Social Security benefit not increasing despite higher earnings after FRA - calculation issue?
So I've been collecting Social Security since about 7 months after reaching my full retirement age (66 years, 8 months). I'm still working full-time at my company, and for the last few years, whenever I got a raise, I'd notice a small increase in my monthly SS benefit a few months later. Nothing huge, maybe $20-40 extra per month, but it was nice to see. Last April I got a pretty substantial promotion with almost a 14% salary bump (from $82,400 to $93,800 annually), but I haven't seen ANY increase in my SS payment like I did with previous raises. My monthly benefit is still exactly $2,764. I know SS recalculates benefits based on continued work after starting benefits, but something seems off. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there some earnings threshold where they stop increasing your benefit? Or maybe the SSA just hasn't processed it yet? It's been almost a year since my salary increase.
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Simon White
There are a few things to consider here. Social Security does recalculate your benefit annually if you continue working after claiming, but only if your current earnings are higher than one of your 35 highest earning years that were used for your original benefit calculation. At higher earnings levels, it takes a more substantial difference to move the needle because they're replacing years that might already have good earnings. Plus, the benefit formula gives less weight to higher earnings. The recalculation typically happens in the fall after the previous year's earnings are processed. So the increase from your 2023 earnings might show up later this year.
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Geoff Richards
•Thanks for the explanation - that makes sense. I didn't realize they only replace lower earning years in the calculation. Most of my career I made decent money, but I had about 3 years in my late 20s where I earned much less. So maybe my current earnings are only replacing those lower years and not making much difference anymore.
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Hugo Kass
i had something similar happen! worked for 4 years after i started getting ss and got tiny increases first 3 yrs but nothing for the last one even tho i got a big raise that year
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Nasira Ibanez
•Same experience here. I think once you get to a certain point the increases stop being noticeable. Something about the formula they use.
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Khalil Urso
I went through EXACTLY this last year! Got excited about a big promotion thinking my SS would go up nicely, but nada. Called SSA about it and after waiting 2+ hours finally talked to someone who explained that my new earnings weren't enough higher than my 35th highest year to make a meaningful difference. Basically if you had good earnings for most of your career, continuing to work might only bump out years that were already pretty decent, so the impact is minimal. The way they calculate it with indexed earnings and then averaging over 35 years means even significant raises might only move your benefit by a few dollars.
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Myles Regis
•This is exactly right. The SSA recalculation takes your highest 35 years of indexed earnings. If your new earnings are only slightly higher than your 35th best year, the impact on your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) will be very small. The formula gives you 90% of the first portion of your average indexed monthly earnings, then 32% of the next portion, and only 15% of anything above that. So if your recent earnings are in that highest bracket, you're only seeing 15 cents on the dollar in benefit increase. Also, don't forget that there is a maximum taxable earnings limit each year ($168,600 for 2024), and earnings above that don't count toward your benefit calculation.
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Brian Downey
The WHOLE SYSTEM is rigged!! I've been working for 5 YEARS after starting benefits and my checks barely budged! They DON'T WANT to give us what we deserve after decades of paying in!!! I think there's some secret cap they don't tell us about. Anyone who tells you different is just repeating SSA propaganda. Has anyone actually gotten a SUBSTANTIAL increase from working after FRA? I doubt it!
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Simon White
•There isn't a secret cap - the benefit calculation formula is publicly available. It's just that the formula is weighted to provide higher replacement rates for lower earnings. As your earnings increase, each additional dollar has less impact on your benefit amount. I've seen clients receive meaningful increases, but it usually happens when they're replacing very low earning years or zero-earning years in their computation period. If you already had 35 solid earning years, continuing to work won't change your benefit much.
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Jacinda Yu
Hey have you checked your earnings record on the MySocialSecurity website? Go to ssa.gov and create an account if you don't have one. Maybe your employer didn't report your earnings correctly or something? Worth checking before assuming the SSA calculation is the issue.
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Geoff Richards
•I do have an account and just checked - my 2023 earnings are showing correctly on my record. Looks like it's probably just what others mentioned about the calculation not resulting in much change at this point in my career.
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Nasira Ibanez
My brother had this exact issue... tried calling SSA for months but could never get through. Wait times were insane or calls just dropped. Super frustrating!
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Geoff Richards
•Yeah, I tried calling twice but gave up after being on hold for over an hour each time. It's nearly impossible to talk to someone there these days.
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Jacinda Yu
•Just a tip - I've been using this service called Claimyr to get through to SSA without the crazy wait times. It basically holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration when I had questions about my survivor benefits calculation. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU I used them twice now and got through to a live person both times within 25 minutes instead of the 2+ hour wait. Their website is claimyr.com if you want to check it out. Definitely worth it for complicated questions that need a real person's help.
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Khalil Urso
One other thing to consider - they don't just automatically recalculate your benefit when your earnings increase. The recalculation (called an Automatic Earnings Reappraisal Operation or AERO) happens annually, usually in October of the year AFTER you earned the money. So your 2023 earnings would trigger a recalculation in October 2024. If you get an increase, it would be retroactive to January 2024, and you'd get a small lump sum for the retroactive amount. So you might still see something later this year!
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Geoff Richards
•Thank you for this info! I didn't know about the timing of recalculations. I'll keep an eye out in October to see if anything changes. Sounds like I shouldn't expect much though based on what everyone's saying about the high-earner years not making much difference.
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Hugo Kass
dont forget about the bend points!!! thats what my nephew who works at h&r block told me. after certain amounts u only get like 15 cents for each dollar or something crazy like that
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Myles Regis
•You're absolutely right about the bend points. For 2023, the formula gives you: - 90% of the first $1,115 of your AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) - 32% of your AIME between $1,115 and $6,721 - Only 15% of your AIME over $6,721 So yes, at higher earnings levels, each additional dollar of earnings only increases your benefit by about 15 cents on an annualized basis, and that's before spreading the impact across 35 years of earnings.
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Brian Downey
I just got my annual Social Security statement and had EXACTLY ZERO increase even though I worked all last year! Pretty sure this is related to the trust fund issues they're not telling us about. They can't afford to pay us what we deserve anymore!!
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Khalil Urso
•Your annual benefit statement doesn't actually show these kinds of recalculations. The AERO process happens separately, and any increase would show up as a change in your monthly payment, not on your statement. The trust fund issues are real, but they're not affecting current benefit calculations.
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Geoff Richards
Thank you all for the helpful responses! This makes a lot more sense now. I was expecting the same pattern of increases I saw before, but I didn't understand all the factors involved. Sounds like: 1. The recalculation only helps if my current earnings are replacing much lower earnings years 2. At my income level, additional earnings only impact benefits at 15% of the value 3. The October 2024 recalculation might still show a small increase from my 2023 earnings I appreciate everyone taking the time to explain this. The Social Security system is so much more complicated than I realized!
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