Earning Social Security Credits by Jeff Spencer

Jeff Spencer
January 25, 2018

Earning Social Security Credits
By Jeff Spencer

Jeff Spencer developed his passion in helping others with financial planning at a very young age while enlisted in the Air Force, stationed in England working on aircraft as a crew chief. Over the years, Jeff has continued with his passion and recognizes how money can become a powerful tool that should be used to deliver safety and protection in our lives.

For each of your working years which you pay into Social Security

, these wage amounts get recorded to your Social Security file. Based on the amounts you’ve earned from these wages, you earn Social Security credits for them. When you apply for Social Security benefits later on for things like retirement or disability, your eligibility to get these benefits is determined by the number of credits that you’ve earned.

Getting more credits from Social Security matters for both your current employment and future employment, once you’ve departed from your current federal position. Workers who are covered by CSRS are concerned about this because they will likely want to continue working until they’ve earned enough credits to be eligible for benefits. Prior to their CSRS career, people usually have credits already that they’ve earned from previous employment and military service. They could have also earned the credits on the side, although not the required 40 credits.

Federal employees who are covered by FERS or CSRS don’t need to be concerned because they earn credits for Social Security throughout their careers with the government. It is more of a concern for people with shorter careers, like people who didn’t start working until they were older or those who went a long time without working at some point. These people would likely not have enough credits necessary to claim the benefits.

Only those who are paying into Social Security can earn credits. This is the deduction entitled “FICA” or “Social Security” which you see on your pay stubs or statements.

Please contact a financial professional if you have additional questions about Social Security, or any other retirement options.