How Much Should I Receive For My Social Security Benefits?

This our most common received question. There are two types of financial benefits you could receive if approved: Disability Insurance benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Your benefits come in monthly deposits into your bank account by the federal government. The amount received depends on the type of benefit you qualified for. Disability Insurance benefits are for individuals who have a recent and strong work history, whereas SSI benefits are for individuals with a limited work history.

The amount of SSD benefits depend on money contributed to your past taxes. The amount taken out of your paycheck is what contributed to Social Security. The length of time contributing to the fund and time of the last contribution will determine the amount in benefits you receive.

Reviewing your Social Security Statement will be the most straightforward way of estimating the amount you could receive in benefits. This can be reviewed online or by calling and asking the SSA for a physical copy.

How Is Social Security Back Pay Calculated?

You can receive both back pay and monthly SSD or SSI benefits. Back pay is the amount of money that Social Security owes you before an approved application when you were disabled. You can earn back benefits up to a year prior to your application all depending on when you applied, and this only applies to SSD benefits.

Limited work history will result in qualification for SSI benefits which are legally set at a monthly amount of $733. Your financial and living situation may cause this number to decrease. SSI benefits from back pay will also be calculated differently. The maximum is $733 a month back to the date of application submission.