WHERE TO BASE THE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS?

The Social Security Benefit is based on factors such as date of birth, the type of benefit a member is applying for and the amount of earnings in which the Social Security and the Medicare taxes are going to be based on. In order to get a comprehensive estimate of your social security retirement, disability and survivorship benefits you have to get a Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement provided by the Social Security Administration. The statement can only be given due consideration if and only if you accomplish a SSA-7004 form and submitting this form to the agency. The Social Security will in turn send you your statement through mail.

In addition, your Social Security Benefits are also based on your averaged earnings over working years or working lifetime. Almost 42% of your earnings goes to your social security benefits.

There is another way of accumulating Social Security Benefits and that’s through credits. In the year 2004 one credit is given for each $900 of your earnings and a maximum of four credits in a year. However, the amount of earnings required to obtain one credit varies every year. This fact is important for Social Security members to know so that they will not be surprised if on the succeeding years the required earnings are different from the previous requirement.

Most Social Security members need at least 40 credits to become eligible for benefits. However, 40 credits will at least require 10 working years nevertheless disability and survivor benefits require fewer credits. And for extra credits that members may obtain will not in any way provide them with extra benefits.

For members who feel that their benefits are not commensurating to their contributions, there are Social Security Attorneys to help you in getting that rightful benefit you deserve. These Social Security Attorneys will try to help you by gathering all information regarding your claims and if there are evidences to support your claims, your Social Security Attorney will make sure that it will be brought to the awareness of the Social Security System for them to take on proper actions in favor of your claims.