Social Security is a government program that serves about 68 million people, so you might use one word to describe it: complicated.

Hats off to the Social Security Administration (SSA), though. It produces one of the best government websites, using plain English (and 18 other languages) to explain its rules. It also has plenty of calculators and worksheets to help those entitled to Social Security benefits.

We pulled together some of our favorites. Keep this list handy the nex൲t time you’re sif🌱ting through the maze of Social Security rules and regulations.

You won't need all 11, but some of them will likely help answer some of your questions as you start to plan for your later years.

1. Retirement Estimator

What’s mor🎶e important than 🐬knowing the amount of your monthly Social Security check?

The awesome thing about the SSA's is that it looks at your actual account to estimate your benefits. It will ask for your name, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Social Security number♐, and your earnings last year to calculate your e✤stimated benefits.

It gives you estimates based on different retirement ages in an easy-to-read format. There are all kinds of disclaimers on the c༒alculator saying that it’s only an estimate, so if your situation is more complicated, these numbers may not apply. Still, it’s a good place to start. 

2. Benefits Planner

If you don’t want to enter your personal information into the Social Security website so that it can draw from your actual details on reಞcord, you can still get a pretty accurate es🅘timate of your benefits by manually entering a whole lot of other information into the .

You’ll need to know your earnings for the years that you’ve worked along💃 with a bunch of other information, but you’ll get a similar result, assuming the information you provide is accurate.

Note that the Benefits ꦫPlanner offers only an estimate based on unconfirmed information that you input, whereas the Retireme♈nt Estimator looks at your actual earnings to provide a reliable projection.

3. Quick Calculator

The ♏ estimates your future checks and is about as simple as they come.

Enter your birth date, current year’s earnings, and estimated retirement date, and the calculator will give you an estimated payout. You can even select the amount in today’s dollars or inflation-adjusted future dollars. 

Remember that the less information you e🐲nter, ꦅthe less accurate your results are likely to be.

4. Life Expectancy Calculator

If you wish to confront the idea of your morta🐬lity, check out Social Security’s . Enter your gender and date of birth, and it will give you a rough estimate of how long you can expect to live if you reach certain age milestones.

The practical purpose of this calculator is to help with retirement planning. The longer you live, the more money you'll need to support yourself. In addition, you’re more likely to experience medical issues that may require substantial amounts of money to address.

5. WEP Calculator

If you work or have worked for a company that gives you a pension based on work not cover🐈ed by Social Securi🌠ty, the aforementioned basic calculators won't provide an accurate representation of your benefits.

The requires you to manually enter a lot of information that you probably won’t have at the ready. You’ll have to do so🗹me digging.&🐽nbsp;

Note: Please see the callout below for important information about the termi🉐nation of the WEP due to the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023.

6. Earnings Test Calculator

You probably know that your benefit amount is largely based on how much monไey you’ve earned. The more you make, the more you pay into Social Securitꦰy, so you deserve a larger benefit, right?

The shows how the amount you make afꦦfects your benefits. Remember that this calculator is very simplistic—it only takes into account one of your retirement benefit variables.

7. Early or Late Calculator

is another calculator that isolates one variable to show you how relatively small decisions can dramatically affect your benefits. It shows how 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:waiting longer to receive ꦰyour bꦆenefits will substꦡantially raise the dollar amount of your benefit c♛hecks. 

8. Retirement Age Calculator

In the past, the retirement age was set at 65, but because Social Security has found itself low on cash—and because people are living and working for longer—the agency has slowly raised the retirement age over the years.

Your retirement age is based on your birth date. Use the to figure out when you can start receiving benefits. It’s not as straightforward as you might thi♑nk.

9. GPO Calculator

Even if you worked for a company or organization where your earnings weren’t taxed by Social Security, you probably expect to receive 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:spousal benefits. Up to 2024, the amount of that benefit could be reduced by something called the government pension offset (GPO).

The was availablไe to help you figure out the effect of the offset. However, the Social Security Fairness Act o✨f 2023, described immediately below, terminated the GPO. So the calculator is now obsolete.

10. Spousal Benefits Calculator

When you file for Soci🤡al Security benefits, your spouse may be eligible f🦄or benefits as well. The subject of spousal benefits gets quite complicated depending on individual family variables.

Simply enter some basic information, and the will show♔ you the effect on your spouse’s benefit amount.

11. Detailed Calculator

The financial situations of some individuals are simple and straightforwardও. The Retirement Estimator calculator listed first in this article takes💝 into account a few variables other than age, earnings, and credit.

Many people have additional factors to consider 𝓡when ca🅺lculating their benefits. If that’s you, you need to use the . It’s as close as you will get to the calculator that a Social Security employee would use to calculate your earnings.

Note: a new version of the Detailed Calculator that takes into account the effect of the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (see callout above) will be released in 2025.

The Bottom Line

The best Social Security benefit calculators to use are those that pull your actual record from the SSA. So, alwayꦡs start with the SSA calculators. As long as you’re on the Social Security website, any information you input on the forms is encrypted and considered safe.