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Here’s what to know about Social Security’s December payments, from SSI checks to the COLA increase
Most Social Security recipients receive one check each month, but a quirk of the calendar means some older Americans didn’t get a check at the start of December. On top of that, some beneficiaries may see their annual cost-of-living adjustment kick in this month, earlier than the typical starting month of January.
While the Social Security Administration sets its annual payment schedule well in advance of the year, the payment dates could take some seniors by surprise this month, for both better and worse.
December SSI payments
In the first case, people who receive Social Security’s Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, got an extra payment in November because of the way the calendar falls in December.
Recipients of SSI, a program for disabled adults and low-income seniors, typically get their checks on the first of the month. But because December 1 fell on a Sunday this year, this group of beneficiaries received their December check on Friday, November 29.
In other words, SSI recipients received two checks in November, one for their November payment and the second for their December benefit.
But SSI recipients will still receive a payment in December, again because of how the calendar falls this year.
Since January 1 is a federal holiday, the January 2025 SSI payment will be sent to recipients on December 31, according to the Social Security Administration.
However, people who receive both Social Security and SSI will get their January 2025 payment on January 3, according to the agency’s schedule.
When will I get the 2025 COLA increase in my Social Security check?
In October, the Social Security Administration set its 2025 cost-of-living adjustment at 2.5%, the smallest annual COLA hike since 2021. The COLA is based on recent inflation rates, and because price hikes have cooled from their pandemic high, seniors are getting a smaller benefit increase for the next year.
The 2025 COLA on average will add about $50 to each monthly benefit check, with the average payment in 2025 rising to $1,976 per month.
For most Social Security recipients, the new COLA goes into effect with their January payment.
However, there is one exception: People getting their January SSI checks on December 31 will see the new COLA reflected in that payment, according to the Social Security Administration.
Other recipients will get their new 2025 COLA when they receive their January payments, which depends on either which benefits they receive or when their birthday falls.
Here’s the schedule for when Social Security recipients will get their new 2025 COLA payments:
- Dec. 31: SSI beneficiaries will receive their new cost-of-living adjustment with this payment that reflects their January 2025 benefit.
- Jan. 3: People who claimed Social Security before May 1997 or who receive both Social Security and SSI will see their new 2025 COLA reflected when they receive their checks on this day.
- Jan. 8: Recipients born between the 1st to 10th of the month will get their new COLA with this payment.
- Jan. 15: Recipients born between the 11th to 20th of the month will receive their new COLA on this day.
- Jan. 22: Those born between the 21st to 31st of the month will get their cost-of-living increase with this payment.
How can I check what my new COLA will be?
The Social Security Administration is mailing COLA notices throughout December, so you should receive a letter in the mail from the agency that will outline how your benefits will change with the cost-of-living increase.
Seniors and other Social Security recipients can also log into their personal my Social Security account — if those accounts were created before November 20 — to see their COLA notice starting in early December.
The Social Security Administration asks that people wait until January to contact them about their notices.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation.
“He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025.
Trump, once a crypto skeptic, had pledged to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. Money has poured into crypto assets since he won. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is now above $95,000. And shares in crypto platform Coinbase have surged more than 70% since the election.
Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, congratulated Atkins in a post on X.
“We appreciate his commitment to balance in regulating U.S. securities markets and look forward to his fresh leadership at (the SEC),” Grewal wrote. “It’s sorely needed and cannot come a day too soon.”
Congressman Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, said he worries Atkins would not sufficiently regulate cryptocurrencies as SEC chair.
“He’d probably take the position that no cryptocurrency is a security, and hence no exchange that deals with crypto is a securities exchange,” Sherman said. “The opportunity to defraud investors would be there in a very significant way.”
Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history working in the financial markets sector, both in government and private practice. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt.
His work as an SEC commissioner started in 2002, a time when the fallout from corporate scandals at Enron and WorldCom had turned up the heat on Wall Street and its government regulators.
Atkins was widely considered the most conservative member of the SEC during his tenure at the agency and was known to have a strong free-market bent. As a commissioner, he called for greater transparency in and analysis of the costs and benefits of new SEC rules.
He also emphasized investor education and increased enforcement efforts against those who steal from investors over the internet, manipulate markets, engage in Ponzi schemes and other types of fraud.
At the same time, Atkins objected to stiff penalties imposed on companies accused of fraudulent conduct, contending that they did not deter crime. He caused a stir in the summer of 2006 when he said the practice of granting stock options to executives before the disclosure of news that was certain to increase the share price did not constitute insider trading.
U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Atkins has the experience needed to “restore faith in the SEC.”
“I’m confident his leadership will lead to clarity for the digital asset ecosystem and ensure U.S. capital markets remain the envy of the world,” McHenry posted on X.
Atkins already has some experience working for Trump. During Trump’s first term, Atkins was a member of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, an advisory group of more than a dozen CEOs and business leaders who offered input on how to create jobs and speed economic growth.
In 2017, Atkins joined the Token Alliance, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization.
Crypto industry players welcomed Trump’s victory in the hopes that he would push through legislative and regulatory changes that they’ve long lobbied for.
Trump himself has launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.
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