Читать книгу Social Security For Dummies - Peterson Jonathan, Jonathan Peterson - Страница 38

The primary insurance amount (PIA) is a dollar figure that becomes the basis for benefits that go to you and your family members. The PIA is what you get if you begin collecting Social Security at your full retirement age (currently 66 and 2 months, and gradually increasing to 67 for workers born in 1960 or later). To determine your PIA, the SSA looks at your past earnings and adjusts them upward to reflect today’s wage levels. The SSA then goes through a series of mathematical steps and arrives at your PIA.

For an average wage earner, a PIA is around $1,820 per month (as of 2019), although it can be significantly more for high wage earners. You can get a rough idea of your PIA — and get an idea of other potential benefits — by using Social Security’s online tools and projecting benefits at your full retirement age: Check out the Social Security Quick Calculator (www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc) and the Retirement Estimator (www.ssa.gov/estimator).

Your actual Social Security benefits may be lower or higher than the PIA for various reasons, but they will be based on it. Here are some examples of benefits and their link to the PIA:

 Retired worker: You get 100 percent of your PIA if you retire at the full retirement age. You can start collecting as early as age 62, but the amount you receive per month is reduced if you collect before the full retirement age and increased if you delay collecting until after the full retirement age (up to age 70).

 Disabled worker: You get 100 percent of your PIA. The benefit isn’t reduced for age and automatically switches to a retirement benefit when you reach full retirement age.

 Spouse of retiree or disabled worker: You get up to 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. You can start collecting at age 62, but the amount you receive is reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age.

 Spouse with child: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if the child is under 16 or disabled. You may be any age, and the benefit isn’t reduced if you collect before you reach full retirement age.

 Divorced spouse: You get up to 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. You can start collecting at 62, but the amount you receive is reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age. A couple of other rules: Your marriage must have lasted at least ten years, and you must be unmarried.

 Widow/widower age 60-plus or divorced widow/widower age 60-plus: You get up to 100 percent or more of the covered worker’s PIA, but the amount depends on several factors. It’s reduced if you collect before reaching full retirement age, and it’s increased if the deceased spouse had built up delayed retirement credits. The amount you receive per month can’t exceed what the deceased spouse was collecting.

 Widow/widower (at any age), caring for a child under 16: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.

 Disabled widow/widower ages 50 to 59: You get 71.5 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.

 Child survivor under 18 (or up to age 19 if still in high school and unmarried): You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. The Social Security family maximum (see Chapter 10) may apply in households with multiple beneficiaries. Stepchildren and grandchildren fall into this category, too, subject to the family maximum.

 Child of retiree under 18 (or up to age 19 if still in high school and unmarried): You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA. Stepchildren and grandchildren fall into this category, too, subject to the family maximum.

 Disabled adult child of retiree age 18-plus: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.

 Disabled adult child of deceased worker age 18-plus: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA.

 Grandchild of retiree: You get 50 percent of the covered worker’s PIA (if you meet rules for eligibility).

 Grandchild of deceased worker/retiree: You get 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA (if you meet rules for eligibility).

 Parents of deceased worker/retiree: You get 82.5 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if one parent is claiming benefits, 75 percent of the covered worker’s PIA if two parents are claiming benefits.