Could you confirm for me that this strategy is valid. Take Social Security benefits early and postpone any pension that will trigger WEP or GOP. You’d collect full SS until you took the pension and when you start receiving the pension, SS would be reduced.
2) if you are receiving retirement benefits and still working and earn a very high income in any particular year, does your benefit change? Does a high income year knock out a lower year in the 35 years?
Many thanks for your help

Hi,

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) doesn't apply until the month you become entitled to a pension based on non Social Security covered earnings. Social Security defines entitlement as follows: "An individual is entitled to a pension when he or she has applied for benefits and has proven his or her rights to benefits for a given period of time."

Therefore, yes you could potentially delay applying for your non-covered pension, in which case your Social Security benefits would be calculated without regard to WEP until you do become entitled to the non-covered pension. Whether or not that's a good plan depends on a number of different factors, though. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is designed to handle benefit computations with and without WEP, so you should strongly consider using the software to do your Social Security planning.

Regarding your second question, the answer is yes. Your Social Security retirement benefit rate can be recalculated after any year in which you have Social Security covered earnings that are higher than one of your previous 35 highest wage-indexed earnings years.

Best, Jerry