Biweekly Pay | Meaning and Definition

What is Bi-weekly pay?

Bi-weekly pay is a per-period payment schedule where employees are paid every other week. The most common bi-weekly pay schedules have employees receive 26 paychecks per year, which works out to be every other week. 

The biggest advantage of bi-weekly pay is that it can help to even out the employee’s cash flow. If one has irregular income or expenses, getting paid every two weeks can help to make budgeting and forecasting a bit easier. 

Benefits of biweekly pay

There are a few potential benefits of biweekly pay:

  • It can help to even out your cash flow since you’ll be receiving a paycheck every two weeks instead of once a month. This can be particularly helpful if you have irregular income or expenses.
  • It may make budgeting and money management easier since you’ll always know exactly how much money you have coming in and when.
  • If you get paid on the 1st and 15th of every month, for example, you’ll never have more than two weeks between paychecks. This can help to prevent overspending and to get into debt. 

Of course, there are also some potential drawbacks:

  •  It can be difficult to budget when you’re not used to being paid every other week. You may find yourself running out of money midway through the month and then struggling to make ends meet until your next paycheck
  • If you have any regular monthly expenses (like rent, utilities, or car payments), it can be tough to plan when you don’t know exactly when you’ll be getting paid.
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