This issue paper examines the similarities and differences
between Social Security retirement benefits and annuities, and the factors that determine how much lifetime retirement income an individual would receive.
Not exact matches
As noted earlier, the advantage of introducing individual
retirement accounts into the picture is to partially repair the present disconnect
between individuals» savings and the political decisions about their eventual
Social Security benefits.
That limitation affects
Social Security benefits received prior to full your full
retirement age, 66 if you were born
between 1943 and 1954, and rising by stages to 67 if you were born after 1960.
Retiring later also provides the opportunity to get a larger monthly
Social Security benefit, because each year a person delays claiming
benefits past full
retirement age (age 66 for people born
between 1943 and 1959; age 67 for people born after) increases the monthly payment by about 8 %.
Each person's
Social Security benefit will depend on a number of factors, including earnings history and the age at which they claim
benefits, but the maximum
Social Security benefit for a person retiring at full
retirement age in 2018 (
between age 65 and age 67, depending on birth date) is $ 2,788 a month — or about $ 33,400 a year.2 To create a personalized estimate for
Social Security benefits, use the
Social Security Administration's
Retirement Estimator.
✓
Social Security and / or pension
benefits won't cover your regular expenses ✓ You're over 45 but not too far into
retirement ✓ You've accumulated
between $ 250,000 and $ 5 million in
retirement savings ✓ You have average or above - average health ✓ You're seeking greater certainty in
retirement and more of an insurance product ✓ You'd like to reduce your Required Minimum Distributions and defer associated taxes
By the way, postponing your job - exit date can also improve your
retirement outlook in another way: Each year
between the ages of 62 and 70 that you delay claiming
benefits, the size of your
Social Security check increases roughly 7 % to 8 %, and that's before annual adjustments for inflation.
✓
Social Security and / or pension
benefits won't cover your regular expenses ✓ You're a pre-retiree or early in
retirement ✓ You've accumulated
between $ 250,000 and $ 5 million in
retirement savings ✓ You have average or above - average health ✓ You're seeking greater certainty in
retirement and more of an insurance product ✓ You don't need access to the money immediately
In 2015, more than half of
Social Security recipients began collecting
benefits before their full
retirement age (66 for those born
between 1943 and 1954), potentially costing themselves thousands of dollars in additional
benefits.
If you take
Social Security between age 62 and your full
retirement age, your
benefits will be permanently reduced to account for the longer period you will be paid.
You simply plug in the current balances of your various
retirement accounts, your estimated monthly spending, how your savings are divvied up
between stocks, bonds and cash, your
Social Security benefit — and the calculator employs Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the probability that income from
Social Security plus withdrawals from your nest egg will be able to generate enough income for you to maintain your expected spending for the rest of your life.
If you were born
between 1943 and 1954 and hence your full
Social Security retirement age is 66, your
benefit will be reduced by 25 % if you claim
benefits at age 62, 20 % if you claim at 63, 13.3 % at 64 and 6.7 % at 65.
First a little background: You have three options for when to begin taking your
Social Security retirement benefits: You may begin taking
benefits between age 62 and your full
retirement age, you can wait until your full
retirement age (which varies depending on your age), or you can delay
benefits and take them anytime up until you reach age 70.
✓
Social Security and / or pension
benefits won't cover your regular expenses ✓ You're about to retire or are already in
retirement ✓ You've accumulated
between $ 250,000 and $ 5 million in
retirement savings ✓ You have average or above - average health ✓ You're seeking greater certainty in
retirement and more of an insurance product
If you take
Social Security between age 62 and your full
retirement age, your
benefits will be reduced to account for the longer period you will be paid.
The maximum
Social Security benefit for a worker retiring at full
retirement age, which is age 66 for those born
between 1943 and 1954, will be $ 2,663 a month.
If you were born
between 1943 and 1954, age 66 marks when
Social Security deems you eligible to draw your full
retirement benefit.
This edition of our questions and answers series examines how age requirements, payroll taxes, and
benefits payable differ
between the railroad
retirement and
social security systems.
The software generates reports that illustrate the gap
between a client's projected
Social Security benefit and desired income in
retirement.