How to Find Out How Many Social Security Benefits You Will Receive

Estimating your Social Security income is an important part of preparing for retirement. It is essential to know exactly how much money you will receive in your Social Security checks each month. The good news is that it’s easy to find out with a free online tool from the Social Security Administration.

The My Social Security web portal is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about your benefits, if you want to make adjustments, or if you want to obtain documents related to your taxes and other important information.

Below, we’ll show you how to register, view your benefit eligibility, and estimate your potential monthly payments. For everything you need to know about Social Security, check out our cheat sheet on Social Security and SSDI.

How do I calculate my Social Security benefits?

To see all of your Social Security benefits, you must register for a My Social Security account. Please note that if you have already registered for a login.gov or ID.me account, you can skip the following steps and simply log in to your account. If you’ve never signed up for any of these services before, here’s what you need to do.

1. Go to login.gov registration page.
2. Touch the Create an account tab and enter your email and your preferred language and then click deliver.
3. You will be asked to verify your email address on the next screen. You can also request to resend the verification email or change your email address.
4. Check your email and look for a Confirm your email from login.gov. Click the Confirm Email Address button to return to the website.
5. Now create a password for your account. The password must be a minimum of 12 characters.
6. Next, you’ll need to set up two-factor authentication. You can use an authenticator app, a text message or phone call, backup codes, a physical security key, or a government employee ID. Follow the steps to configure your chosen authentication method and click continue.
7. Now that your login.gov account has been created, you can use it to log in to the My Social Security portal.

The following steps will link your login.gov account to the My Social Security portal, where you will accept the terms of service and enter your information to confirm your identity.

How to Find Your Eligibility and Income for Social Security?

Once you’ve gone through the setup process, you’ll gain access to your My Social Security dashboard. But before you can start calculating your monthly benefits, you’ll first need to make sure you’re eligible to receive them.

The Social Security Administration determines your eligibility based on the amount of “work credits” you have. To qualify for Social Security benefits, you typically need 40 work credits and can earn up to four per work year. Work credits are earned over the course of your working life, so if you’re not 40, you won’t be able to get an estimate of your monthly benefit until you have them.

Another important part of this section is the ability to view your complete earnings record. It will show all the years you have worked, along with the taxable earnings for each of those years.

It would be best to take your time and review your annual tax returns to confirm that the figures are correct. If your record is missing a year in which you worked or has incorrect earnings for a particular time period, you may not receive all the benefits to which you are entitled. If you find a discrepancy, you can request a correction to your record.

How to estimate your monthly Social Security checks

Just below the Eligibility and Income section of your dashboard is the Retirement Calculator. The calculator gives you a breakdown of your estimated monthly benefit, based on whether you retire early at age 62, begin receiving benefits at your normal retirement age (which is 67 for those born in 1960 or later), or wait to collect the maximum amount of your payment. when he turns 70 years old. If you decide to collect benefits early, you will receive less than if you wait until your normal retirement age.

With the calculator, you can easily run different benefit scenarios to see how much you can expect to receive each month based on the age you start receiving benefits. You can adjust your age or retirement date, your average future salary, and compare your benefits to your spouse’s. Any adjustments you make on the calculator will automatically be added to the estimates table shown below, allowing you to easily print or save the information.

What else can you do with a My Social Security account?

In addition to verifying your benefits, you can manage other requests through your account.

• Replace your Social Security card.
• View or print your benefit verification letter.
• Start or check the status of your retirement application.
• Start or check the status of your Social Security Disability Insurance application.
• Report wages if you are currently working and receiving SSDI.
• Calculate a benefit for a current or former spouse.

For more information about Social Security, don’t miss why 70,000 people lose their Social Security benefits each year and our cheat sheet on Social Security and SSDI.