Social Security disability attorneys and representatives are asked by the clients quite frequently, “how much will I receive each month?” if I am approved for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments. The answer is always, it depends on how much you earned and paid into Social Security over the years.
No matter how much an individual earned or paid into Social Security during the time they worked, the maximum monthly SSDI payment was $2,642 for 2014 and the average SSDI monthly payment in 2014 was $1,148.
If you want to know exactly what your monthly disability or retirement payment would be if you are approved, you have to understand how Social Security calculates your eligible amount.
Social Security benefits are based on lifetime earnings. Social Security then calculates your average monthly earnings during the 35 years of work in which you earned the most money and that is how they come up with your monthly amount.
It is important to understand that certain factors can change your monthly Social Security benefits, either decreasing them or increasing them.
- Collecting before your full retirement age will reduce your monthly benefits. Your full retirement age is dependant on when you were born as Social Security has gradually increased the full retirement age over the years. People are eligible to begin receiving reduced retirement benefits as early as age 62. This results in about a 20 percent reduction in your Social Security retirement payments each month.
- You can delay your Social Security payments past your full retirement age. Currently no one will reach full retirement age later than age 67, but you have the option of delaying payments until age 70. Your payments will increase whether you start receiving payments at age 68, 69 or 70, only the amount will be different.
To learn more about how Social Security calculates payments click here.
