Can Social Security recalculate benefits after working years with higher income post-retirement?

Yes! Social Security automatically recalculates benefits annually based on additional earnings. This is called an Automatic Earnings Recomputation (AERO). If your brother has had significantly higher earnings since starting benefits, SSA reviews his record each year after his employer reports his earnings (typically after tax filing season). If these higher earnings years can replace lower earning years in his highest 35 years (which is what SSA uses for benefit calculations), his Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) will increase. Any increase would be paid retroactively to January of the year following the year he earned the higher wages. He doesn't need to apply for this recalculation - it happens automatically.

my dad works after retirement and got a letter once saying his benefit went up like $23 a month. not much but better than nothing i guess lol

The AERO process (Automatic Earnings Recomputation) typically runs during the fall months after all tax data has been processed. However, if your brother hasn't seen any increases despite having significantly higher earnings, there might be a few explanations: 1. His new earnings aren't high enough to replace any of his existing top 35 years used in his initial calculation 2. The SSA might have missed applying the recalculation (rare but possible) 3. The benefit increase might have been small enough that he didn't notice it He can request an earnings statement through his my Social Security account at ssa.gov to verify all his earnings are correctly recorded. If he believes he should have received an increase, he can contact SSA directly to request a manual recalculation review.

I went through something similar with my wife's benefits. She had higher earnings after starting benefits at 62, and we were waiting for increases that never seemed to come. After months of trying to reach someone at SSA (impossible!), I found this service called Claimyr that got us through to an agent in under 10 minutes. The website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU When we finally got through, we discovered that her recalculation had been processed but there was a system error that prevented the adjustment from being applied to her payments. The agent fixed it on the spot and she received back payments for the increases she should have been getting. Might be worth checking into if your brother thinks he should have seen increases by now.

My situation was almost exactly like your brothers! I started my SS at 62 (wish I'd waited but too late now lol) and then got a really good job at 66. Been working full time ever since (I'm 73) and they did increase my benefit twice over the years. Not huge amounts but about $170 total more per month than when I started. I didn't do anything special, just got letters saying it was happening.

I'm wondering if those zero years for caregiving might actually qualify for Caregiver Credits? I've heard some talk about this being considered in congress, but I don't think it's actually a thing yet in the US Social Security system, though it should be! Many other countries give credit for caregiving years. Might be worth asking SSA about this specifically, though I suspect they'll say no...

Thanks everyone for the helpful information! I just spoke with my brother and apparently he HAS received a couple of small increases over the years, but they were so minimal (like $15-20 each time) that he didn't think much of them - he assumed they were just cost of living adjustments. Based on your comments, I'm going to recommend he: 1. Check his my Social Security account to review his earnings record 2. Make sure all his recent higher earnings are properly recorded 3. If everything looks correct but the increases seem too small, try to contact SSA directly I'll let him know about the Claimyr service too since he's been complaining about not being able to get through on the phone. Really appreciate all the help!

That sounds like a solid plan! One thing to keep in mind - those small increases he received probably WERE from the automatic recalculations, not just COLA adjustments. COLA increases typically happen in January and affect everyone, while AERO adjustments are individual and can happen at different times throughout the year. Since he had those zero-income caregiving years, even modest post-retirement earnings could be replacing those zeros in his calculation, which would result in smaller increases than if he were replacing higher-earning years. The good news is that every dollar of increase compounds over time, so even those $15-20 bumps add up to hundreds of extra dollars per year. If his recent earnings are significantly higher than his historical average, there's definitely potential for larger future adjustments as more of those higher-earning years get factored in. Good luck getting through to SSA if needed!

Just want to add that if your brother is still working at 71, he's also benefiting from not having any earnings reduction penalties anymore! Since he's past full retirement age, he can earn as much as he wants without any reduction to his Social Security benefits - which is great since those higher earnings are also helping boost his future monthly payments through the AERO process. One more tip: if he does contact SSA and finds out his earnings record is missing some information, he should have his tax returns and W-2s ready as proof. Sometimes there can be delays in employer reporting or processing that cause earnings to not show up right away in the SSA system. It sounds like everything is working as it should, even if the increases seem small. Those zero caregiving years really do drag down the average, but every year of higher earnings helps!

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who went through a similar situation! My husband started collecting at 62 due to health issues, then was able to return to work part-time at 68. We were pleasantly surprised when SSA sent us a notice about 8 months later saying his monthly benefit had increased by $42. What really helped us was setting up automatic notifications through his my Social Security account - now we get alerts whenever there are changes to his record or benefit amount. It's much easier than trying to track these things manually or wondering if adjustments happened. Also worth noting: if your brother's recent earnings are substantially higher than his pre-retirement average, the recalculations might continue for several years as each new high-earning year gets added to his record. The increases might get larger over time if he keeps earning more than his historical average!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation with my father who started collecting at 64 and has been working part-time since 67. Reading through everyone's experiences, I realize we should probably check his my Social Security account more regularly to see if any automatic recalculations have happened. One question I have - for those who have seen increases through AERO, do they typically send you a formal letter notifying you of the change, or does it just show up as a different amount in your monthly payment? My dad is pretty good about keeping track of his finances, but I want to make sure we're not missing any notifications about benefit adjustments. Also, does anyone know if there's a minimum threshold for how much your new earnings need to exceed your previous years to trigger a recalculation? Or does any increase in the top 35 years result in at least some benefit adjustment?