We use the highest 35 years of indexed earnings in a benefit computation. The dropped indexed amounts are shown in red. Below the indexed earnings are the sums for the highest 35 years of indexed earnings and the corresponding average monthly amounts of such earnings.
If you become disabled before your full retirement age, you might qualify for Social Security disability benefits. You must have worked and paid Social Security taxes in five of the last 10 years.
So, if you've only worked 20 years, which is 10 more than the minimum required to collect Social Security, the Social Security Administration will add your salaries from those 20 years and then divide by 35.
We base your retirement benefit on your highest 35 years of earnings and the age you start receiving benefits.
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.
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.
Although you need at least 10 years of work (40 credits) to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, we base the amount of your benefit on your highest 35 years of earnings.
A spouse who has never worked in paid jobs or has not worked to earn sufficient credits to be eligible for his/her own retired worker benefits can receive a spousal benefit that is 50 percent of the eligible worker's full benefit.
Key Features of the New Rule
Starting September 30, 2024, anyone who has not previously registered with us and who wants to be appointed as a representative must register with us using the Form SSA-1699 before we will recognize a new appointment request.
If you do not have 35 years of earnings by the time you apply for benefits, your benefit amount will be lower than it would be if you worked 35 years. Years with no earnings count as zeroes in the benefit calculation.
By waiting until age 70 to start receiving benefits, you've maximized the monthly payment amount. Your benefit amount increases every month you delay until you reach 70 years old.
(Here's the average Social Security check.) The formula for calculating your PIA is based on the average indexed monthly earnings, or AIME, in your 35 highest-earning years after age 21, up to the Social Security wage base.
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.
To qualify to get $144 added back to your Social Security check, you can enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan that offers a Part B premium reduction or giveback benefit.
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.
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.
If you haven't made plans to delay claiming your Social Security at that point, chances are you will just go ahead and start at 62. It takes planning to be able to delay starting to collect your benefit. Maybe working a bit longer, at least part-time.
you're eligible for some of your ex's Social Security
wives and widows. That means most divorced women collect their own Social Security while the ex is alive, but can apply for higher widow's rates when he dies.
Ninety-five percent of never-beneficiaries are individuals whose earnings histories are insufficient to qualify for benefits. Late-arriving immigrants and infrequent workers comprise the vast majority of these insufficient earners.