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PUBLIC RESOURCES
General information on Social Security retirement benefits
How benefits are calculated
- How You Earn Credits. SSA Publication No. 05-10072
- Understanding the Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10024
- Your Retirement Benefit: How It Is Figured. SSA Publication No. 05-10070
- Social Security Benefit Amounts
- Full retirement age and benefit reductions by year of birth
- Maximum taxable earnings, 1937-present
- How To Correct Your Social Security Earnings Record. SSA Publication No. 05-10081
Benefit calculators
- My Social Security: Create an Account
- SSA benefit calculators
- Retirement Estimator
- How to Use the Online Retirement Estimator. SSA Publication No. 05-10511
- Full retirement age calculator based on year of birth
- Early or late retirement calculator
- Retirement earnings test calculator
- Windfall Elimination Provision online calculator
When to claim benefits
- When To Start Receiving Retirement Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10147
- Delayed retirement credits
- Other things to consider
- The Social Security Claiming Guide
- Boost Your Social Security Payout By $100,000 – CBS MoneyWatch.com
- Planning Your Retirement: How to Take Spousal Benefits – CBS MoneyWatch.com
- Center for Retirement Research: Trends in Social Security Claiming 2015
Working and Social Security benefits
Coordinating spousal benefits
- Benefits for your spouse
- Benefits for your divorced spouse
- “Husbands Should Consider Delaying Social Security Benefits” by Sandra Block, USA Today
- “Strange But True: Claim Social Security Now, Claim More Later,” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
- “Social Security ‘Loopholes’ Closing,” Elaine Floyd Savvy Social Security newsletter
Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)
- Overview of COLAs
- Latest COLA
- Application of COLA to a Retirement Benefit
- COLA estimates by Social Security trustees
- Historical COLAs going back to 1975
- CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) going back to 1974
- General inflation information – lots of interesting data
- City cost of living calculator
- Automatic Determinations in Recent Years
How to apply for benefits
- Apply Online For Social Security Benefits, SSA Publication No. 05-10032
- Social Security Forms
- What You Need To Know When You Get Retirement Or Survivors Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10077
- A Guide For Representative Payees. SSA Publication No. 05-10076
- Overpayments. SSA Publication No. 05-10098
- What You Can Do Online. SSA Publication No. 05-10121
Special situations
- If You Are Self-Employed. SSA Publication No. 05-10022
- How State And Local Government Employees Are Covered By Social Security And Medicare. SSA Publication No. 05-10051
- If You Work For A Nonprofit Organization. SSA Publication No. 05-10027
- Windfall Elimination Provision. SSA Publication No. 05-10045
- Government Pension Offset. SSA Publication No. 05-10007
- How International Agreements Can Help You. SSA Publication No. 05-10180
- Military Service And Social Security SSA Publication No. 05-10017
- Special Payments After Retirement. SSA Publication No. 05-10063
- Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States. SSA Publication No. 05-10137
- Social Security International Programs: International Programs and Resources
Trust fund financing and reform proposals
- Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs: A Summary of the latest Annual Reports
- Recent Trustees Reports
- Social Security Trust Fund Data
- Trust Fund FAQs
- Provisions that Could Change the Social Security Program
- Updated Long-Term Projections for Social Security, Congressional Budget Office“
- Building on Social Security’s Success,” by Virginia P. Reno, EPI Briefing Paper
Other references
- Social Security Program Fact Sheet
- Fast Facts and Figures About Social Security
- Social Security: An Essential Asset and Insurance Protection for All.” National Academy of Social Insurance
- SSA Release on the Closure of the Social Security “Interest-Free Loan” Loophole
- If You’re Disabled… How to Get the Social Security Benefits You Deserve -; Wealth & Retirement
- Social Security News
- Center for Retirement Research: Squared Away Blog
- Center for Retirement Research: Special Projects
- Annual Retirement Confidence Survey – EBRI
- “Behavioral and Psychological Aspects of the Retirement Decision.” Office of Retirement and Disability Policy.
- “6 Tricks to Make the Best Retirement Decisions,” by Robert Powell, MarketWatch. June 2014.
- How to Safelist an Email Address
Medicare
- Medicare. SSA Publication No. 05-10043
- Medicare Resources
- Medicare.gov – Eligibility & Premium Calculator
- Trustees Reports – Medicare
- Medicare Eligibility, Requirements – AARP Bulletin
- Medicare Enrollment Deadline; Joining the Program – AARP Bulletin
- Medicare and Other Types of Health Coverage – AARP Bulletin
- Medicare.gov – Eligibility & Premium Calculator
- Medicare Rights Center – Home