How to find out how much Social Security you will get

Evaluating your own Income from social security is a big part of preparing for retirement. It is important that you know exactly how much money you will receive in yours Social Security checks every month. The good news is that it’s easy to find out with a free online tool from the Social Security Administration.

The My social security web portal is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about your benefits, if you want to make adjustments or if you want to get documents related to your taxes and other important information.

Below, we’ll show you how to register, see your benefit eligibility and estimate your potential monthly payments. For everything you need to know about Social Security, check out our Social Security and SSDI cheat sheet.

How do I estimate my Social Security benefits?

To see all of your Social Security benefits, you need to sign up for a My Social Security account. Please note that if you have already registered for login.gov or ID.me accountyou can skip the following steps and just log in to your account. If you’ve never registered for any of these services before, here’s what you need to do.

1. Head to login.gov registration page.
2. Touch it Create an account tab and enter your email and preferred language, then click submit.
3. You will be asked to verify your email address on the next screen. You can also request that the verification email be re-sent or change your email address.
4. Check your email and look for a Confirm your email from login.gov. Click the Confirm Email button to return to the website.
5. Now create a password for your account. The password must have a minimum 12 characters.
6. Next, you’ll need to set up two-factor authentication. You can use an authentication app, a text message or phone call, backup codes, a physical security key, or a government employee ID. Follow the steps to set up your chosen authentication method and click Continue.
7. Now that your login.gov account is created, you can use it to log in to the My Social Security portal.

The next few steps will connect your login.gov account to the My Social Security portal, where you’ll accept the terms of service and enter your information to verify your identity.

How to find out your social security eligibility and earnings

Once you go through the setup process, you’ll get access to the My Social Security dashboard. But before you start estimating your monthly benefits, you first need to make sure you’re eligible to receive them.

The Social Security Administration determines your eligibility by the number of “work credits” you have. To qualify for Social Security benefits, you’ll typically need 40 work credits and can earn up to four per work year. Work credits are earned over your working life, so if you’re under 40, you won’t be able to get an estimate of your monthly allowance until you do.

Another important part of this section is the ability to see the entire earnings record. It will show all the years you worked, along with the taxable earnings for each of those years.

It would be best to take the time to look at your annual tax returns to confirm that the numbers are correct. If your records are missing the years you worked or have inaccurate earnings for a certain period of time, you may not receive all the benefits you are entitled to. If you find a discrepancy, you can request a correction to your record.

How to estimate your monthly Social Security checks

Just below the Eligibility and Earnings section of your dashboard is the Retirement Calculator. The calculator gives you an overview of your estimated monthly benefit based on whether you retire early at age 62, start receiving benefits at your normal retirement age (which is 67 for those born in 1960 or later), or wait to collect the maximum amount payments when you turn 70 years old. If you choose to collect your benefits early, you will receive less than if you wait until your normal retirement age.

With the calculator, you can easily run different benefit scenarios to see how much you can expect to receive each month based on the age you start collecting benefits. You can fine-tune your retirement age or date, your average future salary, and compare your benefits to your spouse. Any adjustments you make in the calculator will automatically be added to the estimate table shown below, allowing you to easily print or save the information.

What else can you do with a My Social Security account?

In addition to checking your benefits, you can process other requests through your account.

• Replace your Social Security card.
• View or print your eligibility verification letter.
• Start or check the status of your retirement application.
• Start or check the status of yours Application for social disability insurance.
• Report wages if you are currently working and receiving SSDI.
• Calculate the benefit for a current or former spouse.

For more information on Social Security, don’t miss out why 70,000 people lose their Social Security benefits each year and ours Social Security and SSDI cheat sheet.