I started taking SSA in Feb 2020 which was one month after my birth month and at age 62. I paid into SSA $102,000 more than my spouse who is 17 years older than me. He started taking SSA at 62 also which means he has been taking it since Aug of 2003. He paid $56,044 into SSA in total. When I got my SSA tax statement this year my benefit total paid to me last year was $21310 for 11 months. My husband's benefit paid to him for 12 months was 21271.20. I can't for the life of me figure out why I would be getting close to the same benefit as he when I earned so much more than him for many years. Thank you for any advice.

Hi,

It's complicated. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, not their total lifetime earnings or the amount of Social Security taxes that they paid. Indexing can result in a person receiving credit for a higher amount of earnings than the amount that they actually earned. Social Security uses indexing to convert a person's actual earnings in years prior to the year they reach age 60 to reflect increases in average national earnings.

For example, let's say Bill reaches age 60 in 2021, and that the average national earnings in that year turns out to be $60,000. Let's also say for example purposes that the average national earnings in 1999 was $30,000. In that case, the indexing factor for Bill's 1999 earnings would be 2.0 (i.e. $60000/$30000), meaning that you would multiply Bill's actual earnings in 1999 by 2 to get the amount that he'd be credited with for 1999 when calculating his Social Security retirement benefit rate.

The bottom line is that comparing your and your husband's total earnings and/or total Social Security taxes paid wouldn't be an accurate indicator of what your Social Security benefit rate should be. To calculate your benefit rates manually, you would need to index your earnings histories and calculate your benefits based on the formula outlined in the following section of Social Security's operations manual: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300605015.

Best, Jerry