Visit Your Local Social Security Office
Your local Social Security office will be able to give you a benefit estimate if you go and request it. You will need to take proper identification so that the agents there can release this information to you. It is wise to make an appointment beforehand so that you do not spend hours waiting in line to get this information. You should also know that the estimated Social Security statement that you receive from your local SSA office only takes into account your past earnings record. They will not take into account any future earnings or wage increases. While this can give you a ballpark figure on your future benefit amount, it might not be quite as exact as some of the other methods available.
How Do I Collect Survivor Benefits
Survivor benefits are Social Security payments to family members of a wage earner who has died. Unlike spousal benefits, the size of the survivor benefits you leave behind changes depending on when you opt to collect your individual benefits. As a result, if you take your individual benefits early, youre locking in lower lifetime income not only for yourself, but also for your spouse should you die before him or her. If you delay receiving benefits to earn a higher PIA, that amount is eligible to pass on to your surviving spouse.
As a spouse, you may be entitled to survivor benefits if youve been married for at least nine months at the time of your spouse’s death. You can collect survivor benefits as young as age 62, but if you do, those benefits will be reduced. Children and parents may also be eligible for survivor benefits, but only under specific circumstances.
Survivor benefits would replace benefits youre already receiving if the survivor benefits are of higher value. Additionally, if you receive a pension based on work without paying into Social Security, your survivor benefit may be reduced accordingly.
Social Security: How To Find Out How Much Money You Get Each Month
In the past, your Social Security statements and benefit amounts were only available via a paper statement sent to your home. Now, you can access your benefit amount online through a mySocialSecurity account on the SSA website.
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Your online Social Security statement will show all the earnings youve had each year and how much you could receive per month in Social Security benefits when you retire. The Statement contains important information for you to be able to properly plan for a comfortable retirement.
You can access your earnings, Social Security benefit estimates and printable Statements. If you are a retiree and already receive benefits, you can view your payment history and current status and manage your benefits through the online account.
In order to set up your personal Social Security account, you will need to access the SSA website here. From there, select Create Account to get started. You must be at least 18 years of age, have a valid Social Security number, a U.S. mailing address and an email address in order to use this system.
Once you sign up, you can verify your earnings history, view estimated benefits based on your past earnings, view Social Security and Medicare taxes youve paid over your lifetime, print your current Statement and request a replacement Social Security card.
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How To Obtain Your Benefits Estimate
Using your actual earnings record, you can estimate your retirement benefit online with the Retirement Estimator calculator on the Social Security Administration website at ssa.gov. You also can create different scenarios based on current regulations that show how different earnings amounts and retirement ages will affect it. The site also includes other benefit calculators to help you estimate disability and survivor benefits. Make sure to sign up to view your Social Security statement, which includes a detailed record of your earnings, as well as estimates of retirement, survivor, and disability benefits. If youre not registered for an online account and are not yet receiving benefits, youll receive a statement in the mail every year, starting at age 60.
How To Calculate Social Security Benefits
Retirement can be an exciting time, but it can also be scary for some. You might be wondering whether you have put enough money away for retirement. Everyone wants to make sure that they have enough income during retirement to continue to pay for their expenses. Since most retirees will rely at least partially on Social Security benefits, it is imperative that they know how much money they will be receiving from the Social Security Administration upon retirement. Thankfully, there are a few ways that you can estimate the amount of your retirement benefits. If you are approaching retirement age, then you can go ahead and estimate your benefits so that you can plan and budget accordingly when you are ready to leave your full time employment.
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Explore How The Age You Start Collecting Social Security Affects Your Retirement Benefits
The calculator bases your benefit estimate on current formulas from the Social Security Administration. Your answers are anonymous. Because we do not access or use your Social Security earnings record, these are rough estimates.
Your estimated benefits:
Select claiming ages on the graph to see how your estimated benefit changes.
Claiming at age Age 67 is your full benefit claiming age.
Compared to claiming at your full benefit claiming age.
Social Security retirement benefits are not designed to be your sole source of retirement income, but waiting even one month will increase your benefits.
Benefit Reduction If Taken Before Full Retirement Age
When calculating benefits for early retirement, there are one or two calculations, depending on how early benefits are taken. Assuming a normal retirement age of 67, the age of 62 is the earliest year a person can receive benefits or 60 months early.
The benefit is reduced by 5/9 of 1% for each month before the normal retirement age , up to 36 months. If the number of months exceeds 36, then the benefit is further reduced 5/12 of 1% per month.
