Social Security survivor benefits hiding your retirement estimate - screen grab before applying!
I'm posting this as a heads up to anyone planning to claim survivor benefits now but switch to their own retirement later. MAKE SURE you save/print your retirement benefit estimates BEFORE applying for survivor benefits! I just found out the hard way that once you start receiving survivor benefits, the SSA website completely removes access to your own retirement benefit estimates. I was planning to take survivor benefits at 60 (next month) and switch to my own higher retirement benefit at 70, but now I have no idea what that amount will be! The SSA rep I finally reached after 2 hours on hold confirmed this is how their system works. She couldn't even tell me my future benefit amount over the phone - said I'd need to schedule an appointment. This makes planning impossible! Has anyone else experienced this? Any workarounds to see your own retirement estimates while on survivor benefits?
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Isabel Vega
yep happened to me too last year. its ridiculous they dont warn you about this! i had to make an appointment at my local office just to find out what my own benefit would be at FRA. took 3 weeks to get in!! print EVERYTHING before you apply
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Laila Prince
•3 weeks?! I can't believe they make it this complicated. Did they at least give you a printout with all your future benefit amounts at different ages when you finally got your appointment?
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Dominique Adams
This is actually by design in the SSA system, unfortunately. When you receive any benefit, the system stops calculating estimates for other potential benefits. Your best approach is to request a PEBES (earnings and benefits estimate statement) before applying for survivors. For those who didn't, you'll need an appointment where they can run a manual calculation of your retirement benefit at different ages. Make sure to specifically request the PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) calculation and the estimates at key ages (62, FRA, and 70).
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Marilyn Dixon
•Is a PEBES the same as the annual statement? I thought they stopped mailing those years ago
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Louisa Ramirez
THANKS for posting this!! My husband passed last month and I'm considering survivor benefits but was planning to switch to my own at 67 (my FRA). I just took screenshots of ALL my estimates at different ages. Why doesn't SSA mention this ANYWHERE in their materials? Seems like important information!!
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TommyKapitz
•I'm so sorry for your loss. I went through the same thing when my wife passed. The whole survivor benefits system is confusing enough without these hidden gotchas. When I applied, they didn't explain half of what I needed to know. I had to learn everything from forums like this one.
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Angel Campbell
The SSA system is INTENTIONALLY designed to make it difficult to maximize your benefits!!! They don't want people to strategize between survivor and retirement benefits because it costs them more money when we optimize. I had this EXACT SAME PROBLEM and ended up having to file a FOIA request just to get my own earning history to calculate my benefits myself. The system is BROKEN!
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Marilyn Dixon
•is a FOIA request hard to do? never heard of that approach before
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Payton Black
If you haven't applied yet, here's what I recommend: 1) Print or save screenshots of your retirement benefit estimates at all ages (62, FRA, 70) 2) Download all your earnings history 3) Get the latest Social Security Statement 4) Calculate and save your PIA using the calculators on SSA.gov If you've already applied for survivor benefits without doing this, you'll need to contact SSA directly. The fastest way to reach them is using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was skeptical but their service got me through to an agent in under 10 minutes instead of the usual hours on hold. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent can't give you estimates over the phone but can schedule you with a claims specialist who can run the calculations.
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Laila Prince
•Thank you for these specific steps! I wish I'd done this before applying. I'll check out that Claimyr service - at this point I'd try anything to avoid another 2+ hour wait just to speak to someone who can help me.
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TommyKapitz
I ran into this issue when I started widow's benefits at 60. I had printed my info beforehand (thank goodness) but even with that, I found the calculations confusing. My FRA amount and age 70 amount seemed much lower than expected after I factored in COLAs. Turns out survivor benefits and your own retirement use different rules for calculating delayed retirement credits. It's worth asking lots of questions when you get your appointment.
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Louisa Ramirez
•Wait, are you saying that even if I have my retirement estimates printed out now, they might not be accurate for when I actually switch from survivors to retirement in 7 years? That's concerning...
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Marilyn Dixon
does anyone know if this affects disability too? my husband gets SSDI and was going to switch to retirement at full retirement age, but now im worried he wont know what his retirement would be
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Isabel Vega
•for SSDI its actually different - the disability benefit automatically converts to retirement at exactly the same amount when you hit FRA. no need to "switch" or apply for anything
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Angel Campbell
The RIDICULOUS thing is that they HAVE all this information in their systems!! There's absolutely NO TECHNICAL REASON they couldn't show you both benefit types. It's just bad programming and outdated systems. My neighbor works for SSA and even she admits their computer systems are from the STONE AGE. Our government at work folks!!!
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Laila Prince
•That's so frustrating! Did your neighbor have any inside tips for dealing with this issue? I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get accurate estimates without waiting weeks for an appointment.
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