But with the future of social security uncertain and changes in eligibility, it’s important to understand how you can maximize your benefit.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss the basics of social security benefits, when to start taking them and strategies for making sure you get the most out of them in the future. We’ll also address the potential changes to social security and how they could affect your benefit.
By understanding this information, you can ensure that social security benefits are part of your retirement plans for years to come.
What Is Social Security
The Social Security system in the United States has been around for over 80 years and is still providing financial assistance to millions of Americans. Despite its long history, there are many differences in the amount of social security payouts depending on when you started receiving them.
Generally speaking, you become eligible for full retirement age social security benefits when you turn 67. You can opt to take them as early as 62, but doing so will result in reduced monthly payments.
It’s important to consider factors like inflation and other sources of income when deciding whether or not to take your benefits early or wait until later.
The amount of your monthly payout is based on a complex formula that takes into account many different aspects, including your average income over 35 years, your age at retirement, and any cost-of-living adjustments that have occurred since then.
In addition to these basic benefits, there may be additional incentives such as survivor’s benefits or spousal benefits that could increase your overall payout.
The Future of Social Security
There are a few key things to understand about the future of social security benefits. First, it’s important to keep in mind that social security is not an entitlement program; instead, it is funded by workers’ payroll taxes and contributions from employers.
This means that legislators are continuously debating how to fund the system for the long-term, as more people become eligible for retirement and fewer workers contribute taxes into the system.
Additionally, experts have recently suggested raising the full retirement age or changing when Social Security payments increase with inflation. It is therefore important to consider these factors when making decisions about your own retirement planning.
Is Social Security Insolvent?
Social Security is not insolvent. Recent projections by the Social Security Administration have estimated that the program’s Trust Funds will be able to pay out all benefits until 2035, with enough reserves remaining for some payments even after that date.
However, after that point, Social Security will only be able to pay out approximately three-quarters of promised benefits without an increase in revenue or a decrease in expenditures.
In order to ensure long term solvency of the Social Security Program, a variety of policy changes have been proposed by various organizations and politicians, including raising taxes on income from work or investments, raising the retirement age, and reducing cost of living adjustments.
It remains to be seen whether any of these measures will come to pass in order to address the projected future shortfall.
Should Not Be The Single Source of Retirement
Social security is a valuable source of retirement income, but it shouldn’t be the only source of funds you rely on. This government program is intended to supplement – not replace – other retirement savings such as pensions, 401(k)s or IRAs.
The maximum benefit amount for an individual retiring in 2020 is $3,011 per month. This amount may be insufficient to support your desired lifestyle in retirement. Plus, the maximum benefit increases are tied to inflation, so you won’t necessarily see large percentage increases each year.
Finally, if you have other sources of retirement income and find yourself earning too much money at any given time during your golden years, your social security benefits could be cut back or eliminated entirely.
For these reasons, diversifying your retirement income sources is key to financial stability in old age. You should strive to save enough for at least 70% or 80% of pre-retirement income over 20–30 years.
Putting away even more and taking advantage of tax-advantaged retirement accounts can help ensure that you don’t outlive your savings and maintain a comfortable lifestyle into old age.
other related articles of interest:
4 Times When You Definitely Should Use Social Security Benefits
If, however, you plan on relying heavily on Social Security benefits in your retirement years, make sure you understand all of your options. You can check your Social Security statements online to get an estimate of what your benefits will be when you retire and plan accordingly.
Final Remarks
By understanding the timings and rules around social security benefits, as well as the potential changes to the system in the future, you can make sure that you are planning appropriately for your retirement years.
This includes carefully evaluating how much money to save and investing in other retirement options such as investments or annuities. With this knowledge in hand, you can ensure that you have the most secure retirement possible.
Image Credit: how security security works by envato.com
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