Want the Max $4,873 Social Security Benefit? Here’s the Salary You Need.

Social Security was never supposed to be your sole source of retirement income. Indeed, for disciplined investors, Social Security won’t even be their biggest single source of income in retirement. If you can maximize the benefit of a program you’re required to participate in, though, you may as well do so.

To this end, here’s a closer look at the kind of money you need to be making if you want to have any shot at earning the maximum Social Security retirement benefit of $4,873 per month.

There’s more to it than a number, but the number is $168,600

There are actually three components to determining your Social Security benefit. In addition to your yearly wages, your age at the time you claim retirement benefits and the number of years you’ve worked are also factors. Simply earning an above-average wage won’t do the trick.