retirement benefit for January this year was $1,907. Some 55 million payments were made in April alone.
On Wednesday, May 22, Social Security payments will be made to all those born between the 21st and 31st of any given month in the year. Payments for those born on dates earlier in the month should already have received their check.
If you are a retiree who also claims Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an additional payment given to elderly, blind, and disabled individuals with minimal income and assets, you should have received your money on May 1. This date also applies to any pensioners who have been collecting retirement benefits since before 1997 and those who live abroad.
The SSA recommends waiting three working days before contacting them if your payment has not arrived.
SSI recipients, longtime and overseas retirees will receive a rare double payment this month but unfortunately not double the amount. Those who would usually be paid on the first of a month, in this case, June 1, will instead be paid on Friday, May 31. This is because the usual payment date falls on a weekend.
Social Security benefits increase every year to ensure purchasing power is not eroded due to inflation. The February projection for next year, 2025, has been put at 1.75 percent by the Senior Citizens League.
At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the increase could amount to 2.5 percent. The boost is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, more easily remembered as the CPI-W.
This year, Social Security benefits increased by 3.2 percent, and in 2023 they jumped by 8.7 percent, the biggest annual increase in nearly 40 years, due to high inflation as the U.S. recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
