--- title: 'In Retirement, Social Security Will Likely Pay Out More Than You Think: Study' description: New research shows that, on average, Americans in their 50s and early 60s undervalue their future retirement benefits by nearly $2,000. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former Money reporter specializing in Social Security and retirement coverage, with a focus on making complex policy accessible to readers. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2023-03-14T20:14:55.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:16:21.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - News word_count: 373 canonical: https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Senior African American couple using laptop, contemplating with oversized social security cards behind them](https://img.money.com/2023/03/News-Older-Americans-Underestimate-Social-Security-Income.jpg) Older adults today face a host of challenges when it comes to financing their [retirements](https://money.com/section/retirement/) — and now, new data suggests some miscalculate how much money they’ll receive from Social Security. A paper authored by researchers at the American Enterprise Institute and George Mason University found that a significant number of pre-retirees underestimate their future annual [Social Security](https://money.com/social-security-cola-inflation-report/) income by nearly $2,000. An even larger portion undervalued those benefits by over $5,000. ## What the data says The analysts compared respondents’ self-reported expectations of their retirement benefits to their actual projected Social Security income using panel data from a [national study](https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/about) on [health](https://money.com/health-care-expenses-retirement-average-67k-medicare/) and retirement. - They concluded that while most older adults between 50 and their early 60s accurately predicted the age at which they anticipate claiming [Social Security benefits](https://money.com/bigger-social-security-checks-schedule-2023/), they underestimated their yearly benefits by 11.5%, or about $1,896 on average. - Roughly a quarter of respondents were off by even more in their calculations, underestimating their future benefits by $5,167 or more. - About 10% said they didn't expect to receive Social Security income at all. - The findings are consistent with a [2021 analysis](https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v81n4/v81n4p1.html) by the Social Security Administration, which found that across the age spectrum, some workers substantially undervalue their future benefits compared to projections from officials and researchers. ## Why it’s important - Americans overall are pessimistic and anxious about funding their retirements. According to a [2020 study](https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/publications/biblio/11223), 31% of respondents of all ages don’t expect to receive any Social Security benefits. - People saving for retirement feel uncertain about how much they’ll need after they stop working. More than half of respondents to a recent [Northwestern Mutual survey](https://money.com/comfortable-retirement-cost-expectations/) said they didn't know how much they should have saved, and on average, people estimated they’d need at least $1.25 million to retire comfortably. - Retirees who have started claiming their benefits say their Social Security income isn’t enough despite a major increase to the cost-of-living-adjustment. More than 50% of respondents to a [Senior Citizens League survey](https://money.com/social-security-cola-increase-not-enough/) reported that they didn't think [this year’s COLA](https://money.com/social-security-checks-cola-increase-2023/) would keep pace with rising costs. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Social Security", "item": "https://money.com/social-security/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In Retirement, Social Security Will Likely Pay Out More Than You Think: Study" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/", "name": "In Retirement, Social Security Will Likely Pay Out More Than You Think: Study", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-03-14T20:14:55.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-pay-more-than-expected/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:16:21.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "In Retirement, Social Security Will Likely Pay Out More Than You Think: Study", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/03/News-Older-Americans-Underestimate-Social-Security-Income.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Older-Americans-Underestimate-Social-Security-Income" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) 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