One of the great advantages of collecting Social Security retirement benefits in the United States is that you can know in advance the day you will receive your check. This is thanks to the calendar that the Social Security Administration announces each year with the payment days.
As a general rule, the Social Security Administration sends up to 5 different payments in a month. This can amount to 6 different payments depending on certain irregularities in the calendar. Even so, the number of age retirement benefit payments is usually the same.
The variation between 4 and 6 Social Security mailings depends on the Supplemental Security Income payment, but that is a different payment than the Early Retirement Age payment. The payment on this retirement benefit may arrive on the 3rd day of the month or on the second, third or fourth Wednesday. Receiving it on one day or the other depends on several factors.
The groups of retirees are always divided into two major divisions. On the one hand, we have the pre-1997 retirees. This group always receives payment on the 3rd day of the month, with very few exceptions. On the other hand, post-1997 retirees have their payment day on a different Wednesday of each month. Are you in the group that receives the next benefit?
Which Early Retirement Age senior receives the new Social Security?
In order to find out which group receives the next Social Security check, you need to consider the division made beginning in 1997. Retirees who applied for the benefit before that year all receive checks on the same day. That is the 3rd day of the month, as previously mentioned. Therefore, the next of the payments is only for retirees after that date.
But not all beneficiaries with post-1997 benefits receive the new Early Retirement Age payment. Only beneficiaries who have their birthday between the 11th and 20th of the month are the ones who will collect the next check.
The rest of the retirees may have already received it or will receive it next week. This depends on each citizen’s birthday, as the Social Security Administration sends the money according to a previously established schedule.
How can I increase my retirement check?
If we want to increase our retirement check, it is important to note that once we start collecting it, it is very difficult to achieve this goal. So if you are already collecting your Social Security retirement benefit you will not be able to do any of the following steps.
However, in the event that you have not yet filed for retirement, you can take the following steps to get a benefit increase and try to maximize your Social Security check:
- Delay your retirement age. The later you start collecting Social Security the better check you will get. Applying for retirement at 62 means losing 30% of the money you contributed as a worker.
- Work as long as you can. The minimum number of years worked to apply for Early Retirement Age is 10 years, but that does not mean that we are going to get a good benefit. To get the best possible check we must work a minimum of 35 years.
- Get a good salary. With a high salary we will pay more taxes. Since Social Security money comes from taxes, this means that we will have a good benefit at the end.
Thanks to these three tips we can try to reach the $4,555 Social Security maximum in 2023. However, it’s not easy to reach that figure, so it’s advisable to have an alternative source of income so we don’t rely on the retirement check exclusively.