Maximizing Your Social Security Benefit

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The highest Social Security benefit you or any retired American can collect at age 70 in 2021 is $3,895 a month.

The most an individual who files a claim for Social Security retirement benefits in 2021 can receive per month is:

  • $3,895 for someone who files at age 70. 
  • $3,148 for someone who files at full retirement age (currently 66 and 2 months)
  • $2,324 for someone who files at 62.

Full retirement age, or FRA, is the age when you are entitled to 100 percent of your Social Security benefits, which are determined by your lifetime earnings. If you were born between 1943 and 1954, your full retirement age was 66. If you were born in 1955, it is 66 and 2 months. For those born between 1956 and 1959, it gradually increases, and for those born in 1960 or later, it is 67.

It is important to know that:

  • Claiming benefits before full retirement age will lower your monthly payments;
  • You can increase your retirement benefits by waiting past your FRA to retire up to age 70.

To be eligible for the maximum benefit, your earnings must have equaled or exceeded Social Security’s maximum taxable income — the amount of your earnings on which you pay Social Security taxes — for at least 35 years of your working life. The maximum taxable income in 2021 is $142,800.

The maximum taxable earnings is the limit on the amount of your earnings that is taxed by Social Security. The maximum earnings that are taxed has changed over the years. If you’ve earned more than the maximum in any year, whether in one job or more than one, Social Security Administration only uses the maximum to calculate your benefits.

References:

  1. https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/maxtax.html
  2. https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-answers/maximum-ss-benefit.html
  3. https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-answers/social-security-full-retirement-age/
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