Q: My husband and I are both FERS employees. We are now 58 and plan to retire at 60. We will both meet minimum age and years of service requirements to receive the Special Retirement Supplement from age 60 to 62. What we cannot find out is how much our Social Security payment will be when we start receiving it at age 62 because we will not be working those two years (between 60 and 62) and thus not paying into Social Security past age 60. The yearly statement from the Social Security Administration assumes we will work until 62 in figuring the estimated monthly payment. Calculators all assume you will work at least until age 62, so there doesn’t seem to be any way to get a ballpark figure on how retiring at 60 will affect our Social Security annuity. How can we determine (albeit roughly) what our monthly Social Security payment will be at age 62 (that is, not counting two years of payment into Social Security from age 60 to 62)? Will retiring at 60 and not working those two years severely impact our Social Security payment or is the impact minimal?
A: The Social Security Administration has a benefit estimator at http://ssa.gov/estimator. Just enter 0 for ages 61 and 62.
