The last of the April Social Security retirement payments will reach United States households in a few hours. But not all retirement beneficiaries can get this check. This benefit payment is exclusive to a particular group of Americans.
So if you have an accepted Social Security check you could be one of the beneficiaries who will enjoy this benefit. In order to get it, you have to meet two mandatory requirements. If you meet them, you will have access to this check. If you don’t, your benefit payment day is different.
How to get the next Social Security benefit on April 17, 2024?
This coming April 17th, 2024, the Social Security Administration will pay retirement benefits to Group 3 beneficiaries. This means that if you are not part of that group you will not be able to get one of these checks.
To belong to group 3, you only need to meet two requirements. On the one hand, one requirement is related to the year of retirement. On the other hand, the second requirement is related to the beneficiary’s birthday.
In short, to get the benefit on April 17th, 2024 we need to have a birthday between the 11th and the 20th of the month, in addition to having applied for the benefit from May 1997 onwards. The exact month of birth is irrelevant, as is the year. Likewise, the time of retirement does not matter as long as it is after that time.
Can I increase my monthly Social Security check?
The maximum amount we can get for retirement in 2024 is $4,873. If we are already collecting Social Security payments, it is not possible to increase this check. This is because the amount is set at the time we retire.
However, if we have not applied for retirement, we may get a larger check. To prepare the retirement payment and obtain a higher amount, we must take into account three aspects. If we control them, the check will be quite high.
These three elements are the retirement age, the years worked and the salary during those years. So we should work 35 years with a high salary and retire at 70 to reach the maximum check. The closer we are to those figures, the higher our Social Security retirement payment will be.