Millennials should know Social Security payments can be claimed at the age of 62. Of course, that is if you choose to apply for retirement benefits at an early age. It is also possible to delay retirement until you are 70 years old. In this way, you will benefit from a 24% reward. In fact, SSA gives 8% extra for each year you work after Full Retirement Age until you turn 70.
Then, at 70, your benefits will no longer grow if you delay filing. If you are between the ages of 35 and 45, it is essential to start planning your future retirement. Actually, there are simple ways to make your future payments grow. Hence, it is important for Millennials to focus on what you can do from now on, even if you have not done anything at all.
How Millennials can check their future Social Security payments
There is a simple way for Millennials to find out their future retirement benefit. As a matter of fact, if you have been working for several years, it would be interesting to know if you already qualify for benefits or not.
All you have to do is download a Social Security Statement. It is free and you can easily download it from your my Social Security account. Those Millennials who still don’t have an online account can create one here: https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/.
In fact, your Social Security Statement will show you your possible future payment amount from age 62 through age 70. For example, if you qualify for a monthly payment worth $1,465 at 62, it could be $2,119 at 67 or $2,634 at 70.
Apart from being able to check the possible future amounts, you can also check if you qualify for disability benefits (Social Security Disability Insurance), or if your family qualifies for survivor benefits. Additional information about Medicare will also be given.
How to boost your future payment if you are a Millennial
There are a few things you must take into account. As you have seen before, the more you delay your filing, the more your benefits will grow until you are 70 years old.
Another way to increase your monthly benefits is to work for at least 35 years. Not doing so will reduce your future payments. If you have just worked for 20 years when you retire, 15 years will count as 0 in earnings.
Some workers have jobs that do not pay taxes to Social Security. Therefore, they may receive a pension, but they may not qualify for retirement benefits. Check that you have a job covered by SSA.
Another thing you should do is to check your earnings records once per year. Any mistakes you spot can be reported. However, do so before the time limit to do so expires.
