My wife is 66 1/5 years old and qualifies for ~$1300 per month social security benefits based on previous employment. Not sure how many years she has worked but may be ~20 years. The last 5 years she has worked part time for a California Community College and falls under CALSTRS.

We believe she is vested and based on her ~$25,000 per year income we believe she would receive ~$210 from the non-covered pension.

Based on the WEB rules will her reduction be limited to 1/2 of the $210 pension ($105) or will her Social Security be reduced by $558?

Thank you,

Brian

Hi Brian. If 50% of your wife's monthly CalSTRS pension amount is less than the reduction that would be caused by using the alternate Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) calculation formula, then your wife's Social Security retirement benefit rate would only be reduced by roughly half of the gross amount of her monthly CalSTRS pension. The WEP guarantee provision limits the amount of reduction caused by WEP to no more than basically half of the gross amount of the non-covered pension.

The actual WEP guarantee calculation is more complex than just dividing the current monthly non-covered pension amount in half, though (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300605370). Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle WEP calculations, so you and your wife should strongly consider using the software to fully compare and analyze all of your various options so that you can determine the best overall strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry