Social security is a federal government program that caters for the financial needs of an individual, his or her legal dependents (widows/widowers, children and dependent parents) if the person qualifies for benefits. Many working Americans pay their social security taxes. This tax money is deposited into a trust that awards bonuses to retirees, to disabled individuals, and the surviving spouses and children of the employee who is deceased. The U.S. federal government manages this social welfare and insurance plan. Social security is one of the most significant programs globally, paying out tens of billions of dollars annually. In 2018, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will award approximately 63 million Americans with checks totaling to one trillion dollars in benefits.
Social security earnings are estimated using the highest working years of an individual’s employment and adjusted to inflation. If a person works for over 35 years, his or her lowest earning years are not included in the computation, which leads to a higher benefits award (Brandon, 2018). However, individuals who do not work for 35 years have no value averaged into the social security computation and are awarded smaller payments. However, it may be complex estimate how an individual would receive from social security, notably if the person is only remaining with a few years to retirement. When an individual familiarizes himself or herself with how the benefit will be computed he or she could assist in budgeting for retirement and even increase future social security payments.
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The particular eligibility requirements for social security vary depending on the kind of benefit a person is seeking. A factor to consider is an individual’s age and the number of years he or she has worked (SSA, n.d.). For each social security except Supplemental Security Income (SSI), all workers must have worked for a certain number of years and accumulated enough of what social security refers to as “work credits” by the time a person applies for retirement benefits, suffers from a disability, or demises.
Work credits are based on the wages a person has earned while working over some years and play a significant role towards the entitlement to social security benefits. For the most part, one credit is awarded per quarter of earning provided an individual wants a specific amount. (SSA, n.d.). The government and changes set this sum varies from year to year. One decade of working (40 credits) is overall enough to qualify for social security. Furthermore, the amount of benefits that individuals usually receive under the social security programs is not associated with financial needs except for SSI. Social security benefits are based the earning an individual has accumulated for years (SSA, n.d.). The social security program traces how much a person has collected over his or her lifetime and pays the benefits as expected.
It is noteworthy to take into consideration that although an individual could qualify for more than one kind of social security benefit, the person cannot collect both at one time. For instance, a person becomes eligible for both retirements and disability simultaneously. As such, he or she can claim whichever benefit is higher, and not both.
If an employee has paid into the social security program and demises before having the opportunity to collect his benefits, his surviving dependents, such as wife or children under the age of 18 could apply for social security benefits. The American government enables benefits for survivors and specific family members who suffered a disability before reaching the age of 22. A dependent is referred to as a family who could qualify for benefits depending on the employee’s income record with the Social Security Administration.
In summary, social security benefits are unique to each person’s situation, but factors consist of lifetime income, marital status, the sum of retirement earnings and the retirement age.
References
Social Security Administration. (2018). Fact Sheet: Social Security. Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/basicfact-alt.pdf
Social Security Administration. (n.d.). Benefits Planner: Social Security Credits. Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/planners/credits.html
Brandon, E. (2018, August 20). How Much You Will Get from Social Security: Here’s how to estimate your monthly Social Security income in retirement. U.S. News . Retrieved from https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/2018-08-20/how- much-you-will-get-from-social-security
