You can start getting
Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62 if you are insured, but your benefit amount will be less than you would have gotten if you waited until your full retirement age.
If you end up getting divorced during your lifetime, you are eligible to receive
Social Security retirement benefits based on your ex-spouse's earnings history, said David Freitag, a financial planning consultant with MassMutual.
One of the reasons that the
average Social Security retirement benefit amount is so far from the maximum is because the largest number of Americans begin receiving benefits as soon as they're allowed — at age 62.
Even if your spouse has no earnings history or doesn't meet the 40 - credit requirement to receive benefits, he or she is eligible for
Social Security retirement benefits simply because of your marriage, Freitag said.
Although Social Security retirement benefits are protected against inflation by annual Cost of Living Adjustments, the estimated average retirement benefit for retirees is only about $ 1,360 a month, and the survivors of workers receive an average of only $ 1,285 a month (in 2016).
You do not receive any delayed credit for waiting to start your spousal benefits beyond your Full Retirement Age, unlike the delayed retirement credits for your
own Social Security retirement benefit.
As the income multiplier target is based on income replacement target and retirement age, for an earlier retirement age, this target goes up due to
lower social security retirement benefits and a longer retirement horizon.
If the average
Social Security retirement benefit sounds unimpressive, remember that Social Security is meant to supplement the money you've set aside for retirement — likely earned through a qualified retirement plan such as a 401 (k), individual retirement account or other tax - advantaged account.
As a result, you might consider starting to receive
social security retirement benefits now if you think you have less than 15 years to live, and lean more toward waiting if you think you have more than 15 years to live.
• You can specify ages that both client and spouse start to collect
Social Security retirement benefits separately, and at any year (not just 65 to 72), how much both receive in monthly Social Security benefits, and their annual inflation rates (COLA), separately too.
Actuarially speaking, assuming you'll live to collect
Social Security retirement benefits until age 100, the total amount of money you'll receive over your lifetime will be the same, whether you start collecting at age 62 or 72.
That's an average number, so that means millions of above - average Americans will be alive, and still collecting always - increasing with
inflation Social Security retirement benefits, well past age 100 in another decade or two (instead of just over 100,000 today).