Your decision could affect your family
Your spouse may be eligible for a benefit based on your work record (spouse benefits are reduced if claimed before the spouse’s full retirement age). If you die before your spouse, he or she may be eligible for a survivor benefit based on your work record, particularly if you have earned more than your spouse over your lifetime. If you begin receiving Social Security benefits early, we cannot pay your surviving spouse a full benefit from your record. Also, if you wait until after the full retirement age to get benefits, your surviving spouse—if he or she is at least full retirement age—generally will receive the same benefit amount that you would have received.

Your children also may be eligible for a benefit on your work record if they are under age 18 or if they have a disability that began before age 22. For them to receive benefits, you must be getting benefits, too.

You can keep working
When you reach your full retirement age, you can work and earn as much as you want and still receive your full Social Security benefit payment. If you are younger than full retirement age and if your earnings exceed certain dollar amounts, some of your benefit payments during the year will be withheld.

This does not mean you must try to limit your earnings. If we withhold some of your benefits because you continue to work, we will pay you a higher monthly benefit amount when you reach your full retirement age. In other words, if you would like to work and earn more than the exempt amount, you should know that it will not, on average, reduce the total value of lifetime benefits you receive from Social Security—and may actually increase them.

Here is how this works: after you reach full retirement age, we will recalculate your benefit amount to give you credit for any months in which you did not receive some benefit because of your earnings. In addition, as long as you continue to work and receive benefits, we will check your record every year to see whether the additional earnings will increase your monthly benefit.

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/1014 ... yourfamily

В 2010 году за каждые заработанные $1 120 вы получаете одно условное очко трудового стажа, но не более 4-х очков в год. Каждый год количество заработанных денег, необходимых для получения одного очка, слегка возрастает в соответствии с повышением уровня средней зарплаты.
Заработанные условные очки остаются на учете вашего трудового дохода в Социальном обеспечении даже при временном отсутствии заработка, или когда вы меняете место работы.

http://www.ssa.gov/multilanguage/Russian/10072-RU.pdf

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/1014 ... yourfamily

Let’s say your full retirement age is 66 and your monthly benefit starting at that age is $1,000. If you choose to start getting benefits at age 62, your monthly benefit will be reduced by 25 percent to $750 to account for the longer period of time you receive benefits. This is generally a permanent reduction in your monthly benefit.

If you choose to not receive benefits until age 70, you would increase your monthly benefit amount to $1,320. This increase is from delayed retirement credits you get for your decision to postpone receiving benefits past your full retirement age. The benefit amount at age 70 in this example is 32 percent more than you would receive per month if you chose to start getting benefits at full retirement age.

Monthly payments differ substantially based on when you start receiving benefits
If you live to the average life expectancy for someone your age, you will receive about the same amount in lifetime benefits no matter whether you choose to start receiving benefits at age 62, full retirement age, age 70 or any age in between. However, monthly benefit amounts can differ substantially based on your retirement age. Basically, you can get lower monthly payments for a longer period of time or higher monthly payments over a shorter period of time. The amount you receive when you first get benefits sets the base for the amount you will receive for the rest of your life, though you do receive annual cost-of-living adjustments and, depending on your work history, may receive higher benefits if you continue to work

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How earnings reduce your Social Security benefit
Earnings limits change each year. If you are younger than your full retirement age in 2010, you can earn up to $14,160 without affecting your benefits. For every $2 you earn over this limit, we will withhold $1 in benefits. If you will reach your full retirement age in 2010, your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $3 you earn over $37,680 until the month you reach full retirement age. When you reach full retirement age, your Social Security benefits will not be reduced no matter how much you earn.

Full retirement age was 65 for many years. However, beginning with people born in 1938 or later, that age gradually increases until it reaches 67 for people born after 1959. For example, the full retirement age for people born in 1943 through 1954 is 66.