Age 71 collecting and working about $40,000 annual. Collect approx $1300 monthly. How will my continue working affect my benefit?

Hi. Your additional earnings may cause your benefit rate to increase, and if so any such increases should be processed by Social Security automatically. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so additional years of earnings only increase a person's benefit rate if they're higher than one or more of the 35 years currently being used to calculate the person's benefit rate.

Best, Jerry