Veterans lawyer The basics
These credits are also called quarters, as you can earn a maximum of four of them a year; any social security "quarters" that you earn during your working career will remain on your record even during times of unemployment. A certain number of credits or quarters are required in order to qualify you to receive social security benefits. The number of credits you need for social security is based on your current age, and is calculated by the number of years you have worked. If you're looking to be eligible for social security benefits for retirement (and are of more than 62 years of age), you will need to have 40 credits (the equivalent of 10 years of work). It does occur, however, that a person of retirement age who has worked for what seems to be the correct number of years does not have enough credits to qualify him or her for social security benefits.