Social Security benefits

[Megnme 0]

I emigrated from Canada 2011, at age 55 so I'm looking at retirement soon. I understand

 the eligibility requirements to receive SSI, and my employment has been low paying, but when I use the calculator to determine how much I will receive it comes out to $389 a month, can that be right??

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Megnme
Grammar

[jan22 3,056]

Do you really mean SSI?  Or do you mean your social security benefits (i.e., your SS "pension"), which is not SSI?  SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is a federal income supplement program funded by tax dollars, not Social Security taxes.  It is designed to help blind, disabled, or elderly people who have little or no income.  The following assumes you are talking about your benefits, not SSI.

 

Not really able to answer your question for sure, since we don't know what data you are putting into the calculator.  But, assuming you are using the calculator on the ssa.gov website and putting in accurate information, then, yes -- it is most likely highly accurate.  

 

Social Security is not designed to fully support retirement -- it replaces a percentage of pre-retirement income based on a person's lifetime earnings.  Benefits are calculated based on the earnings in the 35 years in which you earned the most.  In addition to you only having "low paying" employment, you won't have had 35 years of paying into the system through your employment.  An annual income of $00 will be added into the calculation for any year without SS-covered employment, bringing down the 35-year average.  For example, you work 10 years, earning $17,240 per year -- 100% of the HHS poverty guideline for one person (total of $172,400).  There will be an additionsl 25 years where your annual SS-based income of $00 will be added in, making your 35 year total earnings also $172,400 for SSA calculations.  The annual amounts are then indexed, to account for changes in average wages since the earnings were received.  All that is used to get an average indexed monthly earning amount. 

 

Based on my simple example -- without the indexing step, which can't be done without the very complex formula SSA uses which shouldn't make a huge difference, since it's all fairly recent earnings -- the $172,400 is an average monthly earning of $410 (172,400 ÷ 420 months).  That monthly benefit is then plugged in to another formula to calculate your SS benefit, based on a percentage of that average monthly earning, your age at retirement, etc.  If you retire at exactly your full retirement age (66 years 4 months if you were born in 1956), the 2019 formula started with a benefit of 90% of the first $926 of your average monthly earning, or a monthly benefit of $369 (410 × .90).  So, the amount you quoted is likely an accuratec amount based on the limited information you supplied. Again, the official calculators are usually very accurate.

 

[millefleur 5,047]

**Moved from US Citizenship General Discussion to Off Topic; question about personal social security income is not immigration related**

 

VJ Moderation

Edited March 7, 2020 by millefleur

[Prizm123 1,086]

https://secure.ssa.gov/RIL/SiView.action