There are only four days left before millions of people whose birthday falls between the 1st and 10th of each month receive direct payments worth an average of $1,681.
The first round of checks, worth as much as $4,194, will be sent on Nov. 9, according to the Social Security Administration. Retirees will also see an increase in their benefits of $146 to a high of $1,827 per month starting next January.
“You can begin getting Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62,” the SSA says on its website. “But we will reduce your benefits by as much as 30% below what you would get if you waited to begin getting benefits until your full retirement age. If you wait until your full retirement age … you will get your full benefit.”
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Social Security checks are determined by several factors, including when the recipient retires and how much he or she paid into the program. If a person born in 1960 or later waits to retire until the age of 67, the full retirement age in 2022, the maximum benefit they would receive would be $3,345. But if a person retires early at the age of 62, the maximum benefit would only be $2,364.
Roughly 70 million recipients are enrolled in Social Security.
The SSA’s acting commissioner recently announced an increase in the cost-of-living adjustment at 8.7%, the highest adjustment in 40 years. The last time the agency gave a larger increase was in 1981 when it was 11.2%.
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“Social Security benefits will increase by 8.7 percent beginning with the December 2022 benefits, which are payable in January 2023. Federal SSI payment levels will also increase by 8.7 percent effective for payments made for January 2023,” per the SSA.
In order to calculate the exact bump that one will receive from the cost-of-living adjustment, recipients must multiply their Social Security benefit by the 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment. Additional information about the adjustment can be found on the SSA website.
