Throughout the year the Social Security Administration sends a large number of checks to retirees in the United States. Each of these checks is different from each other, as the beneficiaries get an individual check. Because of this, the amount is different, as the check is configured from the work history of each individual American. And it is very difficult for two Americans to have exactly the same work history.
For that reason, not all citizens can get the $318 Social Security increase. And that is because this increase is not for all retirement beneficiaries, but only for a small group of them. Even so, those who do not get this increase could get a different increase, since it all depends on the check they have collected so far.
Every new year means a new raise, at least for most years. There are times when Social Security does not increase, but that is rare to see. It is usual for the Cost of Living Adjustment to increase retirement checks each year. If we have an accepted payment it is good for us to know that the January check will come with a little bit of an increase.
Who gets the January Social Security payment with $318 extra?
The United States Social Security Extra $318 comes only for a specific group of Americans. That specific group is citizens who have a maximum benefit. That is, those who in the year 2023 will collect a monthly retirement payment of $1,555 per month. This is the only way we can get the Administration to give us a $318 increase starting with the January payment.
Still, in order to cash the next of the checks, which will be on January 17th, 2024, we will need to meet two requirements. These two conditions are very simple. The first is to have the payment since after 1997. The second condition is to have a birthday between the 11th and 20th day of any month. Only in this way will we be able to obtain the benefit for this day.
And even if we don’t have the maximum payment of $4,555 in 2023 we will get an increase in the check as well. The payments increase by 3.2% starting in January of this year, so if this is your first payment of 2024 you can see that you will get more money than you did in the previous year’s benefit. Even if you don’t get an extra $318 you could still get a few extra dollars that are sure to be welcome.
How do you increase your retirement benefits?
In order to increase your Social Security checks, you will need to not have applied for the benefit yet. Only then will we be able to access a much larger check. The Social Security payment is set up with 3 elements and thanks to maximizing them we will be able to get up to $4,873 per month in 2024.
Those three elements are retirement age, years worked and salary during those years. If we put these three aspects to the maximum we will obtain in a totally direct way a payment of $4,873 per month, although it is not an easy task.
Speaking directly, we must work for 35 years, have a good salary during all that time and apply for Social Security when we have reached the age of 70. Only then will we get such a benefit. Otherwise, the closer we get to those numbers the bigger the retirement check we will get every month.