Personal Finance

Here's how to find out what your Social Security check will be in 2019

Key Points
  • The Social Security Administration has announced a 2.8 percent increase to benefits in 2019 through a cost-of-living adjustment.
  • All beneficiaries will be able to find out exactly what that means for them in December, either through their online Social Security account or a paper statement in the mail.
  • If you want to receive the notices online, you should log in to your account or set one up.
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Your Social Security benefits will see a 2.8 percent increase in 2019 due to an annual cost-of-living adjustment.

There are two ways to find out exactly how much your own benefit will be: checking your online account with the Social Security Administration or through a paper statement in the mail.

Starting in December, the Social Security Administration will make online notices available to certain beneficiaries.

In order to receive the online notification, you must have an online My Social Security account. The cost-of-living adjustment will be found in the message center.

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To make sure you receive it, you should log in to your My Social Security account and select email or text under message center preferences.

If you do not have an online account, you can still receive the COLA notice by signing up now.

The Social Security Administration will also send those notices by mail in December.

All current beneficiaries, including those who receive online notices, should expect to receive paper notices by mail.

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This year, online notices will not be available to individuals who have a foreign address or pay higher Medicare premiums because of their income.

"We plan to expand the availability of COLA notices to additional online customers in the future," a spokesman for the Social Security Administration said.