Starting Thursday, millions of grandparents and retirees will see a $250 raise to their usual Social Security funds. The months long wait for stimulus payments for seniors, as part of the stimulus bill passed February, is now over, CNN reports. Nearly 55 million seniors and retirees will receive the $250 one-time payment between now and June 4, 2009. Most of the checks have been sent out this week. Payment will either be received as a separate check, in addition to Social Security payments, or appear in accounts as a direct deposit.

In addition to going out to Social Security and SSI recipients, stimulus money is also being sent to railroad retirees and disabled veterans.

According to government estimates, 64 million Americans will receive stimulus money this year. The total cost to the federal budget will be around $13 billion. The $250 payments are the largest going out to individual Americans, CNN points out. Only time will tell if these infusions of money will show up as economic relief. Please tell us in the comments section how you plan to spend your $250 stimulus money?