If I have made the maximum social security earnings for the past 35 years and I am financially secure outside of depending on my future social security benefits, does it make sense to work past 58. I am a FERs employee and plan to collect my social security @70. Is there any advantage to keep working to 62 & would I get a bigger benefit from social security? Love your book! thanks Steve.

Hi Steve,

Your Social Security retirement benefit rate will be based on an average of your highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf), and if you earn the maximum amount subject to Social Security taxes in the 4-5 years from age 58-62 they would likely be higher than the lowest of your previous 35 highest earnings years. Therefore, your benefit rate would almost certainly increase somewhat if you continue working at a rate higher than the Social Security maximum, but you'd also be paying a significant amount of payroll taxes over that time.

The maximization software available on this website allows you to enter projected future years of earnings, so you may want to use it to determine how much continuing to work would increase your projected benefit rate.

Best, Jerry