If you have filed for your Social Security retirement benefit and you are under your FRA, the earnings limit for 2024 is $22,320/year ($1,860/month). This means that you can earn up to $22,320 and continue to receive your Social Security retirement benefit.
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.
Social Security below full retirement age
If you are younger than the full retirement age, which is 67 for most, the annual earnings cap is $22,320 for 2024. After that, 50% of anything you earn over the cap will be held back from your Social Security.
Social Security: How Many Hours Can You Work and Still Collect Benefits? You can continue to work as long as you want, and you can still collect Social Security benefits.
If people born after 1960 claim their benefits the month they turn 62, they'll get only 70% of what they would have received had they waited until the full retirement age of 67. The average monthly payment of $1,784 drops by 30% during the first month of eligibility to $1,247.40.
Early retirement
You can receive Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, we'll reduce your benefit if you start receiving benefits before your full retirement age. For example, if you turn age 62 in 2025, your benefit would be about 30% lower than it would be at your full retirement age of 67.
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.
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.
A worker can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a reduction of as much as 30 percent. Starting to receive benefits after normal retirement age may result in larger benefits. With delayed retirement credits, a person can receive his or her largest benefit by retiring at age 70.
If you're younger than full retirement age, there is a limit to how much you can earn and still receive full Social Security benefits. If you're younger than full retirement age during all of 2025, we must deduct $1 from your benefits for each $2 you earn above $23,400.
You can get Social Security retirement or survivors benefits and work at the same time. However, there is a limit to how much you can earn and still receive full benefits. If you are younger than full retirement age and earn more than the yearly earnings limit, we may reduce your benefit amount.
Imagine that an individual who attained full retirement age at 67 had enough years of coverage to qualify for the full minimum Social Security benefit of $1,033. If they filed at 62, there would be a 30% reduction to benefits. This means that for 2023, the minimum Social Security benefit at 62 is $723.
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.
According to the SSA's Office of the Actuary, retired-worker beneficiaries who were 62 years old in December 2023 received an average check of $1,298.26.
Starting in the month you hit your full retirement age, there is no longer an earnings limit. Your benefits will no longer be reduced regardless of how much income you have. The earnings limit specifically applies to earnings from wages or self-employment.
The ideal monthly retirement income for a couple differs for everyone. It depends on your personal preferences, past accomplishments, and retirement plans. Some valuable perspective can be found in the 2022 US Census Bureau's median income for couples 65 and over: $76,490 annually or about $6,374 monthly.
Taking Social Security early reduces your benefits, but you'll also receive monthly payments for a longer period of time. On the other hand, taking Social Security later results in fewer checks during your lifetime, but delaying means each check will be larger.