This article provides a calculator that does the arithmetic on how much expected monthly payouts from Social Security would be in a lump sum. For many people Social Security is a large, low-risk asset that can counterbalance other riskier assets that people have in their portfolio. “Waiting as long as possible to collect will boost not just your own retirement benefit but the amount available to your surviving spouse.” The Social Security administration can do a benefit projection using earning history and guesses about future earnings to come up with a full-retirement number. This article explains how the calculator can be used to figure out Social Security payouts. There are different circumstances and factors that can impact the payout amount.
See William Baldwin, What’s Your Social Security Benefit Worth?, Forbes, March 15, 2016.
