If you are thinking about applying for a Social Security retirement benefit in 2023, you should know what the average amount you could collect is. In the United States, each retirement benefit cheque is completely individual. This means that each retiree receives a different cheque.
Therefore, knowing what the typical payments are is critical to being able to plan for the future. Even though it is not recommended to apply for the benefit at age 62, many retirees reach that age and begin collecting a Social Security cheks.
There are two reasons why it is not advisable to apply for retirement checks at that age. The first is that the cheque is reduced by 30% and the second is that we may live longer than we think and may need a larger cheque.
The minimum age for retirement is 62, but this does not mean that citizens have to apply for retirement when they reach that age. We can delay retirement as long as we want, although after age 70 there is no attorney benefit anymore.
What is the average cheks for 62-year-old retirees in 2023?
The Annual Statistical Supplement in 2021 stated that the average benefit at age 62 was $1,480 per month. This changed somewhat when claiming the joint benefit with a spouse. In this case it could increase to $2,170 per month.
As of today, that figure has risen a little, but not by much. To those dollars we must add the COLA increase of the last two years. In some cases, this figure is insufficient. However, for other retirees this amount of money is a good thing, as they have extra income to live on in their golden years. The final figure goes around 1.700 in individual cases.
What to do to increase the Social Security cheks?
As we have discussed before, applying for a Social Security checks at age 62 causes benefits to drop by 30%. Thus, a $1,000 check means that we end up with a check of $700 per month. That means we could lose a lot of money.
In order to get the biggest retirement benefit cheks, we need to maximize three things. The first is to delay the retirement age as much as we can. The ideal is to retire at 67 to reach 100% of the benefit.
On the other hand, the two indispensable elements to get the biggest cheque possible are salary and years worked. If we work less than 35 years we will have a very low cheque. On the other hand, with a higher salary, we will have a higher benefit in the future.