Will IRA withdrawals affect my Social Security benefit calculation if I'm not working?

No, those don't count. SS benefits r based on your work earnings that you paid SS taxes on. IRA withdrawals are retirement distributions, not earned income. They count for regular taxes but not for SS calc.

To expand on what the previous commenter said, Social Security calculates your benefit based on your highest 35 years of earnings that were subject to Social Security taxes (FICA or self-employment taxes). IRA withdrawals, whether from inherited IRAs or your own, are not considered earned income and do not have Social Security taxes withheld, only income tax. If you've worked at least 35 years during your lifetime, SSA will use those years. If you worked fewer than 35 years, they'll still use 35 years in the calculation, but some of those years will be zeros, which brings down your average. The good news is that your Social Security benefit calculation is already set based on your work history. The withdrawals you're taking now won't affect it negatively, but they also won't improve your benefit amount.

My brother thought the same thing! He was taking 401k $ out early and thought it would help his SS. The SSA lady told him nope! Only work counts lol

I've dealt with this exact issue. IRA withdrawals are NOT counted as earnings for Social Security purposes. Only earned income where you paid FICA taxes counts. This is actually a common misunderstanding. One thing to consider if you're only short a couple of years in your 35-year calculation: if you're physically able, you might consider working part-time for a year or two. Even modest earnings could replace those zeros in your calculation and potentially increase your monthly benefit. Also worth noting - if you're waiting until your Full Retirement Age (FRA), make sure you understand that you can earn delayed retirement credits by waiting even longer (until age 70). Each year you delay beyond FRA increases your benefit by 8%.

Any amount would replace a zero, but the more you earn (up to the annual maximum taxable earnings limit), the better it would impact your calculation. SSA uses your highest 35 years of indexed earnings, so if you could earn even $10,000-15,000 for a year or two, that would likely make a noticeable difference compared to having zeros. You can create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov to see your current earnings record and get an estimate of your benefits. The site also has calculators that can help you see how different scenarios might affect your benefits.

Just to throw in my 2 cents - I tried for MONTHS to get through to SSA to ask questions like this about my benefits!!! Kept getting busy signals or disconnected after waiting FOREVER. They never answer their phones!! Finally I found Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to a real SS agent in about 20 mins. They have a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU When I finally got through, the agent confirmed what others said - only earnings where you paid SS taxes count toward your benefit calculation. The agent was actually super helpful and reviewed my entire earnings record with me once I got through!

EVERYONE gets this wrong at first!! Social Security is NOT based on your "income" - it's based on your EARNINGS from work that paid into the system!!! IRA money is just your own money coming back to you (or in your case, someone else's money). The government already counted those dollars when they were earned the first time. My husband was so confused about this too.

Thank you all for the helpful replies! This really cleared things up for me. I'm going to look into creating that my Social Security account to check my earnings record and maybe consider some part-time work to fill in those couple of missing years. Much appreciated!

If u do decide to work part time just make sure its real employment where they take out SS taxes. Some contractor jobs don't do that automatically and then you'd have to pay self employment tax yourself.

Just wanted to add one more thing that might be helpful - since you mentioned you're waiting until closer to your full retirement age, make sure you understand the earnings test if you do decide to work part-time. If you claim benefits before your FRA and earn too much from work, SSA will temporarily reduce your benefits (though you get credit for this later). But if you're not claiming benefits yet, you can earn as much as you want without any penalty. This might actually be the perfect time to do some part-time work to boost those final years in your calculation!

Exactly right! Since you're not yet claiming Social Security benefits, you can work and earn as much as you want without any impact on your future benefits - it can only help. The earnings test only kicks in if you're already receiving benefits before your full retirement age. This is actually a great strategy many people use - work a few years between stopping their main career and claiming SS to boost their calculation. Even if you only worked part-time making $20,000-25,000 per year for 2-3 years, those earnings would replace zeros in your 35-year calculation and could meaningfully increase your monthly benefit for the rest of your life. Plus you'd be paying into the system longer, which never hurts!

This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation - retired early but not claiming SS yet. One thing I learned from my financial advisor that might be worth mentioning: if you do decide to work part-time to boost those final years, consider jobs that offer flexibility since you don't necessarily need the income right away. Things like seasonal work, consulting in your former field, or even retail during busy periods can be good options. The key is just making sure you're paying into Social Security on whatever you earn. Even earning the equivalent of minimum wage for 20 hours a week could add up to a meaningful increase in your lifetime benefits!