If you wait until beyond a certain age to file for Social Security, you can maximize your benefits. Most individuals know you must be 62 years old to start receiving Social Security benefits. Additionally, if you’ve done any sort of financial preparation for retirement, you presumably are aware that if you postpone filing for benefits until you are 70 years old, your monthly benefit amount will be at its maximum. However, waiting might not offer much of a benefit, particularly if you depend on the money for your daily needs.
Maximum Social Security Benefits
As soon as you turn 62, you should apply for Social Security payments if doing so can prevent you from dumping stocks along with other investments in a downturn market or prematurely accessing interest-earning investments. You will receive your money earlier if you begin claiming earlier. To make up for the eight years you didn’t receive benefits, you’ll receive additional funds in a shorter time if you wait to file until age 70. Before claiming benefits, you must have contributed to Social Security to earn a minimum of 35 years through employment.
Social Security Benefits Based On 35 Years Of Income
A proportion of your average pay over the 35 years of your peak earnings is what Social Security payments are intended to resemble. Most people’s salaries increase as they become older and gain more work experience. Social Security still determines your average benefit based on your pay and splits the total by 35, even if you haven’t worked for 35 years. The SSA will, therefore, sum the earnings from those 20 years and divide by 35 if you have only worked for twenty years, resulting in 10 more years than what is needed to collect Social Security.
The remaining 15 years will be recorded as having no earnings. You can view your Social Security Statements with specific retirement benefit estimates at nine different ages if you’re interested in knowing how much money you’ll get in retirement depending on your past employment experience or are making retirement plans. You can decide when to quit working and begin collecting Social Security benefits by looking at your earnings history.
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