Social Security delayed credits - do post-FRA earnings boost my age 70 benefit amount?
I'm trying to figure out if working until age 70 will increase my Social Security benefit compared to retiring at my FRA but still delaying benefits until 70. I'm turning 67 (my FRA) next month, and I've already paid maximum SS taxes for 32 years of my career. My plan is to collect at 70 to get those delayed retirement credits, but I'm wondering if continuing to work these next three years will actually add anything to my monthly check. If I stop working at my FRA but don't claim until 70, will I get the same amount as if I kept working those three years? Or do those extra earnings between 67-70 actually factor into the calculation even though I've already maxed out contributions for decades? I understand the 8% per year increase for waiting, but I'm confused about whether additional earnings in those years matter for someone with my work history. Basically, is there any financial benefit to continuing to work until 70 versus retiring at 67 but still claiming at 70? Thanks for any help!
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Ravi Patel
Yes, those additional earnings absolutely can increase your benefit, even after FRA. Social Security calculates your benefit based on your highest 35 years of indexed earnings. If your current earnings (even between FRA and age 70) are higher than any of those 35 years currently being counted, they'll replace a lower year in the calculation. So if you're replacing, say, earnings from early in your career when you made less money, with higher current earnings, your average indexed monthly earnings will increase, which means your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) increases. Then the delayed retirement credits get applied to that higher PIA. But if your current earnings wouldn't be among your highest 35 years (after indexing), then working those extra years won't change your benefit amount.
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Emma Johnson
•That makes a lot more sense now, thank you! I think I misunderstood how the 35-year calculation works. So even though I've maxed out my contributions for 30+ years, they're still looking at my *highest* 35 years, not just any 35 years where I paid in. I'll have to check my earnings record to see if my current income would replace any lower years in my history.
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Astrid Bergström
if your making more now than u did in the past it helps. i worked past fra and it bumped me up like $70 extra a month cause i replaced some crappy years from my 20s lol
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PixelPrincess
•This is a good point. Even if you've already had 30 years of maximum earnings, if you have ANY years in your top 35 that weren't at the maximum, then working these final years at maximum earnings would increase your benefit. The system specifically favors this by looking at your highest-earning 35 years, not just any 35 years you contributed.
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Omar Farouk
I was in your EXACT SAME situation! Called SSA like 10 times trying to get a straight answer on this. FINALLY got through to someone who really knew their stuff. Working past FRA absolutely can increase your benefits IF AND ONLY IF your current earnings are replacing lower-earning years. The problem? Getting accurate numbers from SSA is IMPOSSIBLE! They will not tell you exactly how much working those years will increase your benefit until you actually file. It's so frustrating!!! I ended up working 2 more years past my FRA and it only increased my monthly check by about $49. For me, that wasn't worth delaying retirement. GOOD LUCK getting through to anyone at SSA who can actually calculate this properly for your specific situation!!
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Chloe Martin
•I've been calling SSA for 3 weeks trying to ask a similar question and can't get through to anyone. So frustrating!
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Diego Fernández
•Try using Claimyr if you need to talk to someone at SSA quickly. I was dealing with the same frustration trying to get detailed benefit calculations, spent weeks hitting redial. Finally used claimyr.com and got through to someone at SSA in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with was able to run calculations showing exactly how much my post-FRA work would affect my benefit. For me it was worth working two more years because I replaced some early career earnings and boosted my monthly benefit by nearly $200.
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Anastasia Kuznetsov
What about self employment? Does paying self employment tax during those 3 years between FRA and 70 count the same way? Anyone know?
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Ravi Patel
•Yes, self-employment earnings count exactly the same as regular W-2 employment when it comes to Social Security calculations. As long as you're paying Self-Employment tax (which is essentially both the employee and employer portions of FICA), those earnings go on your Social Security record and can potentially replace lower-earning years in your top 35.
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PixelPrincess
Let me add something important that hasn't been mentioned yet. There are actually two separate ways working post-FRA can increase your benefit: 1. Replacing lower earnings years in your top 35, as others have mentioned 2. The Recomputation of Benefits for people already receiving SS Even if you're already receiving benefits, SSA automatically recomputes your benefit each year to account for new earnings. This is called an Automatic Earnings Recomputation (AER). For someone in your situation with 30+ years of maximum earnings, the likelihood of a significant benefit increase from additional work is lower, but it's still possible. The best approach would be to create a my Social Security account, download your complete earnings history, and identify your 35 highest-earning years after indexing. If you have any years in that top 35 that are below the maximum taxable earnings for those years, then additional work could increase your benefit.
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Emma Johnson
•This is incredibly helpful, thank you! I do have a my Social Security account, but I've never thought to download my full earnings history and do this analysis. I'll do that this weekend and see where I stand. Really appreciate the detailed explanation.
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Chloe Martin
My cousin didn't work after FRA but still waited till 70 to collect and he gets more than his friend who kept working till 70. So I think it depends on each person's work history.
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Ravi Patel
•You're right that it's highly individual. If your cousin already had 35 high-earning years, additional work wouldn't increase his PIA much, and the 24% increase from delayed retirement credits (8% per year from FRA to 70) would be the same whether he worked or not. His friend may have had a lower lifetime earning average to begin with.
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Astrid Bergström
wait i thought SS only counted 30 years not 35??
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PixelPrincess
•Social Security definitely uses 35 years, not 30, for the benefit calculation. They take your highest 35 years of earnings (after indexing them for inflation), average them, and use that to determine your primary insurance amount (PIA). If you have fewer than 35 years of earnings, they'll use zeros for the missing years, which lowers your average.
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Emma Johnson
Thanks everyone for the helpful information! Based on your responses, I'm going to download my earnings history and check my lowest-earning years in the top 35. Even though I've had 30+ years at max contribution, I definitely had some lower-earning years in my 20s that might get replaced. Seems like it's worth analyzing before I make my decision about continuing to work.
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Omar Farouk
•Smart move! Just remember that when they do the calculation, they adjust all your past earnings for inflation ("indexing"), so those early years get a boost in the calculations. My SSA agent explained that a year where I earned $25,000 in the 1980s might actually count as $70,000+ in today's dollars after indexing. That's why some of my recent work didn't help as much as I expected - my indexed early years were actually pretty competitive with my current salary!
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