If you earn $75,000 per year, you can expect to receive $2,358 per month -- or about $28,300 annually -- from Social Security.
Here's how much your Social Security benefits will be if you make anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 per year. The average Social Security benefit is around $1,544. With inflation on the rise, retirees are expected to get as much as a 6% cost-of-living increase in their 2022 checks to shore up their budgets.
If you make $120,000, here's your calculated monthly benefit
According to the Social Security benefit formula in the previous section, this would produce an initial monthly benefit of $2,920 at full retirement age.
Will Social Security be enough? Based on our calculation of a $2,790 Social Security benefit, this means that someone who averages a $100,000 salary throughout their career can expect Social Security to provide $33,480 in annual income if they claim at full retirement age.
But, generally speaking, most experts agree that you will need 70-80% of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living in retirement. This means that if you earned $50,000 per year ($4,167 a month) before retiring, you would need approximately $35,000-$40,000 per year in retirement.
The first full special minimum PIA in 1973 was $170 per month. Beginning in 1979, its value has increased with price growth and is $886 per month in 2020. The number of beneficiaries receiving the special minimum PIA has declined from about 200,000 in the early 1990s to about 32,100 in 2019.
But reality is as described above - the highest earning 35 years of your lifetime earnings record are used to determine your average monthly career earnings (adjusted for inflation), and that 35-year lifetime average becomes the basis for your Social Security benefit.
The maximum benefit depends on the age you retire. For example, if you retire at full retirement age in 2022, your maximum benefit would be $3,345. However, if you retire at age 62 in 2022, your maximum benefit would be $2,364. If you retire at age 70 in 2022, your maximum benefit would be $4,194.
In recent years, you need to earn a six-figure salary to get a top Social Security payment. The maximum wage taxable by Social Security is $147,000 in 2022. However, the exact amount changes each year and has increased over time. It was $137,700 in 2020 and $106,800 in 2010.
At age 65: $2,993. At age 66: $3,240. At age 70: $4,194.
The short answer is yes. Retirees who begin collecting Social Security at 62 instead of at the full retirement age (67 for those born in 1960 or later) can expect their monthly benefits to be 30% lower. So, delaying claiming until 67 will result in a larger monthly check.
Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME)
After we determine the number of years, we choose those years with the highest indexed earnings, sum such indexed earnings, and divide the total amount by the total number of months in those years. We then round the resulting average amount down to the next lower dollar amount.
For 2022, the special minimum benefit starts at $45.50 for someone with 11 years of coverage and goes to $950.80 for workers with 30 years of coverage. A financial advisor can help you plan your retirement taking into account your Social Security benefits.
Social Security benefits are based on the earnings on which people pay Social Security payroll taxes. The higher their earnings (up to a maximum taxable amount, $147,000 in 2022), the higher their benefit.
Key Takeaways. Qualifying for Social Security requires 10 years of work or 40 work credits. For someone at full retirement age (FRA), the maximum benefit is $3,345.
If you do not have 35 years of earnings by the time you apply for retirement benefits, your benefit amount will be lower than it would be if you worked 35 years. Years without work count as zeroes in the benefit calculation. Learn more at www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/Benefits.html.
The only people who can legally collect benefits without paying into Social Security are family members of workers who have done so. Nonworking spouses, ex-spouses, offspring or parents may be eligible for spousal, survivor or children's benefits based on the qualifying worker's earnings record.
Anyone born in 1929 or later needs 10 years of work (40 credits) to be eligible for retirement benefits.
Key Takeaways. Some American workers do not qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. Workers who have not accrued the requisite 40 credits (roughly 10 years of employment) are not eligible for Social Security.
The Social Security Administration determines the number of credits you have, which partially depends on how recently you've worked. These credits do expire, most within five years of when you stop working.