For example, let’s say that a person wants to retire at 62, leading to a 60-month reduction from the normal retirement age of 67. The first 36 months would be calculated as 36 months times 5/9 of 1% plus 24 months times 5/12 of 1%.
- First 36 months: 5/9 = .5555 * 1% = .005555 * 36 months = .19999 or 20%*
- Remaining 24 months: 5/12 = .416666 * 1% = .00416666 * 24 months = .0999 or 10%
- In other words, benefits would be reduced by 30% if taken at age 62.
*The results were rounded and multiplied by 100 to create a percentage.
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Do You Plan To Continue Working In Your 60s
Working in your 60s will help you maximize your income and savings.
Your benefits are based on your highest 35 years of earnings. Each year of work can add higher earnings to your record by replacing years with low earnings such as those when you were a student, were unemployed, or took time off to care for someone. When you work and wait to claim until age 70, you can increase your monthly benefit by more than 75 percent! Working in your 60s also gives you more time to save on your own for retirement.Review your earnings record on my SocialSecurity.
Working in your 60s will help you maximize your income and savings.
Your benefits are based on your highest 35 years of earnings. Each year of work can add higher earnings to your record by replacing years with low earnings such as those when you were a student, were unemployed, or took time off to care for someone. When you work and wait to claim until age 70, you can increase your monthly benefit by more than 75 percent! Working in your 60s also gives you more time to save on your own for retirement.Review your earnings record on my SocialSecurity.
You can maximize your benefits even if you work fewer hours or stop working.
You can maximize your benefits even if you work fewer hours or stop working.
Consider working in your 60s for an extra boost to your income and savings.
Consider working extra years in your 60s for an extra boost to your income and savings
Social Security For Spouses And Survivors
Spousal benefits are available to current or widowed spouses aged 62 or older. Applications for spousal benefits are not valid until the other spouse files for their own benefits. It is possible for a non-working spouse to be eligible for a spousal benefit based on their working spouse’s benefit. Based on the working spouse’s age of retirement, the spousal benefit can be up to half of the working spouse’s benefit.
A widow or widower can collect a survivor benefit as early as age 60, given that the marriage lasted more than nine months. This requirement is waived if the widow or widower has a child under the age of 16. In the case where both individuals in a married couple are receiving SS benefits, and one dies, the widow or widower can continue receiving their own benefit or their spouse’s, but not both. It is also possible for a widow or widower to switch benefits in retirement. For instance, if the deceased spouse was scheduled to receive larger benefit amounts at age 70, the widow or widower can first file for their own benefits, then claim their former spouse’s benefits later in order to maximize payments.
A person who is divorced, who was married for more than 10 years and has not remarried, can receive benefits based on their ex-spouse’s work history as long as the divorced person meets all of the following conditions:
The ex-spouse’s benefits can also be claimed even if the ex-spouse has not filed for their own benefits, as long as both parties are above age 62.
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Estimate Your Social Security Benefits
The Social Security benefits you will receive at retirement can be estimated based on your average annual income, your current age and your age when you retire. For a more accurate and detailed assessment, visit the Social Security Administration website at www.ssa.gov where benefits can be determined based upon your specific earnings history and the exact date of your retirement.
How To Correct An Error On Your Social Security Statement
If you have evidence of your covered earnings in the year or years for which you think Social Security has made an error, call Social Security’s helpline at 800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This is the line that takes all kinds of Social Security questions, and it is often swamped, so be patient. It is best to call early in the morning or late in the afternoon, late in the week, or late in the month. Have all your documents handy when you speak with a representative.
If you would rather speak with someone in person, call your local Social Security office and make an appointment to see someone there, or drop into the office during regular business hours. If you drop in, be prepared to wait, perhaps as long as an hour or two, before you get to see a representative. Bring with you two copies of your benefits statement and the evidence that supports your claim of higher income. That way, you can leave one copy with the Social Security worker. Write down the name of the person with whom you speak so that you can reach the same person when you follow up.
The process to correct errors is slow. It may take several months to have the changes made in your record. After Social Security confirms that it has corrected your record, request another benefits statement to make sure the correct information made it to your file.
