Getting a large Social Security in the United States so that our retirement benefit is sufficient is a big deal. Anyone thinking about retiring over the next few years needs to keep inflation and COLA in mind. These two elements make life a little more difficult, so it’s always good to get the best Social Security retirement benefit possible. You don’t need to do a lot of things, but you do need to do them the right way. Also, these recommendations work very well because they give us real data about our check.
If we keep in mind the three reasons why your Social Security is smaller we can always change the situation a little bit. These three reasons are very logical and easy to understand. So it is good that you try to understand them 100% to correct mistakes if you make them. If you are already retired, these reasons will be known to you, although you may not be able to change them.
Anyone who is not retired will be able to change the future of their Social Security if they take into account these three reasons why the check may be smaller. Don’t forget that these three reasons are only guidelines and there may be many more reasons, although these are the main and most general ones.
Reasons why your Social Security is not bigger
Below you will learn the 3 main reasons why your Social Security is smaller. These reasons are the most common, so you can learn them so you don’t make those mistakes.
- Less than 35 years worked: Social Security does not pay all retirees equally. The final amount of the retirement benefit depends directly on the years worked and the amount of salary during those years. The calculation made by Social Security takes the 35 years worked with the highest salary. Each year not worked means a salary of $0, so when averaging the amount goes way down.
- Full Retirement Age (FRA): When you apply to Social Security for your retirement benefit you can do so from the age of 62. This means a reduction in the final amount of money. A person who files for retirement at age 62 will receive about 80% of the final benefit. To get to 100%, we have to retire at 67%, which means we do the FRA.
- You have not checked your earnings statements: There is a very easy method to get the exact amount of money you have earned during your working years. To do this you just have to set up an account on the United States government’s Social Security website. On this website you will receive all kinds of information about the years worked, the benefit you will receive or the average salary during the work. In addition, by checking the data you can know that there are no errors. If you see any errors, you have time to correct them before applying for Social Security.
With all these data you can know why your Social Security is not higher. Then you can change everything necessary to improve it. If you have any doubts you can consult a local office of the United States Government. You can make the consultation you want and a professional will help you.