Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I used to take great pleasure logging into my online SS account the first of every month from the time I turned 62 until last month when I turned 66.
They would have a line for "If you started collecting SS today" and every month it would go up. Now, that line is gone. All I have is the Age 66 and Age 70 figures. Even though I'm one month past 66. It still shows the same number as last month.
Is this just the way it is? From now on no updates? Just have to estimate what the number would be?
When I turned FRA (66), mine went wonky too. Then a few months later I filed and suspended and now at 68 can't even get an estimate. So yes, don't count on any future updates.
What might or not be going on is that any so-called "estimate" is out the window now that we're down to crunch time? Like you, I miss playing with the numbers and especially seeing what I'm gaining by delaying. We're outliers that the program can't handle.
May I ask if both of you noticed how accurate the program was in the estimates from when you were 62 vs the last good one before it went wonky? Were the differences large or small and higher or lower comparing the two? I assume you both are retired and not adding any more years of income to the SS system.
For me it wasn't about the amounts, it was that the report itself would show estimates for some future ages and not others, and there was no pattern as to which ones it would show. It was as though once I reached FRA, it couldn't handle and report the estimates.
Yes I retired at 63, am no longer paying in and am delaying my benefits until age 69 or 70. I filed and suspended so DH - who is delaying until 70 - could draw spousal. His spousal is 50% of what my FRA (66) would have been. When we double his spousal benefit amount, it's about 4% lower than my age 66 estimated amount showed.
I just filed recently, and will get my first check late this month. The estimate was accurate, but they don't include the 134.00 per month for the medi-care premium, so that should be considered. It has increased quite a bit in the last few years.
It is really hard to get projected benefits now after 66. Even when I filed the initial screener didn't have access to. The final person did.
Use the calculator at this SSA webpage to compute the % amount of increase over FRA, based on your DOB and your projected future month you want benefits to start. ( The increase is 2/3 of 1% per month of delay)
May I ask if both of you noticed how accurate the program was in the estimates from when you were 62 vs the last good one before it went wonky? Were the differences large or small and higher or lower comparing the two? I assume you both are retired and not adding any more years of income to the SS system.
Just like I track net worth weekly, I track retirement income weekly. (what can I say, I'm retired I have a lot of time). So the first of every month I'd log into SS and see what my retirement would be if I retired that month, and it was always $100-$120 more annually than the month before.
Until this month when the number didn't change. So I guess that is normal and I'll just estimate.
under fra mine shows about a 14 dollar a month difference for each month i wait and about 17 a month after fra . . i just filed for checks to start in October so game over .
my wife did what she needed to do to get a spousal adder to her benefit on friday . they did it over the phone and she will get a 314.00 dollar a month adder to her early benefit she started taking 4 years ago .
Last edited by mathjak107; 07-03-2017 at 04:23 AM..
The problem with the online SSA calculators is they only allow one future income number that is used for all subsequent years. It doesn't allow income for two years then the rest zeros until filing, for instance. And once you have 35 years of max, it apparently ignores the future income numbers. I can put in zero or $150k and I get the exact same predicted estimate in the same year.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.