How to calculate Social Security benefits when waiting until 70 after retiring at FRA?

the zeros wont hurt u if ur past FRA, u get 8% per year increase for waiting till 70 no matter what. the calculator is under 'plan for retirement' on ssa.gov but its not very clear. i think u might be confused about how SS works

You have a common misunderstanding about how Social Security benefits are calculated. Your benefit amount is based on your highest 35 years of earnings (adjusted for inflation). Once you reach your Full Retirement Age (FRA), adding zeros by not working will not reduce your benefit amount if you already have 35 years of earnings. What will happen is that for each month you delay claiming beyond your FRA up to age 70, you receive Delayed Retirement Credits of 2/3 of 1% per month (8% per year). This is a guaranteed increase regardless of whether you're working or not. You can verify this on the SSA website by: 1. Going to ssa.gov and logging into your my Social Security account 2. Click on "Retirement Calculator" or "Benefit Estimator" 3. You can enter different retirement ages (including 70) to see how your benefit changes 4. There's also a more detailed calculator called the "Retirement Estimator" that allows you to enter projected future earnings (where you could enter zeros) Bottom line - waiting until 70 will INCREASE your benefit by approximately 24% compared to claiming at your FRA, regardless of whether you work during those years or not.

I was in the EXACT same boat last year!! The SSA website is SO confusing. I finally gave up and called them directly after trying for HOURS to figure it out online. Spent THREE DAYS trying to get through!!! Would hang up on me after 2 hours on hold!!! RIDICULOUS!!! When I finally got someone, they explained that zeros after FRA don't hurt your calculation AT ALL. The 8% per year increase is GUARANTEED no matter what. But good luck getting anyone on the phone to confirm this for your specific situation!

What you're looking for is the detailed calculator you can download to your computer. It's called the Retirement Estimator or sometimes the Detailed Calculator. You have to download special software from SSA.gov. I think you go to the Tools section. After you install it, you can input different scenarios including years with zero earnings. It's not the easiest thing to use but it's very accurate. But what everyone else said is correct too - those zeros won't hurt you after FRA. The 35-year calculation is already done at that point, and the delay credits are guaranteed regardless of work status. I used the calculator to plan my own retirement and it matched almost exactly what I'm getting now.

My husband retired at 67 but waited till 69 to claim and the amount was definitely higher than if he'd claimed right away! The SSA office told him the extra money was like getting an 8% guaranteed return per year which is way better than anything else right now. Not sure about any calculator but the extra $$$ each month is real.

he was fully retired those 2 years, played a lot of golf lol

One more thing - when you do claim at 70, make sure you understand how your benefits will be taxed. Depending on your other income sources, up to 85% of your Social Security can be subject to federal income tax. Many people don't plan for this and get surprised at tax time. Your state may also tax SS benefits differently.

To answer your specific question about finding this on the website: The tool you want is called the "Retirement Estimator" which you can find here: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html When you log in with your my Social Security credentials, you can see estimates based on different claiming ages. There's also an option to enter custom earnings amounts for future years where you could enter zeros. If you want even more detail, you can download the "Detailed Calculator" software mentioned earlier, but for most people, the online tool provides sufficient information.