Social Security forms a critical part of most seniors' retirement plans, and for some, it's the entire thing. Roughly 12% of men and 15% of women 65 and older rely upon Social Security for at least 90% of their income. So it's no wonder that people are so interested in how far their Social Security benefits will go in retirement.
The answer depends on the size of your checks and the number of years you claim them. Below, we'll take a look at what the average Social Security beneficiary might get over a 20-year retirement.
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Social Security could pay you hundreds of thousands in retirement
The average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers is $1,918.28 as of June 2024. That comes out to $23,019.36 annually. If someone claimed these checks for 20 years -- say, from 62 to 82 -- they'd receive $460,387.20 during that time. But this figure is a little misleading.
First, it doesn't take into account cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). These are increases to all Social Security benefits that happen in most years to help checks keep pace with inflation. In 2024, recipients got a 3.2% boost to their checks. We won't know the 2025 COLA until October, but right now, it's expected to be around 2.63%. That would raise a $1,918.28 monthly check to $1,968.73. That's $50.45 more per month. But since we cannot predict every COLA for the next 20 years, we cannot accurately estimate how much checks will grow over this time.
Our example also doesn't consider the fact that Social Security isn't going to look the same in 20 years as it does today. The latest projections estimate that its trust funds will be depleted in 2035. Without government intervention, the program could face benefit cuts. But if Congress makes changes, Social Security may continue to provide the same or a larger benefit amount than it does today. Again, we can't predict what these changes might do to our estimated lifetime benefit amount above.
How to use this information
Our $460,387.20 estimate isn't a perfect representation of how much a typical senior will receive over the next 20 years. But it gives you a sense for how far benefits might go toward supporting your financial needs. You can use this as a starting point to estimate what you need to save on your own for retirement.
If you want a more accurate estimate, create a my Social Security account. There's a tool here that estimates your Social Security benefit at every claiming age between 62 and 70. Once you've decided when you want to apply, you can multiply the appropriate monthly benefit by the number of months you expect to claim it. You'll have to estimate this based on your life expectancy. The result can give you an approximation of what you might get from Social Security over your lifetime.
It's better to be conservative here, though. Given the potential for benefit cuts and the fact that the Social Security benefit calculator makes assumptions about your future earnings, its results may not be entirely accurate. You may want to plan to receive a little less than what it says.
For example, if you came up with the $460,387.20 estimate from our example above, you may want to plan to receive around $400,000 from Social Security, with the rest of your retirement income coming from other sources. This way, if future benefit cuts do occur, you'll be better prepared.
Ultimately, the best retirement plans are dynamic ones that change along with our circumstances. As we get closer to Social Security's insolvency date, we'll all undoubtedly have to adapt our retirement plans to whatever changes the government makes.
