Social Security Benefits: Brief Introduction and Benefits

Over 50 million people rely on social security benefits for their income during their retirement. Not all people plan to fund their retirements completely with social security income. In fact, retirees have various income streams like monthly payments from a pension, Individual Retirement Account (IRA), 401 (k), and even social security. Many people believe that social security is a helpful source in the later years, will others have different thoughts. So, let’s understand in detail what does social security mean and how it is beneficial.

Understanding Social Security

Announced in the year 1935 by President Franklin Roosevelt, the social security program came up with the idea to offer retirement income in the form of social security. The program acts as a pension plan and a financial lifeline to stay on the safer side during the old age. And when we talk about the social security benefits, these are the payments that can be availed by the qualified retirees, disabled people, their kids, spouses, and even survivors. And when people talk about social security benefits, they have a lot of questions about eligibility, types of social security benefits available, and so on. So, let’s have a look at the various types of social security benefits available:

Different Types of Social Security Benefits

Survivor Benefits

Under a social security death benefit, you need to go for a one-time payment of around $255, which is available for the spouse and the children of some deceased worker. A spouse might collect the SSI if he is 60 years old or above, or if he is disabled, or if he is a parent of 16 years old or younger kid or a disabled child as well. Adopted children are also covered under these programs, only if they are less than 18 years, or under 19 and are pursuing studies in a high school.

Retirement Benefits

More than 70% of people receive social security benefits during their retirement age. The eligibility to avail for this program is- people who are at least 62 years old and have worked enough during their past years (should have earned a minimum of 40 work credits. Every working year, a person usually gets 4 credits. Moreover, a person can start collecting these at the age of 62 but can only avail of the benefits by the age of 70. In the case of a spouse, he must be of at least 62 years, or has a child of less than 16 years, or has a disabled child.

Disability Benefits

Social security benefits are just not confined to retirees, in fact, those working people who became disabled and couldn’t continue their work can also avail of the social security benefits. If a person is under 24 when he became disabled, he should have worked for a minimum of one and a half years before the disability occurred. And in the case of people above 24 years, they need to have some severe medical conditions to be eligible for the social security benefits. Not only this, even the spouse and children of a disabled person can avail of the benefits out of social security. For this, the spouse must be of at least 62 years, has a child of under 16 or a disabled child. In case the child is under 18 or under 19 and is in high school, or an adult who got disabled before the age of 22 is also eligible for the social security program.

Supplementary Security Income Benefits

One more type of benefits people can experience under social security policy is for the ones who are of 65 old or above, are disabled, or have limited sources of income.