Will higher income after taking Social Security at FRA increase my future SS benefits?

Great question about post-FRA earnings! Yes, Social Security will automatically recalculate your benefit amount each year if your recent earnings replace a lower-earning year in your top 35. The SSA does this annual recomputation in the year following your additional earnings (usually around October). Any increase would be retroactive to January of that year. Just keep in mind the impact might be modest depending on how many higher-earning years you already have in your record.

my brother in law had this happen! he kept working as a contractor after taking SS at 66 and got a small raise in his benefits the next year. wasnt huge but hey every dollar helps right

You're making a VERY smart move! I did something similar - took SS at FRA but kept working as a consultant. After 2 years my benefit went up by about $75/month because my consulting income replaced two lower-earning years from way back in my career. The increase isn't immediate though - they recalculate once a year. Make sure you check your mySocialSecurity account around December-January to see if there's any adjustment. Some people never even notice they got an increase!

They definitely recompute benefits based on post-FRA work! My wife's benefit went up $43/month after she worked one more year past claiming. But here's what nobody tells you - if you're paying into Medicare Part B from your SS check, sometimes you don't even notice the increase because the Medicare premium went up too! Double-check your benefit verification letter each year to see the actual changes.

Actually what you're talking about is called an Automatic Earnings Recomputation (AERO). Your benefit amount is NOT locked in at FRA. SSA reviews earnings records annually and automatically recalculates benefits if new earnings replace lower ones in your highest 35 years. However, the impact tends to be modest because: 1) Only one year of higher earnings replaces one lower year, so the overall average doesn't change dramatically 2) The benefit formula gives higher weight to lower earnings portions, so additional high earnings have diminishing returns. Still worth working if you want/need to, but don't expect huge increases.

I'm so confused about this!! I thought once you start getting your Social Securty the amount is FIXED forever??? My husband has been working past his full retirement age for 2 years now and our benefits haven't gone up one penny!!! Is this another thing the government says they do but don't actually follow through on??? We could really use that extra money with inflation being so bad. Should I call the SSA office and demand they review his case???

Your benefit CAN increase from post-FRA work, but don't get too excited. Been there, done that. The increase is usually minimal because: 1) It's only replacing one year in a 35-year average 2) By FRA most people already have solid earnings records 3) The formula weights early career earnings differently than later ones. My last increase was literally $11/month after working a full year making $85K. Barely worth the paperwork.

To add to what others have said - if you're self-employed in this new consulting position, make sure you're actually reporting the income and paying self-employment taxes. I know someone who did consulting work after FRA but tried to minimize taxes by running expenses through the business, and then was surprised when that year didn't help their SS benefit at all. The recalculation is based on your taxable earnings, not gross income.