Ask Larry: Can Social Security’s Benefit Estimates Be Accurate Without Including 2022 Earnings?

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Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how accurate SSA’s benefit rate estimates actually can be, the timing of benefit payments each month and taking spousal benefits after retirement benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc.

See more Ask Larry answers here.

Have Social Security questions of your own you’d like answered? Ask Larry about Social Security here.


Can Social Security’s Benefit Estimates Be Accurate Without Including 2022 Earnings?

Hi Larry, While using the calculator at ssa.gov, it shows my husband’s estimated full retirement amount. But I see where it is saying there are no recorded wages for 2022, though he worked the entire year.

All the prior years amounts are accurate. It does have an amount they are using, which seems roughly realistic, for future earnings. Is the estimated full retirement amount accurate or is it not because it’s not showing any earnings for 2022? Thanks, Carroll

Hi Carroll, It’s much too soon to expect anyone’s 2022 earnings to be posted to their Social Security earnings history. The earnings information posted to a person’s Social Security earnings history comes from W-2 forms for wages, and tax returns for self-employment earnings.

So your husband’s 2022 earnings won’t be posted to his Social Security earnings history until sometime after either his W-2 form(s) is issued or his 2022 tax return is received by the IRS.

Social Security generally has prior year wages posted to a person’s earnings history by April or May of the year after the year of earnings, but self-employment earnings can take longer depending on when the person’s files their tax return.

As for whether or not your husband’s benefit estimate is accurate, that depends on his full earnings history. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person’s highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so your husband’s 2022 earnings would only affect his benefit rate is that year was among his highest 35 earnings years.

Also, as you mentioned, Social Security sometimes includes assumed future year earnings amounts when providing estimates, so their benefit estimates are only as accurate as those future year earnings projections turn out to be.

You and your husband may want to consider using my company’s software — Maximize My Social Security or MaxiFi Planner — to ensure your household receives the highest lifetime benefits. Social Security calculators provided by other companies or non-profits may provide proper suggestions if they were built with extreme care. Best, Larry


Do I Need To Contact Social Security About My Payment Date?

Hi Larry, I’m 87 and have been on Social Security for many years. My retirement benefit check has always been deposited on the third of each month but now according to SSA, they will deposit my payment on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Do I need to to contact Social Security? Thanks, Hank

Hi Hank, Only Social Security has access to your records, so if your payment date is changing then you’d need to call them for an explanation. You aren’t allowed to voluntarily change your payment date, however.

What I can tell you is that the rules that determine on what day of the month a person is paid their benefits haven’t changed since 1997. Since that time, the only people who should be receiving their payments on the 3rd day of the month are people who either:

  • People who first filed for benefits before May 1997; or,
  • People who are receiving both Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security payments; or,
  • People who live in a foreign country; or,
  • People whose Medicare premiums are paid by the state where they live.

Everyone else who receives Social Security benefits is paid either on the second, third or fourth Wednesday of the month depending on their day of birth. Best, Larry


Can I Take My Own Retirement Now And Switch To Spousal Benefits When My Husband Retires?

Hi Larry, I was born in 1955 and I want to take my own full retirement this year, until my husband retires at his full retirement age.

Can I take my own retirement now and switch to spousal benefits when my husband retires? I know my spousal benefit will be higher than my retirement benefit but I don’t want to risk any reduction in my spousal benefit. Thanks, Becky

Hi Becky, While you can’t technically switch from collecting your own benefits to drawing spousal benefits instead, you could start collecting your own benefits at full retirement age (FRA) and then apply for an excess spousal benefit when your spouse starts drawing his benefits, and the net effect would be the same.

For example, let’s say Mary files for her Social Security retirement benefits at full retirement age (FRA). Mary’s monthly benefit rate would then be equal to her primary insurance amount (PIA). Several years later, Mary’s husband applies for his benefits, and his PIA significantly larger.

Mary’s excess spousal benefit would then be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband’s PIA. Mary would then be paid her excess spousal amount in addition to her own retirement benefit, making her total benefit equal to a full 50% of her husband’s PIA. Best, Larry


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