Social Security Calculator Question...

[CindyBlue]

I'm sorry if this has question has been answered before - I did a search and cannot find it if it was.
I'm trying to estimate my SS benefit if I stop work at age 64 but don't collect until full retirement age at 66 and 2 months. I've tried the Social Security Retirement Estimator at the SS website, but I can't seem to get it to do $0 earnings from now until FRA. It will tell me my earnings if I take it now, but it says "At FRA earning (my earnings now) from now until full retirement." I need it to say ""At FRA earning (0) from now until full retirement." Anyone know how I can get this estimate?

 

[REWahoo]

The impact to your SS benefits for those two years of 0 earnings will be very small, probably in the $10 per month range.

You should be able to confirm this by using this calculator, entering 0 for the last two years: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html

 

[CindyBlue]

The impact to your SS benefits for those two years of 0 earnings will be very small, probably in the $10 per month range.

You should be able to confirm this by using this calculator, entering 0 for the last two years: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html

Thank you! I tried to download the calculator you suggested, but it says it won't work for my Mac...sigh...any other calculators that you know about?

 

[pb4uski]

There is a worksheet on the SSA website that you can easily use as a template guide to create a spreadsheet to do the calculation.

 

[CindyBlue]

There is a worksheet on the SSA website that you can easily use as a template guide to create a spreadsheet to do the calculation.

Thank you...I'm not very good at creating spreadsheets (I know, I should learn) but I'll take a look. I was hoping for something for the tech impaired...

 

[erkevin]

Did you try this calculator? Doesn't need to be downloaded

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html

 

[mountainsoft]

I'm trying to estimate my SS benefit if I stop work at age 64 but don't collect until full retirement age at 66 and 2 months.

I'm not positive, but I think you can do that with this tool:
https://socialsecurity.tools/app.html

You'll have to log in to your MySocialSecurity account to get your earnings record, then copy the data into the program. It's all online so it should work with your Mac.

 

[MarieIG]

The impact to your SS benefits for those two years of 0 earnings will be very small, probably in the $10 per month range.

You should be able to confirm this by using this calculator, entering 0 for the last two years: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/anypia/anypia.html

I just tried this one and it worked for me. I did notice that it had different links on the page.

 

[REWahoo]

Did you try this calculator? Doesn't need to be downloaded

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html

^ Excellent. This is what I thought I'd provided a link to earlier rather than the download required calculator that I actually linked.

Cindy, once you run this please let us know how much per month those two years will cost you in lost benefits. I'd like to know how close my estimate was.

 

[CindyBlue]

Did you try this calculator? Doesn't need to be downloaded

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html

This looks like it might do the job...I don't suppose there's a way to transport 45 years worth of earnings into that chart so I don't have to type in all those numbers, is there

 

[CindyBlue]

I'm not positive, but I think you can do that with this tool:
https://socialsecurity.tools/app.html

You'll have to log in to your MySocialSecurity account to get your earnings record, then copy the data into the program. It's all online so it should work with your Mac.

I'm not good at this, sorry to have to ask...but how do I copy my data so I can get it into the program?

 

[MarieIG]

My DH is going to try now.

 

[CindyBlue]

Thank you everyone! I'm going to try them all...back soon...!!!

 

[erkevin]

Unfortunately, the link I provided does require you to manually enter every year's income.

 

[CindyBlue]

I've found my earnings on the SS website...how do I copy them into the estimator without having type in each year individually?

 

[CindyBlue]

Bummer...sigh...

 

[ransil]

I could not get the ssa site one to work.
Try this one

https://socialsecurity.tools/app.html

You can open the pdf of earnings from ssa site and paste them in.

 

[REWahoo]

Bummer...sigh...

Look on the bright side - this is something you'll probably need to do only once, then you'll have your answer!

 

[mountainsoft]

I'm not good at this, sorry to have to ask...but how do I copy my data so I can get it into the program?

There are good instructions on the page itself:
https://socialsecurity.tools/app.html

Basically, you log in to your social security account and go to the earnings record. Then you highlight all of that data and copy it to the clipboard.

Then go back to the app page above and paste the data you copied from the social security web site (into the box in step 4).

 

[CindyBlue]

Thank you! I tried it, but again can't get it to state my SS income if I stop working at 64 but don't claim until 66 and 2 months (FRA.) It keeps giving me what I'd get if I collected at 64, I think. Am I missing something?

 

[mountainsoft]

Thank you! I tried it, but again can't get it to state my SS income if I stop working at 64 but don't claim until 66 and 2 months (FRA.) It keeps giving me what I'd get if I collected at 64, I think. Am I missing something?

Once you enter your data and submit, it will show you a listing of your earnings record. Below that are sliders to tell how much longer you plan to work and how much you'll earn. Set them to indicate how many more years you'll work till you're 64 and how much you'll earn per year.

Then scroll down the page to Early and Delayed Retirement to see how your benefits will change with different claim dates.

 

[Sunset]

I'm looking at: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html

Their wording is weird:

Put in 66 & 2 months at: Age at retirement
Enter the age in years and months at which you plan to stop working. Your earnings are assumed to stop at that age.

But fill in ZEROS for your work history
Earnings in 2018 - unless you had some then and are only retiring in 2019.
Earnings in 2019 and later

 

[Clone]

Here is a set of instructions that I worked up a few years ago. I have updated them, but may still have some bugs. It walks you through creating a spreadsheet that allows you to copy and paste the numbers.

 

[Clone]

In the pdf, the bend point calculations are outdated. You can find the new bend points here: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/piaformula.html


The thing that this exercise allows you to do is look at the impact of one more year. If you do not make more than your adjusted 35th lowest year, then you will have no impact. If you have some zeros in the calculation, then another year will increase the PIA by approximately 1/420th of your annual income, and the SS benefit by 15% of that. (Once you make more than the 2nd bend point).

 

[CindyBlue]

Thank you for all of your replies!
I had to go out to get some chores done, but I'm back and will start trying everyone's suggestions!