Social Security Question

[ctinct]

All right, I'm just going to let my ignorance shine through here.

My ex and I were married for over ten years, so I know when I am ready to retire I can claim benefits on either his or my record. However, for most of his working life he worked for a municipality and did not pay into social security. He had qualified for social security before he went to work for the town. He has since retired from that job. I have reason to believe he is now working full time in a private industry job. (We have no contact.) If he is paying into social security again, would that increase the benefit I would receive under his name, or do I only get credit for the years he worked prior to our divorce?

Second thorny question. I know social security works on "quarters". I have enough to qualify for benefits under my own name, if it is better for me to do so than under his earnings record. However, I am also now working in a public sector job and no longer pay social security. If I were to take a second job, making not a whole lot of money but paying ss again, would that help me or hurt me? I'm unclear if they base social security payments on the solely on the number of quarters you have worked or if earnings have something to do with it. Thanks.

 

[disney1990]

All right, I'm just going to let my ignorance shine through here.

My ex and I were married for over ten years, so I know when I am ready to retire I can claim benefits on either his or my record. However, for most of his working life he worked for a municipality and did not pay into social security. He had qualified for social security before he went to work for the town. He has since retired from that job. I have reason to believe he is now working full time in a private industry job. (We have no contact.) If he is paying into social security again, would that increase the benefit I would receive under his name, or do I only get credit for the years he worked prior to our divorce?

Second thorny question. I know social security works on "quarters". I have enough to qualify for benefits under my own name, if it is better for me to do so than under his earnings record. However, I am also now working in a public sector job and no longer pay social security. If I were to take a second job, making not a whole lot of money but paying ss again, would that help me or hurt me? I'm unclear if they base social security payments on the solely on the number of quarters you have worked or if earnings have something to do with it. Thanks.

When you get ready to collect Social Security, they should be able to tell the the amount you would get under your husband's SS and your own.

 

[disneychrista]

Do you not get annual statements from social security? They should tell you what you will get, at least under your own number. Having never been married, I do not know if it shows your exDH info on your record or not.

 

[nyccajun]

Here is a little basic Social Security information

First regarding your own SSA benefits.

Social Security benefits are based on your highest 30 years of earnings after adjusting each year for inflation. The earnings are averaged to find your average monthly earnings and then SSA replaces a percentage of that amount. SSA replaces a higher percentage of earnings for those with lower average monthly earnings. Based on this any additional earnings will help to increase your benefit especially if you do not have 30 years of work .

Now in the OP's situation because she will receive a pension based on work not covered by SSA there is something called the Windfall Elimination Process. or WEP .. What this does is for someone receiving a pension for work not covered by SSA is partially reduce the percentage of Average monthly earnings that SSA pays .. this is due to the fact that the only reason you have lower average monthly earnings is because of your work not under SSA . Information about WEP can be found at SocialSecurity.gov

If 1/2 of your ex husband's base benefit is higher than your own benefit you may be entitled to an additional amount based on his work . However there is the possibility of a Government Pension Offset which would reduce that amount .. again information can be found at Socialsecurity.gov

 

[ctinct]

When you get ready to collect Social Security, they should be able to tell the the amount you would get under your husband's SS and your own.

I know they will help me then, but I am trying to get some estimated numbers now to do some other calculations. Since I have no clue what he makes now, or a current earnings statement, i'm kind of in the dark about a possible benefit under his name.

Do you not get annual statements from social security? They should tell you what you will get, at least under your own number. Having never been married, I do not know if it shows your exDH info on your record or not.

I did get an annual statement this year, but I am trying to estimate what mine would be if I did not take another job within the social security system vs if I do, and if I would be better off trying to increase my benefit by working vs just claiming on my ex's record. There are calculators on the site that sort of help, but I just found out that the benefit quoted in my earnings statement is inaccurate anyhow. That's because my ss benefit will be reduced a certain percentage because I will probably be getting a pension. (I have three more years before I am vested.) Only my info is shown, which makes sense. I have my ex's benefit statement from years ago, but until recently he also was not paying into the system. To further complicate matters, I am sure his ss benefit will also be reduced, whatever it ends up being, as he gets a very HEFTY pension. I'm sure the social security administration will help me out when I am close to 62 (I can say I am considering retiring then, even though I probably won't be), but for planning purposes I wish I had some kind of idea.

Aaargh...just thought of another question---I wonder if I claim on his record if it will be on his reduced benefit or if it is based on his full benefit with my reduction percentage. Or, worst case scenario, do they take his reduced benefit and then reduce that by my reduction percentage? Ack, this is complicated.

BTW, I saw on the news that the ss office will no longer be mailing annual benefit statements, but that you can get that info online. I know all my ex's info, but there is no way in HECK I am going to input that into the site. That is illegal, and I di not intend to mess with that.

 

[seashoreCM]

Additional ss covered earnings (FICA wages) either help you or do nothing.

Even though you have the needed 40 quarters, thirty years are still used in the monthly average income calculation. If you don't have enough years when you did earn SS covered earnings then there will be zeroes in some of the thirty slots. Adding part time work will put put more positive numbers in place of those zeroes and that increases your average monthly income.

