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Social Security: How Much Will You Get?
Social Security is, inarguably, America’s most important retirement program. You work your whole lifetime contributing to the program, in return for a guaranteed income when your working days are over. And your SS retirement benefit lasts for the rest of your life and includes increases for inflation. Pretty good deal, right? But how much Social Security income you will receive depends entirely on your personal circumstances – how much you earned over your lifetime, and the age at which you retire and start collecting your SS benefits.
The average Social Security recipient today gets about $1,767 per month, but your personal amount will be more or less than average, largely dependent on when you claim in relationship to your personal full retirement age (FRA). At your FRA you get 100% of the benefit you’ve earned from a lifetime of working, but if you claim at age 60 with an FRA of 67 you’ll only get 70%. Conversely, if you wait until age 70 to claim when your FRA is 67, you’ll get 24% more than your FRA amount. So the size of your Social Security benefit is entirely in your hands, as explained in this LAGRADA article.