Rejection Letter

The requirement for an American Association of Retired Persons membership varies. You do not have to be retired you just mainly have to be fifty years old or older. However if you like to become a member without being a retiree AARP offers an associate membership. Actually on your fiftieth birthday you will become a member involuntarily. Then you will receive your membership card and be able to take advantage of all the benefits and services associated with being a full member. If you want to be a full member or an associate member, an annual fee of sixteen dollars is required. Being 50 and paying the fee are the only main requirements to join. (Lynes) (American Association of Retired Persons)


Social Security is income for workers at age 62 or older or dependents. Its main funding source is payroll taxes paid by workers and employers. Social Security would allow older workers to retire and help create jobs for younger workers. Social Security has become the single most important source of income for older people. Thirty-seven percent of the income of people sixty-five and older comes from Social Security. Because Social Security is a social insurance program, all who contribute receive benefits as a right. As a result, people who have low earnings while they are working ultimately receive lower benefits than high earners when they retire (Quadagno, 2011).

The requirements to receive Social Security are depending on a person's age, citizenship, and with the proper documentation and the numbers of hours you have worked are taken into account when you apply. If you were born between 1937 and 1943, you need to wait until age sixty-five and an increasing amount of months to retire. After 1943, it passed to sixty-six years and an increasing amount of months. As of 1960 it became sixty-seven years old to retire. You can retire at sixty-two but will lose at least twenty-five percent of your retirement benefits. For example, a worker who earned average wages and started receiving benefits at age 62 would receive $892 a month. While a similar worker who waited until age sixty-five would receive $1,051 (Waverly).

Another factor taken into account when trying to receive Social Security is citizenship. You must be a citizen of the United States to collect Social Security benefits. You need ten years of legally working in America to qualify for payouts. If you get your citizenship legally, you must work a minimum of ten years at full-time hours to achieve the ability to obtain retirement pay. You also need to earn a certain amount of credit hours, which sums up to a total of ten years. Finally, the sum of annual incomes received over many years is most appropriately shown in present-value terms that make the time value of money clear. (Waverly) (Leonesio & Del Bene, 2011)

Lastly, you are highly recommended to have all your documentation such as your Social Security card; your birth certificate; your proof of citizenship;