Understanding Social Security For Your Retirement Planning
Retirement is complex and it’s a journey. Social security is just one of the factors that must be taken into consideration when retirement planning. However, social security is also complex, so in this article, our Dallas retirement financial advisor will explain the basics of understanding social security as you plan your retirement.
What Is Social Security?
First and foremost, it’s important to understand what the social security program is. Simply put, the social security program was put into place as a way to provide retirees with income to live off of.
You First Have To Become Eligible For Social Security
Many tend to believe that social security is a given when you retire, and although everyone has the right to social security, you only become eligible for it once you have earned 40 credits. What does this mean? Every year you work, you earn up to 4 credits, so you must work for at least 10 years in order to earn enough credits to qualify for social security benefits.
The Age At Which You Claim Your Social Security Benefits Matters
In general, the longer you wait to claim your social security benefits, the more money you will receive every month once you retire. You can claim your benefits either a few years prior to retirement, or a few years after. The right time for you to retire and claim those benefits is known as the “break-even age”. When you want to determine the best age to claim your social security benefits, our Dallas financial planning company–which serves Colleyville and the Dallas/Fort Worth area–will be glad to assist, as this is vital to developing the right retirement strategy for you.
Your Social Security Benefits Are Determined By Your Lifetime Earnings
When our Fort Worth retirement financial advisor assists in our clients’ retirement planning, we are often asked about how much our clients will get in Social Security. To determine your benefits, a formula averages the income you earned from your 35 highest-earning years. If you’ve already earned your 40 credits, we can help estimate how much you will receive in social security.
Our Dallas/Fort Worth Retirement Financial Advisors Consider Social Security When Developing Your Retirement Planning Strategy
A lot of factors should be addressed when retirement planning. Social security is just one of them, but it is one of the main factors that our customers worry about. Our Colleyville financial planning team is available to assist and plan the retirement of your dreams; simply contact us and we will be glad to help.
