Hi larry. I h ave put in 29 years of work. and have decided to stop working. I am now 54.6 years. How will this last 6 years of zeros (total not adding up to 35 years) effect my SS benefit

I began receiving SS benefits in 1992:but have continued to receive earned income subject to social security tax for the following 28 years. Does SS Administration recalculate my benefit to include my earnings in these subsequent years?

My wife and I are Canadians working in the US as permanent residents (Green cards). I started working in Aug 2013, my wife in May 2014. I will be 66 in Nov, she will be 59 in June. We want to continue working here until we both have 40 points with SS, then retire to Canada (mid-2023). How can we estimate what our SS benefits might be? If we only contribute for 11 and 10 years respectively, how long can we receive SS benefits? Thank you.

I have two questions regarding Social Security that I hope you may be able to clarify:
1. How can I know with certainty that my ultimate Social Security personal benefit amount is correct, after having received an incorrect amount over the past 20 months and having been informed by the SSA on three occasions that my benefit amount was correct? My benefit is now being reviewed for final determination, but I would like to know how I can check the final amount for accuracy. (Please see below for relevant background.)

Hi Larry,
Do you think our legislators will fix the benefit calculation problem for those of us born in 1960?

Hi,

I started taking SSA in Feb 2020 which was one month after my birth month and at age 62. I paid into SSA $102,000 more than my spouse who is 17 years older than me. He started taking SSA at 62 also which means he has been taking it since Aug of 2003. He paid $56,044 into SSA in total. When I got my SSA tax statement this year my benefit total paid to me last year was $21310 for 11 months. My husband's benefit paid to him for 12 months was 21271.20.

I am wondering if I do not start taking my Social Security payment the month I retire, but wait until later--I won't be contributing to Social Security since I won't be working--so my question is, if I am not contributing, but wait to start my payments, will the payments increase? Do they increase according to the projections shown on the website Benefit Estimate Table? I called a Social Security representative who did not understand my question. Thank you.

Hi,

Hi, if I stop work at 62 with FRA of 66 and 10 months (3297 dollars) , but claim SS at 70. How much can I claim at age 70?

Hi,

Larry - I started drawing my Social Security benefit at age 70 in 2019 The maximum benefit for my retirement year was $3770. Factoring in the COLA increases for 2020 and 2021 I am about $40 a month short of the maximum benefit. This is confusing as I made the maximum contribution for 38 years of my 53 years working. I think the issue has something to do with the inflation adjustment factors for years 1972-1977. Even though I made the maximum contribution it appears that the adjusted amount for those years were insufficient to allow me to earn the maximum.

Where can I find this year's publication for calculating Social Security Benefits? Last year, it was published in Social Security Publication 05-10070. It used to list all of the index factors so you could calculate your highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings. Have they changed the formula for calculating benefits? Or are they just not publishing the Index Factors?