What-Benefits.com

how to determine your social security retirement benefits

by Emmalee Ritchie Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Step 1: Calculate Your Monthly Earnings

  1. Calculate Your Monthly Earnings Your Social Security benefit calculation starts by looking at how long you worked and how much you made each year. ...
  2. Calculate Your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) Once you have calculated your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME), you'll plug that number into a formula to determine your Primary Insurance ...
  3. Adjust Your PIA for the Age You Will Begin Benefits

Social Security replaces a percentage of your pre-retirement income based on their lifetime earnings. The portion of your pre-retirement wages that Social Security replaces is based on your highest 35 years of earnings and varies depending on how much you earn and when you choose to start benefits.

How do I estimate my SS Benefits?

You may want to may want to consider using my company's software — Maximize My Social Security or MaxiFi Planner — to ensure your household receives the highest lifetime benefits. Social Security calculators provided by other companies or non-profits may provide proper suggestions if they were built with extreme care. Best, Larry

How to calculate your projected Social Security benefit?

  • For every dollar of average indexed monthly earnings up to $926, you’ll get 90 cents per month in benefits.
  • For every dollar of average indexed monthly earnings between $927 and $5,583 you’ll get $.32 cents per month in benefits.
  • For every dollar of average indexed monthly earnings beyond $5,583 you’ll get $.15 cents per month in benefits.

How do you estimate Social Security benefits?

You can use your account to request a replacement Social Security benefits card, check the status of an existing application, estimate how many future benefits you’ll receive or manage the ones you are already getting. One of the most important reasons ...

How can I find out my Social Security benefits?

These fact sheets include:

  • Retirement Ready (Fact Sheet For Workers Ages 18-48) [ English | Spanish ]
  • Retirement Ready (Fact Sheet For Workers Ages 49-60) [ English | Spanish ]
  • Retirement Ready (Fact Sheet For Workers Ages 61-69) [ English | Spanish ]
  • Retirement Ready (Fact Sheet For Workers Ages 70 and Up) [ English | Spanish ]

More items...

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Benefit Calculators

The best way to start planning for your future is by creating a my Social Security account online. With my Social Security, you can verify your earnings, get your Social Security Statement, and much more – all from the comfort of your home or office.

Online Benefits Calculator

These tools can be accurate but require access to your official earnings record in our database. The simplest way to do that is by creating or logging in to your my Social Security account. The other way is to answer a series of questions to prove your identity.

Additional Online Tools

Find your full retirement age and learn how your monthly benefits may be reduced if you retire before your full retirement age.

How is Social Security decided?

Your Social Security benefit is decided based on your lifetime earnings and the age you retire and begin taking payments. Your lifetime earnings are converted to a monthly average based on the 35 years in which you earned the most, adjusted for inflation. Those earnings are converted to a monthly insurance payment based on your full retirement age.

What is the formula for Social Security benefits?

The Social Security benefits formula is designed to replace a higher proportion of income for low-income earners than for high-income earners. To do this, the formula has what are called “bend points." These bend points are adjusted for inflation each year.

What is wage indexing?

Social Security uses a process called wage indexing to determine how to adjust your earnings history for inflation. Each year, Social Security publishes the national average wages for the year. You can see this published list on the National Average Wage Index page. 3 .

What age do you get FRA?

This is the amount you will get if you start benefits at your Full Retirement Age (FRA). Your FRA can vary depending on the year you were born. For people born between 1943 and 1954, as in our example, the FRA is age 66. For people born on Jan. 1, the FRA is based on the year prior.

Is Social Security higher at age 70?

If you have already had most of your 35 years of earnings, and you are near 62 today, the age 70 benefit amount you see on your Social Security statement will likely be higher due to these cost of living adjustments .

Can you calculate inflation rate at 60?

Until you know the average wages for the year you turn 60, there is no way to do an exact calculation. However, you could attribute an assumed inflation rate to average wages to estimate the average wages going forward and use those to create an estimate.

How old do you have to be to file for Social Security?

You must be at least age 22 to use the form at right. Lack of a substantial earnings history will cause retirement benefit estimates to be unreliable. Enter your date of birth ( month / day / year format) / /. Enter earnings in the current year: $. Your annual earnings must be earnings covered by Social Security.

What is the benefit estimate?

Benefit estimates depend on your date of birth and on your earnings history. For security, the "Quick Calculator" does not access your earnings record; instead, it will estimate your earnings based on information you provide. So benefit estimates made by the Quick Calculator are rough. Although the "Quick Calculator" makes an initial assumption ...

What happens if you don't give a retirement date?

If you do not give a retirement date and if you have not reached your normal (or full) retirement age, the Quick Calculator will give benefit estimates for three different retirement ages .

How old do you have to be to use Quick Calculator?

You must be at least age 22 to use the form at right.

Retirement Age Calculator

Find out your full retirement age, which is when you become eligible for unreduced Social Security retirement benefits. The year and month you reach full retirement age depends on the year you were born.

Why Did the Full Retirement Age Change?

Full retirement age, also called "normal retirement age," was 65 for many years. In 1983, Congress passed a law to gradually raise the age because people are living longer and are generally healthier in older age.

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