Retirement Calculator

All about Retirement Calculator – In the United States there is a tangle of rules and definitions for every possible case scenario that could happen legally.

The SSA (Social security administration) is an independent agency of the U.S federal government.

It is responsible for the management of several Federal programs related to public welfare and social insurance.

As a result, for every social service provided to a U.S citizen, there is an infinite amount of variables to take in account.

Hence, these variables can be a citizen’s economical situation, age, years of work, average salary, disabilities and more.

Check out more about this Retirement Calculator

• Retirement Calculator
• Variables for calculating retirement benefits
• The RNA
• Retirement Age Calculator
• Retirement Estimator
• Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
• Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Calculator
• Primary Insurance Amount (PIA)
• GPO calculator
• Early or Late Retirement Calculator
• Retirement Earnings Test Calculator
• Benefits for Spouse calculator
• Life Expectancy Calculator
• Detailed Calculator
• Online Calculator
• Quick calculator

Retirement Calculator

Since there is such an extensive list of rules, it’s hard for a citizen to discover how many of the benefits they have the right to receive.

For that there are calculators, provided by the official SSA website. Click Here.

They take into consideration all of the variables given by the user as its input and outputs the answer for every different case.

The following calculators are currently available on the website:

• Retirement Age Calculator;
• Retirement Estimator;
• Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Calculator;
• GPO Calculator;
• Early or Late Retirement Calculator;
• Earnings Test Calculator;
• Benefits for Spouse Calculator;
• Quick Calculator;
• Online Calculator;
• Detailed Calculator;
• Life Expectancy Calculator;

Variables for calculating retirement benefits

It is possible to claim retirement benefits at age 62, independent of when you were born, but the amount received is also reduced.

Furthermore, there is a reduction of 5/9 of 1% until 36 months and after that 12/9 for every additional month.

As a result:

• 1 – A retiree with RNA 65 receives 80% of the benefits;
• 2 – A retiree with RNA 66 receives 75% of the benefits;
• 3 – A retiree with RNA 67 is entitled to 70% of the full benefit amount;

To calculate the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, the wage earned during the last 35 years of work is averaged and adjusted for inflation.

In addition, the average earnings are separated in three parts and each part is multiplied by different percentages that may vary based on various variables.

The RNA

The “Normal Retirement Age” (RNA) is the age at which a U.S citizen can receive full retirement benefits after leaving his/her workplace.

The RNA can vary depending on when the citizen was born, for citizens born in 1937 or earlier, the RNA is 65; for each year after 1937, 2 months are added to the RNA; for citizens born in 1960 or later the RNA is 67.

The reason for that are amendments made in 1983 that allowed the age of retirement to be raised due to improvements of overall health care and life expectancy in the US.

Retirement Age Calculator

The Retirement Age Calculator calculates the user’s RNA (Normal Retirement Age). By inputting one’s birth date in the RNA calculator, it provides the user with their RNA in an instant.

Retirement Estimator

The retirement Estimator calculates the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) by using the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) result. Also, it takes into consideration the year of birth of the potential retiree.

Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)

The Windfall Elimination Provision only affects a citizen, should they receive a pension from work where Social Security taxes were not taken out of their salary.

It is worth noting that to receive any benefit at all, one has to spend enough time working at other jobs where taxes are deducted from the salary.

The congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision act to prevent those who worked mainly at a job not covered by Social Security before 1983 from having an advantage.

These people were treated as long-term, low-wage workers, which meant that they had the advantage of receiving a Social Security amount that represented a higher percentage of their earnings.

So, to qualify for this provision you need to have reached 62 after 1985 or to have become disabled after 1985.

You qualify for this provision if you became eligible for a monthly pension for a job after 1985, even if you are still working.

Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Calculator

The Windfall Elimination Provision affects the original formula of calculating the benefits for retirement.

As a result, the way the Windfall Elimination Provision calculator formula works is by modifying the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME).

It changes the percentages by which the three parts of the wage average are multiplied.  Also, it takes into consideration when the citizen retired and how much they earned.

Primary Insurance Amount (PIA)

The Government Pension Offset affects spouses, widows and widowers. To qualify for it, one needs to have received or receive a pension from the federal, state or local governments.

However, in the case that your pension is not based on your earnings, your social security benefits will not be reduced.

GPO calculator

The GPO or Government Pension Offset is another way the formula that calculates the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) can be modified.

Then, it is simple; the social security benefits are reduced by two thirds of your government pension.

Early or Late Retirement Calculator

Upon inputting your date of birth and the date in which you intend to retire, this calculator provides you with the percentage of the full retirement benefits that you will receive.

It also takes into account your Normal Retirement Age.

Retirement Earnings Test Calculator

This calculator tells if you if there is going to be a benefit reduction in relation to your PIA, based on your average wage and age.

If you received a salary throughout all of your life that is higher than the maximum taxable amount (128,400 in 2018), they will take in consideration only the maximum taxable amount, and your PIA will be lower than it should be based on your salary.

Or the case may be, as stated before, that you were born after 1937. That may affect your age of full benefits. Consequently, that will affect the percentage of the benefits you will receive if you retire before that.

Benefits for Spouse calculator

A worker’s spouse may be eligible to a fraction of their husband/wife’s Primary Insurance Amount if they meet certain criteria.

These criteria can be used for retirement calculator:

• Being more than 62 years old;
• Having a child that is under 16;
• Having a child that also receives Social Security disability benefits;

Also, you must have input your date of birth and the date in which you want to start to receive benefits into the retirement calculator.

Then, based on that it tells the user which fraction of the their spouse’s PIA they will be receiving.

Life Expectancy Calculator

This calculator shows the average number of years a person can expect to live, based on the gender and date of birth of the user.

This calculator ignores other factors such as health, lifestyle and genetics.

Detailed Calculator

The detailed calculator is, as the name suggests, a calculator that takes more variables into consideration.

Then, it can produce estimates for many different situations that makes one eligible to receive benefits.

Most importantly, it can produce estimates of the benefits for as far back as when the first Social Security amount was paid, in 1940.

The detailed calculator is not an online tool and needs to be downloaded. The user can also choose to download an extensive manual with the description of all of its uses.

Online Calculator

The online calculator is a simpler version of the detailed calculator. It takes less variables into consideration and it produces less accurate estimates.

Quick calculator

The quick calculator is an even simpler version of the online calculator. It does not access your earnings history and instead it estimates your earnings based on the information you provide.

So, it provides rather rough estimates.

How to create a my Social Security account

• Also, to start creating your account you need to go to socialsecurity.gov/myaccount;
• There, select Sign in or Create an account and select Create an account;
• Read the terms of service and choose I agree to the terms of service and select Next;
• Fill in the blanks with your personal information in order to confirm your identity;
• The Add Extra Security box offers an optional extra level of security;
• In case you want an extra level of security, check Yeah, let’s start now and choose your desired extra security verification;
• In case you don’t want the extra security, select No, maybe later and click on Next;
• On the next page answer the fill-in personal questions and select Next;
• On the following page you can choose your username and password, and provide your email address;
• It is highly unadvisable to use your social security number or full name as your password;
• Furthermore, select your reset password questions; these questions can be used to reset your passport in case you forget it;
• Finally, select how you would like to receive your security code, by email or by phone;
• Soon after, you will receive an email or text message, depending on your choice, with your code;
• Input your account activation code at the bottom of the page within 10 minutes after receiving it;

So, if you learn more about Social Security – Click here.

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