Find Retirement Age with Social Security's Retirement Estimator

Oct 8, 2011
Mark Butler

Signing of the Social Security Act - SSA

Retirement finances can be hard to guess but the Social Security retirement estimator eliminates guesswork. It is free and easy to use by everyone.

The United States’ Social Security system is often viewed as the third rail of American politics and many pundits have called it a Ponzi scheme. Hardly a month goes by without some sort of news item about the looming Social Security shortfall and yet there seems to be little in the way of national will to fix the problem. Lost behind all the rhetoric is the reality is that many senior citizens rely upon Social Security to meet their basic needs after they retire from the workforce.

Let the Social Security System Calculate Your Future Benefits

Prior to retirement, some people wonder how much they will get in the way of Social Security benefits. Others look at their 401k plan or IRA and wonder how long they will need to work before they can retire. Fortunately the Social Security Administration provides a retirement estimator on their web site that enables people to estimate their retirement benefits. While the Social Security Administration does not provide a guarantee that the benefits will be precise, it remains a good tool to use when it comes to personal retirement planning.

Only those people who are enrolled in the Social Security system can obtain accurate benefit information. Once at the web site it is necessary to agree to follow the rules provided and then to enter personal information, including the Social Security number of the person seeking the estimate. It will also be necessary to enter the most recent year’s earnings. The retirement estimator then provides an estimate of the retirement benefits provided by the Social Security system.

Benefits Vary Based on Retirement Age

Depending on work history and past earnings, the benefits of each person will vary. The age at which a person retires can also impact the benefits provided by Social Security. There are three levels that the retirement estimator provides and these are based on “full retirement” age, early retirement age and an extended career where a person works until age 70. The so-called full retirement age varies between 65 and 67 depending on the year of birth.

While each person’s case is different, the early retirement amount will be about 33 percent less than full retirement age and a person who elects to work until 70 can expect to get about 30 percent more than if they had retired at full retirement age. Noteworthy is the capability of the retirement estimator to present several different scenarios with regards to retirement age. Using the “Create Different Scenarios” button, a person can build several different retirement scenarios by age and see how the benefits vary. This makes the retirement estimator a very valuable tool in planning retirement finances.

Social Security is a wonderful system that may have problems but with the awareness of how the system can benefit an individual, along with proper planning, a comfortable retirement is still possible. The retirement estimator allows anyone who is part of the Social Security system to estimate future benefits and thereby plan for retirement.