I woke at 02:00 and decided that, since I was awake, I may as well get the photos I took at TurkuCastle into my blog. Then decided to try to go back to sleep, gave up, and did a workout instead. I then managed another couple of hours nap before getting up to talk with Keldor for his drive to work.
After that I finally read the letter from the US Social Security Administration that arrived at my house last week. Given that I was a career student when I was in the states, an rarely worked more than half time, I have always assumed that I would never have anything resembling retirement benefits. It turns out that the calculate them based on “credits”, which are based on the number of years one works, and it takes 10 years of working to ammas 40 credits, which is the minimum requirement. So, oddly enough, I qualify. If I ever apply for US retirement benefits (unlikely, as I would prefer to divorce that country, but if I did) they would give me what may well amount to pocket change, but is, in fact, a non-zero number.
Letter from the US Social Security Administration
- read the letter that arrived yesterday from the US Social Security Administration, which says that I earned enough credits in my US working life to qualify for retirement benefits (which really surprised me). Yes, I am recording even the numbers from that letter here. I am not in the least embarrassed to share how much/little I earned during my extended student years. It was always enough to cover my share of the joint expenses (and I always also contributed in time to whichever household I lived in, to keep us clean, organised, etc.)
Retirement Benefits
- They say that I can fully retire at 67 years of age, but I can start getting the retirement benefits anytime between 62 and 70 years of age. However, the longer I wait, the higher the monthly payout, and each month I wait increases it slightly. If I start puling those benefits at 62 years of age, I will get 342/month for the rest of my life, but if I hold out till I am 70 years old, then I will get $424/month for the rest of my life. Given the current cost of living, and the current rate of inflation, these numbers count as mostly pocket change, and are not likely to increase their purchasing power. Note to self, you made a spreadsheet showing how much total money those payouts translate to.
Disability Benefits
- I do not qualify for disability benefits should I suddenly become disabled, as the rules specify that not only must one have accumulated “38 credits, 20 of them must have been earned in the past 10 years. As I have not been in the US for the past 20 years, I do not meet this requirement
Survivors Benefits
- If I die, my surviving “eligible” family members could get a monthly benefit. However, as I have no children or spouse, the only two categories of “family” mentioned in that paragraph, it is unlikely that anyone will benefit from my death. The paragraph doesn’t define “eligible”, so I assume that should I marry a Swedish citizen, they still wouldn’t get this benefit. Since the max payout each month is $544, if it were going to both children and a spouse, I suspect that the money won’t be missed.
Medicare
- I have enough credits to qualify for Medicare at age 65. Even if I don’t retire then, if I ever want to use Medicare, I need to apply within three months of that birthday, as thee is a “lifetime late enrolment penalty” if I don’t. I have trouble picturing a situation in which I will need US Medicare, but I will make a note of this on my Google Calendar, if I haven’t renounced that citizenship by then, I can look into it.
My recorded earnings
| work year | earnings taxed for Social Security | Earnings taxed for medicare (began 1966) |
|---|---|---|
| 1981-1990 | $13,803 | $15,923 |
| 1991-2000 | $22,536 | $22,536 |
| 2001-2010 | $24,332 | $24,332 |
| 2011-2024 (their graph listed these years one row at a time) | $0 | $0 |
| 2025 | not yet recorded | not yet recorded |
| (This graph tells me that they didn’t receive my 2025 tax paperwork, so I should look into sending it.) |
Taxes Paid
My total taxes paid over my working career whilst living in the US:
| Who paid | Social Security Taxes | Medicare Taxes |
|---|---|---|
| Me | $4,909 | $1,185 |
| my employeers | $2,488 | $620 |
| (So, if I am reading that correctly, if I were to wait till I were 70 years old, and then claim the $424/month I am eligible for then, it would take less than a year before they had paid me more than I had paid in Social Security Taxes. How lucky for them that I have no intentions of ever asking for that money.) |
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