Want to know how much you will receive from Social Security when you retire? How much will your check will be if you start taking benefits at 62, 66, or “full” retirement age (70). The Social Security Administration has just unleashed a powerful tool, The Retirement Estimator, that will give you these figures in less than a minute.
It’s a great retirement calculator that has many uses. We’ve been doing some work with retirees lately and it is truly sad to see how many people are not financially prepared. They’ve retired, and now many are running out of money because expenses have been higher than they expected - property taxes, fuel, and food being some of the worst culprits. Their choices are not pretty. Often it means selling a home and moving to a new town, a reverse mortgage, going back to work, or poverty. So we recommend this tool as the first step in figuring out if you can afford to retire. The second step is to calculate your expenses - with a generous escalator for the unknown. Check it out.
PS - when we ran the calculator we were amazed at the difference in the monthly check if we wait until we are 70, instead of taking social security at 62. The age 70 monthly payout would be more than $1200 higher than the age 62.