I began collecting Social Security at age 70 (I am now 72). My wife and I went to the Social Security Office which is actually near our home here in Dallas. They were as baffled as anyone I have ever seen, but gave me a print-out from which I could tell the SSA selection of my 35 "highest earning years". Some of the years the SSA included were not in my highest 35 years. We showed the agent the error, and (supposedly) she "corrected" it -- but my benefit has never changed. I have my complete earnings record. Is there any way for me to independently verify that my Social Security benefit is correct? Thank you.

Hi,

Yes, you could use the Social Security benefit calculator in our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to do that. You'll need to input or load your earnings history into the software, and the software will then determine how much your benefit rate should be. We use the same calculation method as does Social Security, so if your benefit rate is correct it should match the rate that our calculator produces.

I have no way of knowing whether or not your rate is correct, but I can tell you that your highest 35 years of actual earnings aren't always the years that are used to calculate your benefit rate. Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on the highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings. The purpose of wage-indexing is to adjust for changes that have occurred in average U.S. earnings over the years (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf). When calculating a person's Social Security retirement benefit rate, Social Security uses wage-indexing to adjust the amount of earnings for which the person is credited in each year leading up to the year they turn 60. Earnings prior to the year in which the person reached age 60 are indexed based on a comparison of the average U.S. earnings in a given year with the year in which the person reached age 60. People are credited with their actual earnings in the year they turn 60 and in subsequent years.

For example, say that Bob is filing for Social Security retirement benefits. In the year Bob turned age 60, average earnings in the U.S. were $50,000. In the year that Bob turned age 20, the average earnings figure was $10,000. Therefore, if Bob's actual earnings in the year he reached age 20 was $15,000, his wage-indexed earnings for that year would be $75,000 (i.e. $15,000 x $50,000/$10,000). That calculation is performed for each year in which Bob had Social Security covered earnings prior to age 60 in order to determine Bob's indexed earnings for each year. Earnings starting with the year Bob reached age 60 are not indexed, and his actual earnings are credited in those years. Bob's benefit rate is then calculated based on an average of his highest 35 years after factoring in wage-indexing.

Best, Jerry