Delaying SS, any affects due to COLA's

[Momcpa]

My husband turns 70 later this year. At 66, his full retirement age, the Soc Sec office gave him a spreadsheet/list of his benefit at 66 and then for every month he delayed up to his 70th birthday. I understand that he will get +8% each of the four years he delays. And the math works out to exactly what their listing indicated. I also know that during those 4 years the people who were already receiving Soc Sec got a COLA.

My question: do the COLA adjustments have any bearing on the amount he will receive at age 70. In other words, is the number they gave us, the MAXIMUM he will be receiving regardless of any COLAs along the way while he was delaying? The delay will give him a nice bump up in benefits, just curious if it changes from the original number. ( I couldn't find the answer by searching the topic.)

 

[MissMolly]

He will still get all the COLAs that have been applied.

 

[Gumby]

I think the rule is "you snooze, you lose". Nah, just kidding. It is just as Miss Molly says - they apply the COLAS every year to your PIA and if you wait to 70, you get 8% more per year of waiting.

Although there is a timing issue on the 8% that hinges on when in the year you are born, which was discussed in this thread: https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...t-ss-after-fra-but-before-age-70-a-73525.html

Here's the page from Social Security Administration that explains it. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaapplic.html

 

[finnski1]

My husband turns 70 later this year. At 66, his full retirement age, the Soc Sec office gave him a spreadsheet/list of his benefit at 66 and then for every month he delayed up to his 70th birthday. I understand that he will get +8% each of the four years he delays. And the math works out to exactly what their listing indicated. I also know that during those 4 years the people who were already receiving Soc Sec got a COLA.

My question: do the COLA adjustments have any bearing on the amount he will receive at age 70. In other words, is the number they gave us, the MAXIMUM he will be receiving regardless of any COLAs along the way while he was delaying? The delay will give him a nice bump up in benefits, just curious if it changes from the original number. ( I couldn't find the answer by searching the topic.)

The number they gave you at age 66 was before any colas since then. You should be able to get a new estimate from them which would bump up your original numbers from 4 years ago to include all the colas added in since then. Should be a pleasant surprise.

 

[finnski1]

Just checked. The COLA's were
2019 1.6%
2020 1.3%
2021 5.9%


Combining those gives you an effective raise of 8.99%!
So take the number they gave you for age 70 and multiply it by 1.0899 and that should give you very close to what he will receive.

 

[harllee]

I just took my SS at age 70 a few months ago and I got all the COLAs. My monthly payment was several hundred dollars more than I expected, nice.

 

[Momcpa]

Thank you all for the quick replies. I looked at the original amount Soc Sec predicted and did the math of increasing that number by the COLA's. The result was a nice surprise!! Then wondering if the Social Security offices were open (they aren't until April), I thought if they answered the phone MAYBE I could check with them. They answered promptly and after asking my husband a few questions to verify he wanted the info, they looked up the new amount. It matched my computation to the dollar.

Again thanks. So in October we should be seeing a nice deposit to our bank account. In the mean time he continues to collect 1/2 of mine.