Social Security checks arrive every month to United States citizens who have this benefit accepted. In this regard, getting a Social Security check with the COLA added can make a big change from year to year.
Regardless of what the final amount is in the 2024 COLA, what is certain is that the increase will be welcome. Millions of Americans who only get Social Security as a source of income have no better option than an increase in Social Security benefits.
With this in mind, the next thing to know is which will be the first of the Social Security checks where the 2024 COLA will be added. This information is important, as that is when we will see the increase in each of the retirement checks thereafter.
If you are expecting to get this new 2024 COLA in order to deal with inflation in this year 2023, you still have a bit of a wait. Still, surprisingly we won’t have to wait until next year to start enjoying this increase.
WHEN WILL THE 2024 COLA ARRIVE?
As usual, the COLA will arrive for full operation in the coming year 2024. This benefit increase takes effect in each and every payment that the Social Security Administration will send out next year.
However, it is striking to see that the Social Security Administration will not send the first of the payments with the 2024 COLA in 2024. This is because the first of these payments will be the January Supplemental Security Income.
This payment should be on the 1st of that month, but since that day is a holiday, the Administration will send it earlier, i.e., on the 29th of December. This means that all payments after this date will have the Cost of Living Adjustment increase added to them.
WHEN WILL THE COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT BE ANNOUNCED AND HOW MUCH WILL IT BE?
The announcement of the annual increase in Social Security benefits is just a few days away. To be more precise, this announcement will be made official on October 12th. Although it will not take effect until January of next year, we will already know what the amount of the increase will be.
As for the amount, it is still too early to say, but there are many different forecasts. Experts such as The Senior Citizens League are talking about a 3.2% COLA increase, which would be a far cry from the 8.7% increase of the current year.
Regardless of what the final figure is, we still have to wait a few days to find out. In any case, any increase is welcome, especially if we take into account the years of so much inflation that have come lately.