SS question - impact of ER on payment

[tominboise]

I was reviewing my SS statement this morning and have a question regarding the impact of the retiring this year as opposed to full retirement. I am 60 and retired this fall. My full SS retirement age is 67. I have 40 years of earning records in the system. If I had kept working, I am estimating that my income per year for the last 7 years would be $135k/year. By retiring early, those 6 years will be replaced by years where my earnings average around $10k/year.

My question is, how to calculate the approximate impact be on the SS payments when I turn 70? I already understand that at 70, my payment will be ~124% of what the payment at 67 will be. I am just wondering the approx $$ amount.

 

[stepford]

Download the ANYPIA calculator from ssa.gov:


https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html


This lets you input actual income by year and see the effect on your payout.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

As mentioned above, that will tell you definitely. I retired at 50 and it really did not make a huge difference, probably about 20% less. My Full retirement age was 65.

 

[geeky_grrl]

https://ssa.tools/ has an online calculator where you cut and paste your record from the social security website. I found it pretty useful for modeling.

I retired at 45 and only saw a modest change in my predicted benefits even though I was getting a lot of 0s in my record. Social security benefits have a couple of bend points where they start paying less on more earnings; if you are at the max one losing more high earning years doesn't change the payout much.

 

[tominboise]

Ok - thanks for the great sites with the calculators. The ssa.tools site calculated that if I worked another 6 years, I would get around $175/month additional if I start SS at 70. So probably not worth it...lol. Although there is also all the wages themselves and the earnings in the investments from them that I am also forgoing. But I have enough now, with a big cushion, according to Firecalc and all the other calculators, along with my own estimates.

Just needed some reassurance that I wasn't missing out on a big windfall.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

The ssa.tools site calculated that if I worked another 6 years, I would get around $175/month additional if I start SS at 70. So probably not worth it...lol.

Yeah, once you are above the second bend point, it is like pushing on a rope!

 

[Starsky]

Retire at 55 - What Happens With Social Security

 

[Dtail]

Yeah, once you are above the second bend point, it is like pushing on a rope!

+1 that is the key.

 

[old medic]

I used the SSA calculator and working 5 more years didnt add much at all to my takehome.

 

[Backpacker]

I retired at 55, did the SS math and working another 7 years would increase my benefit by about 20 bucks per month. Had enough savings so pulled the trigger. The SS math was one factor that helped me to decide.

 

[GenXguy]

I retired at 55, did the SS math and working another 7 years would increase my benefit by about 20 bucks per month. Had enough savings so pulled the trigger. The SS math was one factor that helped me to decide.

Interesting. I use the offline calculator where I enter my earnings per year, and working one additional year, increases my SS benefit by $41/mo. This assumes I start receiving benefits at 65 in either case. Working 7 additional years increases my benefit $170/mo. This is in "today's dollars." I have some $0 dollar income years and low income years in my top 35 years, so it helps me a little more to knock one or more of those out of the top 35.

Hopefully, the current way of calculating benefits that we're all planning around doesn't get radically changed by moving to universal social security.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/02/uni...y-stimulus-and-how-to-pay-for-retirement.html
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2020/12/27/could-a-universal-social-security-benefit-actually/

 

[Backpacker]

GenXguy, my projected earnings if I continued working were basically same as some of my earlier years (inflation adjusted). I downshifted 3 years prior to full retirement.