People think that the Social Security calendar is very hard to understand. The idea behind it is pretty simple: it was made to make it easy to know when benefits would be given. However, actually using it is not. But it’s not always as easy to put the theory into practice as it might seem.
Weekends and national holidays, for example, can throw off the schedule so often that it’s worth writing down the dates on your own calendar to make sure you don’t miss a payment.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) gives out five different kinds of Social Security benefits every month.
Retirement and disability payments are the most common, but there are also Family, Survivor, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. Each has its own rules for who can get it and how much they give out.
There are a lot of benefits that are given out, but they are all broken down into three main groups. This makes it easier for the SSA to keep track of the dates and make sure that the benefits get to the right places on time.
In general, these are the groups:
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Distributed for all beneficiaries on the first date of the month
- Beneficiaries who started receiving benefits prior to May 1997: Receive their benefits on the third of every month
- Beneficiaries who started receiving benefits after May 1997: recipients whose birthdays fall on 1st-10th of the month will receive their benefits on the second Wednesday of any given month, those born on 11th-20th will receive payouts on the third Wednesday, and those with birthdays on 21st-31st will see their payments on the fourth Wednesday.
But as we have stated, reality often gets in the way of theories, and in a month as complicated as December because of the holidays, the schedule can vary significantly and impact when retirees get their benefits.
When will Social Security benefits be distributed in December
The calendar still has a pretty much the same schedule, but there are some changes to keep in mind. The first difference is that if a payment date falls on a weekend or a national holiday, it is moved to the previous date when banks are open and the US Postal Service delivers mail.
This makes sure that benefits are always paid on time and that recipients can always make all of their payments when they’re supposed to, no matter what the calendar says.
For obvious reasons, it is easier if the money goes straight into a bank account. However, if you give the SSA correct information, paper checks are just as likely to arrive on time.
The second thing that can change is the calendar. Some months have four weeks and others have five. This is why you need to count how many Wednesdays are in a month before you guess when your payment will arrive.
Some people might get it wrong and think it’s too late or too early, but counting will make it less likely that this will happen. Taking all of that into account, here is the December benefit schedule:
- November 29: The SSI payment for the month of December was sceduled early, as December 1 fell on a Sunday.
- December 3: Social Security payment for those who began receiving payments before May 1997.
- December 11: Social Security payment for those born between the 1st and 10th of any month and started after May 1997.
- December 18: Social Security payment for those with a birthday between the 11th and 20th of any month and are beneficiaries after May 1997.
- December 24: Social Security payment for those born between the 21st and 31st of any month, beneficiaries after May 1997.
- December 31: SSI payment for January 2025 as January 1 falls on a National Holiday.
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