People in the US who want to retire must meet a minimum number of years of work. This number is found by adding up credits and Social Security tax payments.
You must have at least 40 Social Security credits before you can retire and start getting payments.
“How many credits you have doesn’t change how much help you get.” The SSA says on its website, “We use the number of credits you have earned to decide if you are eligible for Medicare, retirement or disability benefits, and if your family is eligible for survivor benefits.”
To see any information about your Social Security Statement, you have to go online and create a “My Social Security” account. This is where you can see your past and future SSA filings as well as your earnings records.
People over 60 who can’t get to their My Social Security account get a letter from Social Security three months before their birthday.
How you can get Social Security credits
Social Security rules say that since 1978, you can only get four credits per year. These credits are based on how much money you made from pay and self-employment in a year.
“Every year, the amount of work you have to do to get a credit might be different.” You will get one Social Security and Medicare credit for every $1,810 you make each year in 2025. “You have to make $7,240 a year to get all four credits,” the SSA says on its website.
The SSA also says that you should get more credit than the minimum in order to get benefits, since the minimum credit isn’t used to decide how much of a retirement payment you get; that’s based on your average earnings over the years of work.
What is the amount of Social Security for old people in 2025?
The amount of SSA payments a person gets depends on how much they have earned over their career and when they decided to retire. For people who retired at age 62, their monthly payment is $2,831.
If a retiree waits to start receiving benefits until they reach full retirement age of 67, they can expect to get up to $3,822. If they wait until they reach 70, they can get much larger amounts, up to $5,108.
