Saturday, March 13, 2010

Social Security Calculator Now Available to Delayed Retirees

Social Security's Retirement Estimator is now available for people who have signed up for Medicare but have not yet signed up for Social Security because they are delaying retirement. The popular calculator allows you to project what your monthly Social Security benefit will be based on your actual work record. Previously, "Medicare only" beneficiaries could not use the estimator and had to contact a Social Security office to get an estimate of their retirement benefits.

While the calculator requires inputting personal information like your Social Security number, date of birth and mother's maiden name, it is tied to your actual Social Security earnings record, so you don't need to manually input years of earnings records. Once your information is input, you can compare different retirement options and see how additional work might affect your benefits.

Because more and more people are delaying retirement, the Social Security Administration decided to expand the calculator to those individuals. It is also planning on making the estimator available in Spanish later this year. You cannot use the calculator if you do not have enough Social Security credits at this time to qualify for benefits or you are already receiving Social Security benefits.

For more information on the calculator, click here. To access the Retirement Estimator, click here.

For more information on Social Security, click here.

Source: http://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=8100&Section=4&state=