What's the True Maximum Annual Social Security Benefit in 2017?
Social Security provides critical assistance to tens of millions of retired workers, the disabled, and even the families of deceased workers. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), almost 61.5 million beneficiaries were receiving a monthly payout from the program in July 2017, 42 million of which were retired workers. Some 61% of these retirees, including 71% of elderly unmarried folks, rely on their guaranteed monthly check from the SSA to account for at least half of their income.
Though the SSA suggests that beneficiaries only rely on Social Security to replace about 40% of their working wages, it's pretty clear from the data that a lot of current retirees are far more reliant than that. This makes it all the more likely that, with personal saving rates remaining poor (3.5% as of July 2017), future retirees will also lean heavily on Social Security income during retirement.
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Source: Fool.com
