How Work Affects Your Social Security Benefits
Social Security withholds benefits if your earnings exceed a certain level, called a retirement earnings test exempt amount, and if you are under your full retirement age or FRA.
Ask Bob: Are Wages after Age 60 Included in Social Security Benefit Calculation?
Question
Several articles, including ssa.gov, suggest that only wages through age 60 count in the benefits calculation for Social Security. Is this true? My highest wages are now (age 63). I want to be sure if I keep working, it counts.
Answer
Wages through age 60 count in the initial PIA (primary insurance amount) calculation at age 62, says Elaine Floyd, CFP®, director of Retirement and Life Planning at Horsesmouth. After that, the earnings record continues to be updated and the PIA revised upward if a new year of higher earnings replaces an older year of lower earnings in the highest 35 years of earnings used in the PIA formula.
“You can be assured that as long as you are working and paying FICA taxes your earnings will be recorded and your PIA will be automatically adjusted — even after you start receiving benefits,” she confirms.
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Email Robert.Powell@maven.io.
Question
Several articles, including ssa.gov, suggest that only wages through age 60 count in the benefits calculation for Social Security. Is this true? My highest wages are now (age 63). I want to be sure if I keep working, it counts. Subscribe for full article
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