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How Do We Generate Your Estimates
We generate your estimates by applying current Social Security formulas based on the numbers you enter for your date of birth and for your highest annual work income. We use the Social Security Administrations Quick Calculator to produce a rough estimate of your benefit at your full retirement age, which ranges from age 66 to 67, depending on the year you were born. This is the age at which you would receive 100 percent of your scheduled Social Security benefit under current law. If you start claiming your Social Security retirement benefits after you reach your full retirement age, you will receive an increased benefit, and if you start claiming Social Security before you reach your full retirement age, you will receive a reduced benefit. You will not receive any additional increases for claiming after age 70, and age 62 is the earliest age you can claim your benefits.
These are rough estimates
We do not access any of your actual Social Security benefit information, and the information you provide in our tool is anonymous. Therefore, your actual benefits are likely to be different from the estimate if you have had large changes in work income throughout your career, or if you had several years when you did not work.
Your lifetime benefits are also a rough estimate
Your estimates from this tool may also be different from estimates that SSAs tools provide
We show monthly and annualized benefits
Our tool applies increases in your estimated benefits immediately
How To Get A Copy Of Your Social Security Statement
The SSA mails out Social Security Statements to follks age 25 and over before their birthdays during their 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 years. For those age 60 until retirement, the SSA will send out statements every year. You can also go online to get a copy of your statement or view it online. Go to www.ssa.gov/mystatement/ and open an account with Social Security to view your statement.
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What Does Aarps Social Security Calculator Do
The calculator provides an estimate of your Social Security benefits, based on your earnings history and age. Our tool also helps you see what percentage of daily expenses your payments can cover, and how you can increase your benefits by waiting to collect. It can also tell you how your retirement earnings will be affected if you keep working after you claim your Social Security benefit.
Increasing Your Social Security Benefit Amount
Although you can claim Social Security as early as age 62, your monthly benefits will be reduced on a sliding scale based on the year you were born, whereas the closer you get to full retirement age, the higher your monthly benefits will be. Waiting until age 70 will yield the maximum amount per month.
Social Security can also provide spousal benefits, where your spouse can receive 50% of your monthly benefit amount based on your full retirement age, though this amount would change based on whether you claim benefits before or after this age.
Spend some time looking at the benefit calculators and explanations on the SSAs site, and consider speaking with a financial advisor to incorporate Social Security into your overall retirement plan. As a fee-only financial planner in Roseville, CA, we can help you and your spouse figure out when to start claiming Social Security benefits based on your goals and personal circumstances.
Schedule a complimentary, 15-minute call with a fee-only financial advisor today to discuss your personal situation.
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How Does The Calculator Estimate My Retirement Benefits Payment
Our simplified estimate is based on two main data points: your age and average earnings. Your retirement benefit is based on how much youve earned over your lifetime at jobs for which you paid Social Security taxes. Your monthly retirement benefit is based on your highest 35 years of salary history. You can get your earnings history from the Social Security Administration .
Your Social Security benefit also depends on how old you are when you take it. You can start collecting at age 62, the minimum retirement age, but youll get a bigger monthly payment if you wait until full retirement age, which is 66 but is gradually moving to 67 for people born in 1960 or after. If you can wait until 70 to start collecting, youll receive your maximum monthly benefit.
A single person born in 1960 who has averaged a $50,000 salary, for example, would get $1,349 a month by retiring at 62 the earliest to start collecting. The same person would get $1,927 by waiting until age 67, full retirement age. And he or she would get $2,389, the maximum benefit on those earnings, by waiting until age 70. Payments dont increase if you wait to collect past 70.
Other factors affecting the size of your benefit include whether youve worked for state or local government for more than 10 years your Social Security payment may be decreased if you paid into the civil service retirement program, for example.
How To Make Sure Your Retirement Calculator Uses The Right Social Security Estimate
Ideally, your retirement calculator can accurately estimate your Social Security benefits on its own. However, it is important to check if their calculation is based on future dollars. If it’s based on current dollars, we would recommend overwriting it with a future dollars estimate from an SSA calculator.
If their Social Security estimates are indeed based on future dollars, check if they are using the same projection assumptions as the SSA. The SSA calculators use the intermediate assumptions from the most recent OASDI Trustees Report, which is based on considerable economic research and is used by Congress for budgetary purposes. We would consider these to be the most reliable projection assumptions based on currently available data. If your calculator doesn’t say explicitly that it uses the SSA assumptions, you can simply compare their estimates with those from the SSA calculators.
If your calculator doesn’t calculate your Social Security benefit for you and asks you to enter it yourself, be sure to enter a future dollars estimate from an SSA calculator.
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