Social Security How To

How To Download Your Social Security Statement Online:

1. Go to http://ssa.gov/

2. Click on the “my Social Security” link.

3. Click anywhere in the box that says: Sign In or Create an Account

4. Follow the instructions.

5. Expect some credit-related security questions, which you should answer carefully: you may get booted out of the system if your answers don’t match the SSA data base. If that happens, you may have to wait 24 hours before trying again.

Once you have established the account and have logged in, you will see a tab at the top called My Home. Below that are five tabs: you should click on the one labeled Earnings Record. If you scroll down to the bottom of the Earnings Record page, you can click on a link that says Print/Save Your Full Statement. That will generate a full copy of your statement, which you should save as a pdf file on your computer.

How to Qualify for Divorced Spouse Benefits

You may be eligible for divorced spouse benefits if (1) you are currently unmarried, and (2) the divorce occurred following a marriage that lasted at least 10 years, measured from the date of the wedding to the date on which the divorce became final.

If you meet these two requirements, all of the rules governing spousal benefits (as described in the previous FAQ) apply, with the following variations:

• Your ex-spouse must be at least 62, but not necessarily receiving benefits.
• If your ex-spouse is not “entitled” to (i.e., has not yet claimed) his or her own benefits, you must have been divorced for at least two years.
• Two divorced spouses can collect divorced spouse benefits at the same time.

The same grandfathering rules that govern spousal benefits apply here as well.

• If you were born on or before January 1, 1954, and you delay claiming until your FRA, you may restrict your application to spousal benefits only while your own benefits continue to grow, regardless of the size of your PIA in relation to your ex-spouse’s PIA.
• If you were born on or after January 2, 1954, you can never collect divorced spouse benefits if your PIA is 50% or more of your ex-spouse’s PIA.

All of the above rules are subject to modification if the Social Security Earnings Test or the Government Pension Offset applies to you.

How to Calculate the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA)

• SSA takes your Earnings Record and indexes each year up to age 62 for inflation.
• They add your highest 35 years of indexed earnings and divide by 420 (the number of months in 35 years) to determine Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME).
• Depending on the size of your AIME, it is separated into one, two, or three tiers.
• If you turned 62 in 2018, for example, the first tier covers AIME up to $895; the second tier covers AIME from $896 to $5,397; and the third tier includes AIME over $5,397. $895 and $5,397 are the “bend points” of the 2018 PIA formula. 90% of the first tier is included in your PIA, as is 32% of the second tier and 15% of the third tier.
• Translating these monthly amounts into average annual earnings, 90% of the first $10,740 of average annual earnings goes into your PIA; 32% of the next $54,024 of average annual earnings goes into your PIA and 15% of everything over $64,764 is also included.

How To Estimate Social Security Benefits Online

Please proceed to SSA.gov Retirement Estimator

How to Earn Delayed Retirement Credits

Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) are increases in your monthly Social Security retirement benefits if you delay claiming benefits based on your own Earnings Record until after you have reached your Full Retirement Age – or if you suspend benefits after FRA.

• For every month you delay claiming past FRA, you earn 1 DRC, and your benefit grows by 2/3% of your PIA  (8% per year) until you reach age 70 or begin receiving payments, whichever occurs earlier.
• If you claimed benefits before FRA, you may suspend benefits anytime between FRA and age 69 and 11 months for the purpose of earning DRCs.  In that case, your benefit grows by 2/3% per month of your benefit amount at the time you suspended.

DRCs apply only to retirement benefits claimed on your own record.  They do NOT apply to spousal or survivor benefits, which means you do not earn DRCs on those benefits by waiting past Full Retirement Age to claim them.