The moment of retirement is something very important for all United States citizens. From the day an American begins to collect Social Security, his or her life changes completely. Starting to collect a retirement check means, in most cases, to stop working. And this is a radical change for all citizens, regardless of the state in which they live.
However, certain requirements must be met in order to apply for a Social Security retirement check. Not just any United States citizen who reaches age 60 can begin collecting the benefit. Even so, it is true that some citizens at that age may be retired, but those are exceptions and the benefit as such is for another specific reason.
If you are thinking of retiring as soon as possible, you should know all the mandatory requirements. There is no way to avoid these requirements when applying for Social Security Age Retirement. Therefore, take a good look at the list of conditions and once you check it you can decide on your own if you are ready to get a check of up to $4,555 every month.
REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLYING FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AGE RETIREMENT
First of all, be clear that it is impossible to apply for Social Security Age Retirement at age 60. This is because the minimum age is higher, so at that age we will not be able to have check neither for Early Retirement Age nor anything like that.
The mandatory requirements to obtain a retirement by age are:
- To be at least 62 years old. This will grant an Early Retirement Age. If we do not have this age as minimum we will never be able to obtain this type of benefit.
- To have worked a minimum of 10 years. It is also mandatory to have 40 work credits to be able to start collecting the Social Security benefit.
Therefore, at the age of 60 it is impossible to apply for an old age pension. Only in the case of being qualified for a disability benefit could we get check at that age. Also, remember that at age 62 and with only 40 work credits the Social Security check will be very low. Therefore, retiring at that age may seem tempting, but it is not at all advisable.
SSA CHECKS THAT WE CAN APPLY FOR AT 60 YEARS OF AGE
However, there are other checks that we can apply for at age 60. On the one hand, we have the disability benefit, as mentioned above. But it is not the only benefit that we can collect before reaching the age of 62. We can also apply for the widow’s benefit and, in some cases, the spouse’s check.
Similarly, Americans with or without a pension can also apply for Supplemental Security Income if they have a disability. In the case of being 60 years old without a disability it is not possible to request this check, since it is mandatory to reach 65 years of age before requesting it for Americans without a disability.
What we must always keep in mind is that retirement due to age has a minimum requirement of 62 years of age to apply for it. The rest of the benefits are different, even though they are also retirement benefits, that is why they have different requirements.
As for the day of collection, the check will arrive on the 3rd day of the month or on the second, third or fourth Wednesday depending on several factors, as is customary. In other words, the type of benefit will not change the day we will get our monthly Social Security check.