Social Security benefits are an important source of retirement income, but they can't be your sole source. That's because they aren't designed to replace enough of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living.
The rule of thumb is that Social Security benefits replace around 40% of pre-retirement income. But that's not very accurate because they don't replace the same amount of income for people across all income levels. In fact, they replace a far larger percentage for lower- and middle-income workers than for high earners. It's important to understand just how much of your pre-retirement wages Social Security benefits will replace so you know how much you need to supplement them.
Christy Bieber | USA Today