you have 16 years of work credits? person who worked 25 years has a min benefit of ~$800 (that's where that # comes from) it's possible for someone to have a min benefit of only $54/ month if they only had 11 years of work credits i can't imagine how anyone can manage on any of these sums source: Special Minimum Benefits Table on the official US social security site (but it doesn't let me link -- i guess they're embarrassed by these low payouts, as they should be!)