How much salary does one need to earn at minimum to earn 4 social security credits?

AmericanWannabe

Registered Users (C)
How much salary does one need to earn at minimum to earn 4 social security credits?

Nexy year will be my 10th year of paying SS taxes. I want to know
by which month I would have a peace of mind that even by then
I stop working for good I would still have retirement money
(though at current rate, it will not be enough to pay gas).

It is better to work for one year from June to next june
than from Jan to Dec in the same year because even you
apy teh same anount of SS taxes, you may get 8 credits
in the first case and onloy 4 credits in teh second case
 
AmericanWannabe said:
It is better to work for one year from June to next june than from Jan to Dec in the same year because even you apy teh same anount of SS taxes, you may get 8 credits in the first case and onloy 4 credits in teh second case

Why would you get 8 credits in the first case? You will have only worked in 4 quarters.

Besides, if you are rich enough to stop working and ask silly questions every day then you should be rich enough not to care wether you get SS or not. :D
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Why would you get 8 credits in the first case? You will have only worked in 4 quarters.


But you worked in two TAX years. In one tax year, you can make
aat most 4 credits. So if you spread your actual one-year
work into 2 tax years (from July this year to June next year),
you make 4 credits this year and 4 credits next year.

In other words, if one work 5 whole years in his life, he will
not get SS retirement benefits because he only accumulate
20 credits. But if he spread 5 years out, and each work year
covers two calendar years, he may eanr 10 years's
credits with 5 years work.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You will be considered to have worked FOUR QUARTERS in a calender
year if you eanred a certain amopunt in that year. So if your salary
is high enough, you may earn 4 credits by working only in, say, January.


If you work In July-Dec this year and Jan-Jun next year and if your
salary is high enough, you will be considered to work 4 quarter for this
year and 4 quarter next year, even though you actually work only 4
quarters.
 
grunggy said:
It is the time put in not the salary that gives you credits.

Within one calendar year, it is the salary that matters. A one with annual salary $ 100,000 work only in January earns the same credits as the one
whose annualy salary is 10,000 and work from Jannuary to Dec because
they paid teh same amount of SS tax in that year
 
AmericanWannabe said:
Within one calendar year, it is the salary that matters. A one with annual salary $ 100,000 work only in January earns the same credits as the one
whose annualy salary is 10,000 and work from Jannuary to Dec because
they paid teh same amount of SS tax in that year

Ok I agree salary matters BUT who cares if you earn 100000 you only need a small pittance to earn the credits in a year.

www.ssa.gov
Question
What are credits and how do I earn them?

Answer
Credits are the "building blocks" we use to find out whether you have the minimum amount of covered work to qualify for each type of Social Security benefits. If you stop working before you have enough credits to qualify for benefits, your credits will stay on your record. If you return to work later, you can add more credits so that you can qualify. No benefits can be paid if you do not have enough credits.

You earn up to a maximum of 4 credits for each year by working in jobs covered by Social Security or by operating your own business as a self-employed person.

Before 1978, when employers reported your wages every 3 months, we called credits "quarters of coverage", or QCs. Back then, you got a QC or credit if you earned at least $50 in a 3-month calendar quarter.

Starting with 1978, employers report earnings just once a year. Credits are now based on your total wages and self-employment income during the year, no matter when you do the actual work. You might work all year to earn your 4 credits, or you might earn enough for all 4 in a much shorter length of time.

The amount of earnings it now takes to earn a credit changes each year. In 2005, you earn one credit for each $920 of your earnings. So if you have earned at least $3680 during the year, you get the maximum 4 credits.
During your lifetime, you will probably earn more credits than the minimum number you need to be eligible for benefits. These extra credits don't increase your benefit amount, however; it is your average earnings over your working years that determine how much your monthly payment will be. (NOTE: You do not earn credits for pension payments or for interest or dividends on savings and investments. You do not pay Social Security tax on that kind of income.)

About your credits for last year and this year: When we prepare a Social Security Statement at your request, your earnings for last year may not be on record yet and this year's earnings won't be reported until next year. Therefore, we use the earnings information you gave us on your request form to assume that you have up to additional 8 credits for those years (1-4 credits per year, depending on the earnings amount). For the automatic Statements, we use your latest posted earnings for either last year or the year before to give you these credits. (In 2005, the years we look at are 2004 and 2003.) If you don't have any earnings on record for either year or don't tell us about your earnings on your request form, we don't give you any assumed credits for this period.
 
grunggy said:
The amount of earnings it now takes to earn a credit changes each year. In 2005, you earn one credit for each $920 of your earnings. So if you have earned at least $3680 during the year, you get the maximum 4 credits.


It means if I work for full oneth for january next year, I will have enough 40 credits to enjoy retirement benefits.
 
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