Ask Larry

Will My Earnings After 70 Affect My Social Security Benefits?

will my earnings affect my social security benefits after 70 ?

Hi,

There is no limit on how much you can earn and still draw your Social Security benefits once you reach full retirement age (FRA). So, earnings after age 70 wouldn't affect your ability to receive benefits.

Additional earnings on which you pay Social Security taxes can be used to calculate or recalculate Social Security retirement benefits regardless of a person's age at the time they have the earnings, so if you continue working after age 70 your earnings could cause your benefit rate to increase. Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf), so your future earnings would only increase your benefit rate if you earn more in a year than you did in one of the 35 years previously used to calculate your benefit rate.

Best, Jerry

Category: 
Posted: 
Jul 25 2019 - 6:00pm
MaxiFi software running on a laptop
Get What's Yours!
Discover tens of thousands in extra retirement dollars with Maximize My Social Security software!
  • Find your maximized strategy
  • Unlimited what-ifs
  • Step-by-Step filing instructions
  • Our software's lifetime-benefit increase for an illustrative couple earning $65K each and planning to take retirement benefits at 62.

    Results will differ based on your specific case and filing strategy.

Getting Started is Easy
Web-based software. Works on ALL browsers. No download.