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The first wave of July Social Security payments are going out to seniors in just a matter of days, with some recipients qualifying for up to $4,873 depending on their retirement age and income level.
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All beneficiaries who were born between the first and 10th of a month will get their monthly check on Wednesday, July 10. For those who retired at the maximum retirement age, which is 70 years old, the check could be worth as much as $4,873.
Most checks, of course, will be significantly lower. Your exact amount is determined on the amount of earnings you make throughout your work lifetime as well as when you chose to retire.
Everyone who retires at the current retirement age, 67, can qualify for a maximum payment of $3,822, while those retiring earlier at 62 can earn up to $2,710.
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The exact date you receive benefits also depends on your birthday, so while those born earlier in a month can expect the checks next Wednesday, others will have to wait longer.
Payments for those born later in the month go out on July 17 and July 24, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA) schedule.
While nationally, the SSA is facing a funding crisis by the mid 2030s, seniors continue to say that their monthly checks are not enough to keep up with today’s inflation.
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“You can sense the frustration among seniors when you walk into a grocery store,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the state of Tennessee, previously told Newsweek. “Some of the items most affected by inflation have been everyday purchases they weren’t expecting to see steep price increases on during retirement.”
Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, a bill proposed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, aims to give higher monthly checks to seniors if passed.
“Social Security is a lifeline for older adults. For many, it’s their main source of income,” Gillibrand said in her announcement of the bill in March. “But benefits aren’t keeping pace with rising costs, leaving many older Americans struggling to afford the basics—particularly health care.”
Under the bill, the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security would take into account the costs of health care for seniors by using the consumer price index (CPI) for the elderly instead of the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers.
Still, Beene has cautioned Social Security recipients from expecting a sudden extreme boost in payments.
“This could be a blessing and a curse, in some ways,” Beene previously told Newsweek. “The promise of higher health care costs being a greater factor is certainly music to the ears of many seniors who are struggling with those increased prices. At the same point, it will be interesting to see how other costs of living are factored with the adjusted model. Hopefully, those other expenses will have the same generosity in calculation that health care is supposed to have.”
Currently, analysts predict Social Security will stop being able to send full payments by 2033 as more baby boomers enter retirement, with too few remaining people in the workforce.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.