What the Average American Gets in SS Benefits

Brian Anderson

Executive Editor
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Some tidbits below from a new Motley Fool article… With changing rules (file & suspend) and all the different strategies for when to start taking benefits, advising the ever-growing throngs hitting their early- to mid-60s about how to best maximize their benefits figures to remain a ripe market for years to come.

• Nearly 60 million Americans get benefits from Social Security, and the Social Security Administration pays out more than $73.5 billion in benefits every month to retirees, disabled workers, and their families. Out of that amount, more than 43 million Social Security recipients get retirement benefits, and with the government making about $55.7 billion in monthly payments, that amounts to an average of $1,295 per month for every person getting Social Security benefits on a retired worker's work record.

• The average retired worker received $1,340 in the most recently reported month, according to the SSA.

• The typical spouse receives just $689 in monthly spousal benefits, with about 2.34 million spouses claiming benefits.

• More than half of retirees take Social Security benefits right at age 62, when they first become eligible, according to an SSA study conducted in 2014. Only about 20% waited at least until full retirement age of 66, with only a small portion of those waiting beyond 66.

• Someone with a $1,000 benefit at full retirement age gets only $750 by claiming at age 62, but can get as much as $1,320 by waiting until age 70.


What the Average American Gets in Social Security Benefits -- The Motley Fool
 
Mother in Law turns 62 in a few days. Sad but she lived a pretty poor life and will only be eligible for the $1k a month so she opted for benefits starting at 62. She will get $750 a month.

-She will continue to work for minimum wage about 20 hours a week to help supplement. She owns her little shack on a couple acres free n clear in a little town you can't get to from here...know what I mean?

-Sadly this is how a lot of the Senior Community lives, a very good chunk of them get very little outside of Soc Sec and many of them DO NOT own their homes.

It's important to talk about these things with younger folks so they don't go down the same path.
 
I try to get people to go to https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/ and look at their statement projections if they don't have it already. For the most part that's guaranteed money.

Something I have seen first hand is many when at the retirement time need to know what is guaranteed. What's really amazing is how little people know about their retirement plans. all they know is they may be putting money in but have no clue about how it will come out.
 
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