Only certain groups of Social Security retirees can receive their first February payment in days. This means that the rest of the beneficiaries in the United States should already have their checks in their pockets, and since this is the first of the February 2024 payments, the rest of the payments will reach their recipients in the next weeks.
If you are one of the retirees age 65 or older who received your check this week, you should know that your payment of up to $4,873 is will be available in just a couple of weeks if you have Direct Deposit enabled. This payment method is the fastest of all, so if you are one of the Social Security retirees receiving your check in days, the money is already available for whatever you need.
If you have not activated this payment method, you do not need to worry. The money will still arrive, just a few days later. However, it is mandatory to be part of this group of Social Security retirees. If not, we will not be able to get the check this week. To be part of this group of retirees, we must meet two mandatory requirements. These requirements cannot be avoided, so if we do not meet them, we can forget about getting a check this week.
Requirements for February’s First Social Security Retired Worker Payment
There are only two mandatory requirements to receive this check. One is your date of birth. The other is the year we filed for Social Security. If we know these two pieces of information, we will be able to know each month the exact day the Administration will send us each of the checks.
To be eligible for the first payment of this month, February 1st, the last payment of the month, we must
- Have filed for Social Security after 1997.
- Have a birthday between the 21st and 31st of each month.
This is the only way to get immediate access to this week’s payment. Remember to enable Direct Deposit, as there is no way to receive the payment on the same day it is sent if this option is not enabled. On the other hand, it is also important to remember that Social Security payments are for all types of retirees. For example, a disability beneficiary and a 65-year-old retiree may be paid on the same day if they qualify.
Can I increase my retirement benefit?
No. Once we start receiving a Social Security check, it is impossible to increase it on our own. Another thing is the COLA, which will cause all retirement checks to increase each year. But unless we want to increase it individually, we should know that it is impossible.
It is different if we have not yet applied for the check. In this case, the payment can be increased because we can take certain steps to ensure a higher benefit. On the one hand, we have to have a good job with a good salary for 35 years. On the other hand, we need to retire as late as possible.
If we claim at age 70, we will get the largest Social Security check possible. If we claim earlier, we will still get a good check, but it will be smaller and smaller. The only way to get the maximum of $4,873 per month in 2024 is to wait until age 70 to retire.