社保福利

You can start collecting at sixty-two, but your benefits will be permanently reduced compared to waiting until your full retirement age. For people born in 1964 or later, full retirement age is sixty-seven. If you claim at sixty-two, your monthly benefit would be about thirty percent less.

At sixty-seven, you receive one hundred percent of your calculated benefit. If you delay until seventy, you get an extra eight percent per year — so twenty-four percent more than at sixty-seven. After seventy, there is no additional increase, so there is no reason to wait past that.

It depends on your lifetime earnings. You can check your personalized estimate by creating an account at ssa.gov. Your Social Security statement shows your projected benefits at ages sixty-two, sixty-seven, and seventy. The average retirement benefit right now is about one thousand nine hundred dollars per month.

Yes, but if you claim before full retirement age and earn above a certain limit — currently about twenty-two thousand dollars a year — your benefits will be temporarily reduced. One dollar is withheld for every two dollars you earn above the limit. After reaching full retirement age, there is no earnings limit.

I am sorry for your loss. Yes, as a surviving spouse, you may be eligible for survivor benefits. If you are sixty or older, you can receive benefits based on your husband earnings record. If you are caring for a child under sixteen, you may qualify at any age.

At fifty-eight, you are not yet eligible for regular survivor benefits — that starts at sixty. However, you are entitled to a one-time lump-sum death payment of two hundred and fifty-five dollars. When you turn sixty, you can apply for survivor benefits, or you can wait until your full retirement age to receive the full amount.

You cannot receive both full amounts simultaneously, but you can strategize. For example, you could take survivor benefits at sixty and then switch to your own retirement benefits at seventy if yours would be higher. We can help you figure out which combination gives you the most money over time.

Bring the death certificate, your marriage certificate, both Social Security numbers, your birth certificate, and your most recent tax return. If you have his most recent Social Security statement, that would be helpful too. You can apply in person or start the process by calling us.