It’s important to note that your benefit amount is not based on your last year or two in the workforce but on your lifetime earnings, so even if you made a lot of money in your most recent pre-retirement years, you might not get the maximum benefit amount. The Social Security Administration (SSA) calculates your benefit amount by considering your lifetime earnings and then adjusting actual earnings to account for changes in the average wages since the year earnings were received. However, if you retire at age 62, your maximum benefit would be $2,831, or as previously mentioned, if you wait and retire at age 70, your maximum benefit would be $5,108.