Also, if the number in any of the 30 slots is big enough then that year is not part of the Windfall Elimination Process. So by earning more at a part time job, or working in the dreaded private sector after retiring from your municipal job, you can change some of the WEP slots into non-WEP slots and increase your SS benefit.

 

[ctinct]

Here is a little basic Social Security information

First regarding your own SSA benefits.

Social Security benefits are based on your highest 30 years of earnings after adjusting each year for inflation. The earnings are averaged to find your average monthly earnings and then SSA replaces a percentage of that amount. SSA replaces a higher percentage of earnings for those with lower average monthly earnings. Based on this any additional earnings will help to increase your benefit especially if you do not have 30 years of work .

Now in the OP's situation because she will receive a pension based on work not covered by SSA there is something called the Windfall Elimination Process. or WEP .. What this does is for someone receiving a pension for work not covered by SSA is partially reduce the percentage of Average monthly earnings that SSA pays .. this is due to the fact that the only reason you have lower average monthly earnings is because of your work not under SSA . Information about WEP can be found at SocialSecurity.gov

If 1/2 of your ex husband's base benefit is higher than your own benefit you may be entitled to an additional amount based on his work . However there is the possibility of a Government Pension Offset which would reduce that amount .. again information can be found at Socialsecurity.gov

Ah, much clearer explanation than I found on the site. Thank you. I do have thirty years of ss earnings, but some years were very small. Nine of those years were under the "substantial earnings" amount for that particular year, so my WEP percentage # would be 65%, I think. I wonder, if I got a part time job, would they replace some of those years with the higher amount I could possibly make? I don't know if I am explaining myself well. For example, one year when I had one of my children I only made 5169, which was under the substantial earnings thing for that year. If I made more than that next year, would they replace that figure for one of my thirty years? And, I wonder if it is even smart to do that....perhaps I should try to keep my earnings under this year's substantial earning figure, because if not, then I'd lose a higher % due to the WEP, right? I'm just trying to figure out possible scenarios to gauge what the best course of action over the next 15 years would be. Kind of tough to do without any possible figures from the ex. It just seems like working an extra job might in fact end up being counter-productive. Go figure. (For the record, I do realize that I could save my income, put it into a Roth, etc., but I am thinking I would only earn $5000 or so a year. Getting up there in years, you know, and not sure i could handle a lot of hours. I was thinking about perhaps a seasonal only job.) All I know is, my head hurts trying to figure this out.

 

[ctinct]

Additional ss covered earnings (FICA wages) either help you or do nothing.

Even though you have the needed 40 quarters, thirty years are still used in the monthly average income calculation. If you don't have enough years when you did earn SS covered earnings then there will be zeroes in some of the thirty slots. Adding part time work will put put more positive numbers in place of those zeroes and that increases your average monthly income.

Also, if the number in any of the 30 slots is big enough then that year is not part of the Windfall Elimination Process. So by earning more at a part time job, or working in the dreaded private sector after retiring from your municipal job, you can change some of the WEP slots into non-WEP slots and increase your SS benefit.

Wow. I guess I mis-interpreted the SS chart then. I counted the # of years I was OVER the substantial earnings # for that particular year to get the percentage number. I guess I see the logic now...the govt. assumes that my low earning years were years I was working my public sector job. (Although several of my low earning years were when I had kids.) OMG. I just calculated I have been working 39 years--started at 16. Last bunch of years have zero social security earnings. Am I understanding it correctly, then, that because I have 25 years ABOVE the "substantial earnings" limit, if I were to work 5 more years at above the current levels, I would not lose anything due to WEP? It kind of makes sense to me now. Thank you SO much to those who are taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[nyccajun]

Wow. I guess I mis-interpreted the SS chart then. I counted the # of years I was OVER the substantial earnings # for that particular year to get the percentage number. I guess I see the logic now...the govt. assumes that my low earning years were years I was working my public sector job. (Although several of my low earning years were when I had kids.) OMG. I just calculated I have been working 39 years--started at 16. Last bunch of years have zero social security earnings. Am I understanding it correctly, then, that because I have 25 years ABOVE the "substantial earnings" limit, if I were to work 5 more years at above the current levels, I would not lose anything due to WEP? It kind of makes sense to me now. Thank you SO much to those who are taking the time to answer my questions.

You are correct in yourthought .if you are over the substantial earnings amount in over 20 specific years then your reduction for wep is less . If you earn over the current substantial earnings amount in a year at any point in the future that will help you also to reduce the amount of wep reduction . Since you already have 30 years you can contact SSA and find out which would be your "low" years in your calculation ( amount ssa counts after adjusting for inflation) then you would know how much you would have to earn to have it make a difference . Even if your earnings are not "substantial" they may replace a low year in the calculation which would increase your benefit. If the low year was a substantial year it would still count in terms of having substantial years for wep , it just wouldn't count in the benefit calculation .

if you have 25 years of Substantial earnings and have another 5 years in the future at substantial earnings amounts then you would not be subject to WEP at all . I hope this helps !

I"ve worked at SSA for a long time .. and this is a difficult topic to explain .. you seem to have a pretty good understanding and are definitely doing the smart thing by looking at it now rather than when you are ready to apply.