Any Pia V. 2011.2-My benefit decreased slightl...

Lancelot

Full time employment: Posting here.
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
769
Location
No Where for Very Long
Here is a question for all of you SS experts :)

I was Using Any Pia V. 2010.1, to estimate my monthly benefit. Today I down loaded the latest version Any Pia 2011.2, from the SS website, and guess what? My monthly benefit at age 62 decreased by $24.

I know the COLA increase in the historical data is 0 for for 2009 and 2010 so I was not expecting an increase.

Could it be due to a decrease in the Average Wage? AW for 2009 is $41,334.97; for 2010 it is $40,711.61. (Recession impact?)

I know just enough about the PIA calculation to be dangerous, so thanks in advance for any help :D
 
I have 2011.1. It has 2008 $41,334.97 and $40,711.61 for both 2009 and 2010. Are your assumptions the same as before?
 
Tadpole my assumptions are the same, the only difference being "No increase begining with 2011 benefit increase statement" instead of 2010 for the older version.

Just curious but: 1. did your benefit increas? and 2. are you retired now or still adding income. I've entered big fat 0s for the past 9 years...
 
I haven't downloaded the .2 version so I don't know how it would change. I retired 31 Dec 2010 but didn't apply for SS. I project for 2014 using the same "...(Statement)" options you do. I use zeroes for 2011 through 2014 taxable wage. I see that the output shows no CPI increases for those years are used.

The .1 version says "No increase...2011...statement" too. Are you sure you didn't upgrade from the 2010 version?
 
Could it be due to a decrease in the Average Wage? AW for 2009 is $41,334.97; for 2010 it is $40,711.61. (Recession impact?)
Exactly, your history of earning is affect by this, lower AWI, lower your "index" wages are, lower your SS.
All your past wages are adjusted based on the AWI, (not directly related to inflation), lower AWI, the lower SS. I could go into more detail, but would end up boring you.
FYI, since 1970, the AWI has never dropped before.
TJ
 
Last edited:
Exactly, your history of earning is affect by this, lower AWI, lower your "index" wages are, lower your SS.
All your past wages are adjusted based on the AWI, (not directly related to inflation), lower AWI, the lower SS. I could go into more detail, but would end up boring you.
FYI, since 1970, the AWI has never dropped before.
TJ

Thanks TJ!

The positive thing is that seeing a lower benefit has proded me to learn more about the way my SS check is calculated. In a way, this was The Perfct Storm in that, 1. The annual CPI increase was 0 for 2 years and, 2. the indexed wage base decreased.

I have learned a lot from this site

http://www.fairmark.com/retirement/socsec/pia.htm

Your detail doesn't bore me good buddy :)
 
Back
Top Bottom