How much Social Security will you receive in retirement—and how does Social Security calculate your benefit? Deanne Rosso and Brian Rosso of Elevate Wealth Advisory explain how your 35 highest-earning years, your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), and the age at which you claim can affect your monthly Social Security benefit. They also discuss why it’s important to review your Social Security earnings history and how creating an online Social Security account can help you check your record and estimate future benefits. Want help understanding how Social Security fits into your retirement income plan? Visit elevate-wealth.com and click Let’s Talk. So Brian, in simple terms, how is Social Security benefit calculated? Right. So the benefit is going to be calculated based on your 35 highest earning years. Right. And the Social Security Administration takes those years, incorporates that into a formula, and that's going to generate your Primary Insurance Amount. And that PIA is going to be your benefit at your full retirement age. Then, based on when you actually claim for your benefit, that amount is going to be adjusted up or down depending on when you actually file. For most, you can claim as early as age 62 and forego some of your benefit, and we call that a penalty. Or you can decide to delay until age 70. And for each year you delay beyond your full retirement age, you actually get an 8% bonus. Okay? So, 35 highest years earnings averaged out becomes your PIA, your Primary Insurance Amount. And you can claim as early as 62 or as late as 70, and the benefit adjusts. That's right. Right. Okay. So, what can people do if they're unsure what their benefit is? Right. Well, you want to look at your Social Security statement. There, you'll be able to see what your projected benefit will be. You can even see your earnings history, and that can be really important to look at, because those really drive the calculation, and we really find that especially helpful for individuals that may not qualify for a Social Security benefit yet and still need some credits. It's also beneficial for those individuals that maybe didn't work for a period of time and they have zeros on their earnings record, and now they're trying to replace them with higher earning years. That's so good to know and such an easy thing to double check, too. So, if somebody's never set up their Social Security account online, that's how you check your statement, right? It is. And your earnings history. Right? Okay. So, how do you do that? So, to set up your account, you want to go to ssa.gov. You want to click login. And if you've never done this before, you'll have to be verified through either login.gov or id.me. And then once you're fully verified, you'll be able to set your credentials. And then that'll get you into the ssa.gov website. And once you're there, you can pull your statement. You can review your earnings history, and you can even project future benefits based on changes that you anticipate in your income. That's great. So, such an important thing to do just a few minutes of your time to set up that account, check your earnings history, and project your benefit possibly, which is a very important part of your retirement income. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for that today, Brian. That's very helpful insight. And if you need help figuring out, you know, how to log into socialsecurity.gov or um what your benefit could be or what the optimal strategy is for you, that's what we're here for. So, visit us at elevate-wealth.com and click "let's talk." Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time. Want help understanding how Social Security fits into your retirement income plan? Visit elevate-wealth.com and click Let's Talk. 🔗 Website: https://elevate-wealth.com 🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevatewealthadvisory 🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatewealthadvisory
