Читать книгу Social Security For Dummies - Peterson Jonathan, Jonathan Peterson - Страница 28

Retirement benefits were created to help older Americans live in dignity and independence after a lifetime of work. To qualify for these benefits, you have to meet certain earnings requirements. The good news is that these requirements are in relatively easy reach for most healthy people who’ve worked for a number of years. However, interruptions in earnings — such as for child rearing, caregiving, or long-term unemployment — may leave you with a smaller benefit.

Benefit levels were established to replace just a portion of the income earned by you or the breadwinner you depend on. This is in keeping with Social Security’s goal of providing a foundation for you to build on with personal savings, investments, and other income.

In this section, I fill you in on who qualifies for Social Security retirement benefits and when, how you qualify (through work credits), why you may not qualify, and how much you can expect to get.