Chapter 10
Digging into Social Security
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the broad array of Social Security benefits
Qualifying for different types of Social Security coverage
Navigating the Social Security Administration’s website
Claiming and managing your retirement benefits
More than 60 million Americans collect Social Security benefits each year. You’re likely to be one of them eventually, which is why it’s important to understand this important government program.
Social Security is a much maligned, criticized, and certainly flawed system. But it’s also an important one. Americans received nearly $1 trillion in payments from the Social Security Administration in 2018. Many Americans rely on Social Security for all or most of their income, even though it was never intended to be used like that.
In 2018, the typical monthly payment to retired workers was $1,404, or nearly $17,000 a year. And for some people, Social Security is the only thing keeping them out of poverty. Any person age 65 or older is considered impoverished if his or her income is $11,756 a year or less.
The program ...
Get Retirement Planning For Dummies now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
