Retirement Benefits

• The Social Security Administration was first created to administer people's funds for retirement. Through Social Security tax payments, the government would pay benefits to American workers as they reached retirement age. To receive retirement benefits, you must pay Social Security tax for at least 10 years. You can retire as early as age 62. However, it is at full retirement age that you can receive all of the benefits you are entitled to receive. Full retirement age varies according to the year you were born. If you were born between 1943 and 1954, full retirement age is at 66. From 1954 to 1960, it gradually increases to 67, and anyone born after 1960 reaches full retirement age at 67.
  
  

Disability Benefits

• The Social Security Disability (SSD) program was later added to the programs the Social Security Administration runs. Like the retirement program, the SSD program also pays benefits based on Social Security tax payment. However, the years you must pay into the program to be eligible to receive disability benefits vary according to your age when you became disabled. No one is required to pay for more than 10 years. To be eligible, you must also have a disability that will last for at least one year or that will result in death. Your condition must be severe and impede you from performing daily activities in a normal way.
  
  

Survivor Benefits

• The Survivor Benefits program pays benefits to surviving family members of workers who paid Social Security tax. The number of years that you must pay Social Security tax so your family is eligible to receive these benefits varies according to the age at which you die. Your surviving spouse is eligible to receive 100 percent of your benefits when she reaches age 66 or 67 if she was born after 1960. Your children are eligible to receive benefits if they are younger than age 18, or 22 if they became disabled before age 18. Your parents are eligible to receive these benefits if they are 62 years of age or older.
  
  

Supplemental Security Income

• The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is also a Social Security program. However, these benefits are not based on Social Security tax payment, but on general tax revenue. To be eligible to receive these benefits, you must be disabled, blind or older than 65 years of age. You must also have low income. You can also qualify to receive these benefits if you have a short-term disability.