{"id":9654,"date":"2019-09-13T13:15:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T18:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/?p=9654"},"modified":"2019-12-17T12:59:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T18:59:52","slug":"social-security-who-gets-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/2019\/09\/13\/social-security-who-gets-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security Part 2: Who Gets Benefits?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As indicated above, Social Security was initially focused on\nretirement benefits, but the program expanded through the years to enhance\neconomic security for a variety of Americans. There are currently four\ncategories of Social Security benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Retirement benefits \u2013 partial benefits available at age 62; full benefits are a function of birth date<\/li>
  2. Disability benefits<\/li>
  3. Survivor’s benefits – for spouses of workers who have died and are age 60 or older; or who have a dependent child<\/li>
  4. Dependents of beneficiaries<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Retirement is the major benefit program out of the four categories. Retirement benefits comprise nearly 80% of total Social Security benefits paid out. For data on Social Security program benefits: SS\nMonthly Statistical Snapshot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You don\u2019t automatically receive retirement benefits.  You receive one \u201cCredit\u201d for each $1,360\n(2019) you earn up to a maximum of four credits per year. Most people need to\nwork 10 years (40 credits) to qualify for retirement benefits; fewer credits are\ngenerally needed for disability or survivor benefits. Exactly when you start to\nreceive your \u201cfull\u201d Social Security retirement benefit is a function of your\nage and when you were born:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Retirement Age \u2013 full benefits (partial benefits available at age 62)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n Year of birth <\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Full retirement age <\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1943-1954 \n <\/td>\n 66 \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1955 \n <\/td>\n 66 and 2 months \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1956 \n <\/td>\n 66 and 4 months \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1957 \n <\/td>\n 66 and 6 months \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1958 \n <\/td>\n 66 and 8 months \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1959 \n <\/td>\n 66 and 10 months \n <\/td><\/tr>
    \n 1960 or later \n <\/td>\n 67 \n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    Note – the retirement age at which you can receive benefits,\nand the amount you will receive, is set by federal law, and federal laws can\nchange.  (By the way, the ages probably won\u2019t\nbe lowered.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you choose to delay receiving benefits beyond your full retirement age, Social Security will increase your benefit a certain percentage, depending on the year of your birth. For more information: SS:\nDelaying Retirement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Each year, the Social Security Administration updates a booklet called \u201cUnderstanding the Benefits\u201d.  For a good, basic understanding of Social Security and its programs: Understanding\nThe Benefits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For social security online resources: Social Security Online<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Note \u2013 while the Social Security Administration website and brochures can provide good information, they do NOT provide full, detailed information on rules for all programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CBEI Blog Series: Social Security<\/strong>
    Part 1: How it Works and How it is Funded (or not)<\/a>
    Part 2: Who Gets Benefits?<\/a>
    Part 3: How Are Programs Funded?<\/a>
    Part 4: Benefits \u2013 How Much Do You Get?<\/a>
    Part 5: Financial Status of Programs<\/a>
    Part 6: The Future<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    \"Kevin<\/figure>
    \n

    Kevin Bahr is a professor emeritus of finance and chief analyst of the Center for Business and Economic Insight<\/a> in the Sentry School of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As indicated above, Social Security was initially focused on retirement benefits, but the program expanded through the years to enhance economic security for a variety of Americans. There are currently four categories of Social Security benefits: Retirement benefits \u2013 partial benefits available at age 62; full benefits are a function of birth date Disability benefits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":9757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[527],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9654"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9752,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654\/revisions\/9752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}