The Social Security calendar is continuing its course as we approach the sixth month of the year 2024. As you already know, every two years, the SSA (Social Security Administration) sets the calendars for the subsequent two years, so the payment dates of all the beneficiaries of their respective programs are already pre-defined.
We have already told you in other articles that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will see the June payment date altered by a particularity of the SSA calendar. This group of social Security beneficiaries receives their payments on the first of every month, but the first of June falls on a Saturday. As a rule, the SSA does not pay benefits on holidays or weekends, and those corresponding to those days are advanced to the nearest previous business day. Then, SSI beneficiaries will receive the corresponding payment for June on May 31. So, your next payment after this mentioned one will be on Monday, the first of July.
Social Security Payment Schedule 2024: June Dates
Let’s now turn to the groups of retirees who receive their payments, usually on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month. The first Wednesday always corresponds to the beneficiaries who were born between the 1st and the 10th of any month, the second Wednesday is for those who were born between the 11th and the 20th of any month, and the third Wednesday is for those who were born between the 21st and the 31st of any month. Therefore, the first group will receive their payment on Wednesday, June 12, the second group on Wednesday, June 19 and the third group on Wednesday, June 26.
Other beneficiaries who will receive their payments in June are those who have been receiving Social Security benefits since before May 1997, or who are claiming Social Security benefits in conjunction with SSI. In the latter case, the SSI payment is made on the 1st (in this particular month, it is paid on May 31st) and the social security benefits are paid on June 3rd.
April’s Inflation Could Be a Sword of Damocles for Social Security Recipients
Most retirees cannot live in the United States without the support of Social Security checks. A 2023 survey by the national company Gallup found that 88% of retirees rely on their benefits as a “major” or “minor” source of income.
That’s why the SSA must constantly monitor inflation to determine if benefits should go up to help seniors cope with this sword of Damocles. And we say that it is a sword of Damocles because, metaphorically, the sharp edge of inflation hangs over the heads, an element of the economy that threatens to make those most in need lose purchasing power.
Given this scenario, it should come as no surprise that the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) revealed during the second week of October is one of the most anticipated announcements every year. Each year, the COLA adjustment is calculated based on the percentage change of the Consumer Price Index for Urban and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), an index that is published monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
How Is the COLA Adjustment Calculated
Specifically, the COLA is calculated in this way:
- the average of the percentage change in the CPI-W during the three quarters of the current calendar year is taken.
- If the average turns out to be positive, it translates into an increase in Social Security and other benefits, such as SSI.
- However, if the average is negative, no adjustment is applied and there will be no increase that year for retirees and other beneficiaries.
The most recent COLA 2024 had a 3.2% increase, which was applied from January 2024 for social security beneficiaries and from December 2023 for SSI beneficiaries. Until May 21, a preliminary forecast established that the COLA would be at 3.36%, which means good news for retirees because a more noticeable increase is coming than last year’s, but it also means that inflation is showing a slight upward trend.
