FAQs About Social Security Benefits
If $100,000 is your average income over 35 of your highest-earning working years and you plan to max out your benefits by collecting when you turn 70, you can expect to get about $3,253 per month from Social Security. What is the highest Social Security payout possible?
If your annual salary is $75,000, you earn $6,250 a month. In your pension, the SSA pays you 90% of the first $1,115 of your indexed monthly wage. That means you'll receive $1,003.50 a month. After those $1,115, the SSA pays you 32% of each dollar up to a maximum of $6,721 monthly.
The reality is that $100,000 in retirement savings is likely not enough to supplement Social Security for a lifetime.
The formula used to calculate these benefits takes into account lifetime earnings over 35 years. Social Security benefits replace a larger share of past earnings for low earners. While high earners receive larger benefits, their benefits replace a smaller share of what they had been making.
The point is that if you earned $120,000 per year for the past 35 years, thanks to the annual maximum taxable wage limits, the maximum Social Security benefit you could get at full retirement age is $2,687.
The maximum benefit depends on the age you retire. For example, if you retire at full retirement age in 2025, your maximum benefit would be $4,018. However, if you retire at age 62 in 2025, your maximum benefit would be $2,831. If you retire at age 70 in 2025, your maximum benefit would be $5,108.
You can start receiving your Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, you are entitled to full benefits only when you reach your full retirement age. If you delay taking your benefits from your full retirement age up to age 70, your benefit amount will increase.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
If your spouse dies, do you get both Social Security benefits? You cannot claim your deceased spouse's benefits in addition to your own retirement benefits. Social Security only will pay one—survivor or retirement. If you qualify for both survivor and retirement benefits, you will receive whichever amount is higher.
Still, your starting Social Security benefit is higher. That's how the government encourages people to postpone starting their benefits. Here's the starting benefit for each of those same final annual incomes, if you wait until age 70: Final pay of $80,000: benefit of $2,433 monthly, $29,196 yearly.
Social Security bases your retirement benefits on your lifetime earnings. We adjust or “index” your actual earnings to account for changes in average wages since the year the earnings were received. Then we calculate your average indexed monthly earnings from your highest 35 years of earnings.
The maximum Social Security benefit at full retirement age is $3,822 per month in 2024. It will be $4,018 a month in 2025. It's $4,873 per month in 2024 if retiring at age 70 and $2,710 if retiring at age 62. A person's Social Security benefit amount depends on earnings, full retirement age and when they take benefits.
A formula is then applied to your AIME to calculate your primary insurance amount (PIA)—the base figure the SSA uses in setting your actual benefit amount. For example, someone in their fifties whose income averaged $100,000 for the past few years might expect a disability payment of $2,500 per month.
The Social Security 5-year rule refers specifically to disability benefits. It requires that you must have worked five out of the last ten years immediately before your disability onset to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
Exactly how much in earnings do you need to get a $3,000 benefit? Well, you just need to have averaged about 70% of the taxable maximum. In our example case, that means that your earnings in 1983 were about $22,000 and increased every year to where they ended at about $100,000 at age 62.
Each survivor benefit can be up to 100% of your benefit. The amount may be reduced if the women start benefits before their own full retirement age, but they don't have to share — the amount isn't reduced because you've had more than one spouse.
Assuming your full retirement age is 67, if you file for those retirement benefits at 62, you'll receive around 70% of your full retirement age benefit amount. If you file for disability and are awarded those benefits, the amount that you would receive would be 100% of your full retirement age benefit, even at 62.
The $1,000 per month rule is designed to help you estimate the amount of savings required to generate a steady monthly income during retirement. According to this rule, for every $240,000 you save, you can withdraw $1,000 per month if you stick to a 5% annual withdrawal rate.
You can get Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time. However, if you are younger than full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, we will reduce your benefits. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, we will not reduce your benefits no matter how much you earn.
Those facing financial emergencies, such as a layoff or debt, may benefit from accessing Social Security early. If you retire early and need extra income, Social Security benefits can provide supplemental funds to support your new lifestyle, hobbies or retirement activities.
Paused benefits earn delayed retirement credits for every month they're suspended until age 70. That can boost your benefits by 8% a year for a maximum of three years, resulting in a 24% bump. It's unclear how many people are taking the do-over.