Americans Get Two Social Security Payments This Week

Americans are set to earn two Social Security payments this week due to specific rules around retirement and disability payments.

Typically, the Social Security Administration only sends out one set of payments each week to beneficiaries based on their birthdays. But this week marks a rare occasion in which some recipients will earn payments based on both retirement and disability benefits.

Social Security payments generally go out on a specific Wednesday of the month depending on when you were born.

The schedule varies, as those who earned benefits since May 1997 or earlier always get their checks on the third day of every month.

But aside from this select few, your birthday decides the date. Those who were born between the first and the 10th earned payments on the second Wednesday of this month, which happened to be Feb. 14.

Meanwhile, those born between the 11th and 20th saw benefits come in on Feb. 21, the third Wednesday of the month. Finally, those born in the remaining days of any month will see payments today, Feb. 28.

But there’s even more money coming to Social Security recipients because of March payments at the end of this week.

Those who earn both Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will see the money for SSI on March 1 and Social Security checks on March 3.

Additionally, everyone who has been receiving payments since 1997 or before, as well as those living abroad, can expect their benefits on March 1. The rest of the March schedule will follow the traditional second, third and fourth Wednesday based on birthdays.

How Much is 2023 COLA?

This year marked an increase in benefits for recipients, with payments climbing by 3.2 percent this year, in accordance with this year’s calculated cost of living adjustment (COLA).

For this year, the highest-earning Social Security beneficiaries earn payments of $4,873 if they retired at age 70. However, the average monthly benefit is much lower at $3,822. Those who retired at the youngest age possible, 62, will see only $2,710 a month this year.

Across the board, payments increased by an average of $50 a month due to the COLA.

Still, many seniors do not think this year’s COLA is enough, especially in comparison to the 2023 COLA of 8.7 percent.

The SSA calculates its payment boost based on the consumer price index, but many have criticized the methods, saying the agency should consider seniors’ costs of housing and healthcare more significantly.

“Whether the annual COLA is appropriate for a specific retiree to ensure equal purchasing power as the prior year is highly specific to the life situation of the individual retiree, both in terms of expenses and other sources of income,” Jonathan Price, the national retirement practice leader at employee benefits consulting firm Segal, previously told Newsweek.