Will reduced income Jan-May 2025 affect my Social Security amount if FRA is May 2025?
I've been working for 35 years and planning to retire at the end of December 2024. My Full Retirement Age (FRA) is May 2025, so I'll be applying for benefits to start in May when I hit 66 and 10 months. Here's what's worrying me - from January through April 2025, I won't have any regular work income, just some part-time consulting that will pay maybe 1/3 of my usual salary. Will these 4 months of reduced income hurt my final SS benefit calculation? I thought they use your highest 35 years, but I'm concerned about this gap right before my FRA. Does anyone know if these low-earning months will drag down my benefit? Thank you in advance for any help!
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Jean Claude
dnt worry about it. SS uses your highest 35 yrs of earnings, not just the last few months. those 4 months wont matter if youve worked full time for decades.
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Chris Elmeda
•That's a relief! I was stressing because someone at work told me the last year matters most. Thanks for clearing that up.
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Charity Cohan
Your benefit amount is based on your highest 35 years of earnings (adjusted for inflation), not just the months before you file. If you've worked 35+ years at higher earnings than what you'll make in early 2025, those few months of reduced income won't impact your benefit calculation at all. SSA will simply use your previous higher-earning years instead. One thing to note - since your FRA is May 2025, if you apply for benefits to start exactly at your FRA, you won't face any earnings test limitations. If you had started benefits before FRA, there would be earnings limits to consider for those early months of 2025.
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Chris Elmeda
•Thank you for explaining! So if I understand correctly, as long as these 4 months aren't among my highest 35 years (which they definitely won't be), they'll just be ignored in the calculation?
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Charity Cohan
•That's exactly right. SSA will look at your entire earnings history, adjust those earnings for inflation (called "indexing"), and then take the highest 35 years to calculate your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). If those 4 months in 2025 have lower earnings than your other years, they simply won't be included in the calculation.
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Josef Tearle
I went through something similar last year. Called SSA multiple times to get someone who could explain this clearly and kept getting disconnected or waiting forever. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent in under 20 minutes. They have this video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed exactly what others said - those few months won't hurt your calculation if you have 35 years of better earnings. Saved me a lot of stress knowing for sure!
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Shelby Bauman
•I've heard of Claimyr but never tried it. Does it actually work? I've spent HOURS trying to get through to SS on the phone.
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Josef Tearle
•Yes, it definitely worked for me. I was skeptical too but was desperate after trying for days to get through. The agent I spoke with was really helpful and confirmed my benefit wouldn't be affected by my situation.
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Quinn Herbert
EVERYONE KEEPS SAYING THE HIGHEST 35 YEARS BUT THIS IS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE!!! The SSA uses a complex formula and those months CAN affect your benefit if you don't understand how the calculation works!!!! They first index your earnings then calculate your AIME then apply bend points and it MATTERS WHICH YEARS are included! My brother-in-law retired last year and his last months DID affect his payment! Don't just listen to people who oversimplify!!!
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Salim Nasir
•While the calculation does involve indexing earnings and applying bend points to determine your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), the fundamental principle remains that only your highest 35 years of indexed earnings are used to calculate your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). If the earnings during those few months in 2025 are lower than the indexed earnings in your other years, they won't be included in the calculation. Your brother-in-law's situation may have been different - perhaps he had fewer than 35 years of earnings, or those final months replaced earlier years with lower indexed earnings.
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Quinn Herbert
•Maybe your right but everyone's situation is different! The OP should still check with SSA directly rather than trusting forum advice! Too much at stake!
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Hazel Garcia
I retired 2 years ago and was in almost the exact same boat. my FRA was april 2023 and i stopped working in december 2022. those months of no income didn't affect my SS payment at all. you'll be fine as long as you have a solid work history.
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Chris Elmeda
•That's really reassuring to hear from someone who went through almost the exact same timeline. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Shelby Bauman
I think the bigger question is why wait until your FRA in May? If you're not working full-time after December, why not just file in January and get those extra 4 months of benefits? Sure, they'd be reduced a tiny bit, but you'd get 4 more checks.
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Charity Cohan
•This is a reasonable question, but it depends on the math. Filing 4 months before FRA would permanently reduce benefits by about 2.2% (0.56% per month). For someone with a $2,500 monthly benefit, that's about $55 less per month for life. The 4 additional checks would need to be weighed against this permanent reduction.
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Chris Elmeda
•That's a good point! I hadn't even considered filing early. I need to do the math and see if those 4 extra payments would outweigh the permanent reduction. Appreciate the suggestion!
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Laila Fury
When I filed for social security last year they told me that the 35 years don't have to be consecutive. I was so relieved because I took 7 years off to raise my kids in the 90s. The nice lady said that if I had less than 35 years total they just use zeros for the missing years which really lowers your benefit. But I had 38 years total so I was ok. Hope that helps with your situation too.
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Chris Elmeda
•Thank you for sharing! I've worked pretty consistently for about 37 years, so it sounds like I should be in good shape. It's interesting to learn how they handle years with no work.
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Charity Cohan
Just to add a bit more clarity: the benefit calculation is more specifically based on your highest 35 years of *indexed* earnings. SSA adjusts your past earnings to account for changes in wage levels over time. So $50,000 earned in 1990 would be indexed to a higher value to make it comparable to $50,000 earned today. For most people retiring in 2025, earnings from before 1991 will be indexed, and earnings from 1991 and later are taken at face value. That's why sometimes recent earnings (even if nominally higher) might not replace earlier indexed earnings in your calculation.
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Chris Elmeda
•Wow, I had no idea about the indexing! That's fascinating and makes me feel even better since some of my highest earning years (adjusted for inflation) were probably in the early 2000s. Thank you for explaining this.
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Josef Tearle
My two cents - make sure when you apply that you specify you want benefits to START in May 2025 (your FRA month), not that you're APPLYING in May. You can actually apply up to 4 months before you want benefits to begin. So you could apply in January or February but specify May as your benefit start month.
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Chris Elmeda
•Oh that's extremely helpful! I didn't realize I could apply early but specify the May start date. That would give me peace of mind knowing it's all set up ahead of time.
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