Still earning Social Security credits while collecting at FRA? Are local SS seminars worth attending?

Good questions! Yes, you absolutely continue earning credits toward your Social Security benefit even after you've started collecting at your FRA. The SSA will automatically recalculate your benefit amount each year if your additional earnings are substantial enough to increase your benefit. This is called an Automatic Earnings Recomputation (AERO). With your part-time accounting work, if those earnings replace a lower-earning year in your top 35 years (which the SSA uses to calculate your benefits), you'll see a slight increase in your monthly benefit. The adjustment is usually small but will continue for the rest of your life, so it definitely adds up! As for those seminars - I've attended a couple. They usually provide some legitimate information about Social Security, but yes, they're ultimately designed to sell financial services. If you're single without the 10-year marriage requirement for ex-spouse benefits, you'll find that about half the content won't apply to you since they focus heavily on spousal coordination strategies.

those seminars are TOTAL SCAMS!!! my brother went to one and ended up with some financial advisor trying to sell him an annuity that had ridiculous fees. the only 'secrets' they share are basic info you can get FREE on the ssa.gov website. dont waste your time!!!

To answer your question specifically about still working while collecting at FRA: Any earnings you have can potentially increase your benefit. SSA looks at your highest 35 years of earnings when calculating your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). If your current part-time work produces earnings that are higher than any of those 35 years, it will replace a lower year and potentially increase your benefit. The benefit increase won't be immediate though. SSA typically reviews your earnings record annually and makes any benefit adjustments in the following year. If you're entitled to a higher benefit, you'll receive a notice and the increase will be retroactive to January of the year after you earned the income. As for the seminars - I've found they're most valuable for: - People with complex marital histories (multiple marriages over 10 years) - Those with government pensions affected by WEP/GPO provisions - Business owners with flexibility in how they take income - Couples with significant age differences Since you mentioned you don't qualify for spousal/divorced spouse benefits, you probably wouldn't get as much value as others might.

My sister went to one of those seminars and said it was basically just trying to scare older folks into buying annuities. The "secrets" were just basic info you could find on the SSA website in 10 minutes.

I've been to several of those seminars, and honestly, they vary dramatically in quality. Some are pure sales pitches with minimal useful information, while others actually do provide valuable insights. Here's what I suggest: 1. Call ahead and ask who's presenting. If it's a financial advisor with insurance/investment licenses but no specific Social Security credentials, it's likely more sales-focused. 2. Look for presenters who have NSSA certification (National Social Security Advisor) or similar credentials specifically in Social Security planning. 3. Ask if they'll be covering topics relevant to your situation (single individuals who don't qualify for spousal benefits). Regarding your work question - yes, your benefit can still increase! SSA will automatically review your earnings record each year. If your current part-time accounting work replaces a lower-earning year in your top 35 years of earnings, your benefit will be adjusted upward. The increase is usually modest (typically 1-3% for most people working part-time after FRA), but it's permanent and comes with COLA adjustments for life, so it's definitely worthwhile. You don't need to do anything to trigger this recalculation - it happens automatically.

If you're having trouble getting through to Social Security to ask questions about how your continued work might affect your benefits, I'd recommend trying Claimyr (claimyr.com). I was on hold for hours trying to get information about my benefit recalculation and getting nowhere. Their service connected me to a real SSA agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with confirmed that working after FRA can definitely increase your benefit through the annual earnings recomputation, and she was able to tell me exactly how much more I was getting based on my post-retirement work. Totally worth it to get concrete answers about my specific situation.

your actually lucky your not married for claiming imo. my husband and i have been trying to figure out the best way to claim and its SO complicated with all the spousal benefit rules changing!!! those seminars LOVE to focus on married couples because thats where they can sound impressive with "strategies" that are basically just telling you when each spouse should file

To directly answer your question about the seminars - they tend to focus on several areas that probably won't benefit you much as a single person: 1. Spousal coordination strategies (when one spouse files for benefits and when the other should file) 2. Survivor benefit planning (maximizing what a surviving spouse might receive) 3. Divorced spouse benefits (which require a 10-year marriage) However, they might cover some relevant topics for your situation: 1. Taxation of Social Security benefits while working 2. Medicare enrollment considerations with employer coverage 3. How retirement account withdrawals impact Social Security taxation It's not that they're scams necessarily, but they're definitely designed to generate client leads for financial advisors. The Social Security information is usually accurate but presented to highlight the need for additional planning services.

Depends on what your goals are. I went to one of those seminars last year and yeah, it was clearly trying to get me to sign up for financial planning services, but I actually learned a few things about how SS calculates the benefits that I didn't know before. I just said no thanks to the sales pitch at the end and went home with the useful info. Free dinner too lol

To answer your specific question about how much your benefit might increase from part-time work: it varies widely based on your earnings history, but I can give you a rough idea. Let's say you're earning about $30,000 annually from your part-time accounting work. If that income replaces a year in your top 35 where you earned significantly less (or even a year with zero earnings), you might see a monthly benefit increase of $15-40 per month. That's about a 0.5-1.5% increase based on your current benefit amount. Small? Yes. But that's an extra $180-480 per year for the rest of your life, with annual COLA increases applied to that higher amount. Over 20+ years of retirement, that can add up to thousands of extra dollars. And no, there's no form to fill out. The SSA does this recomputation automatically every year after your earnings are reported (usually after you file your tax return). Any increase will be retroactive to January of the year following the work year.