Q: I am 58 with 34 years of service. I have 41 quarters of Social Security credits and my SSA annual statement says my benefit at 62 will be $538. What percent will my SSA benefit be reduced by my civil service monthly pension of $3,337? My friend at work claims that veterans who served between 1957 and 2001 get an extra $100 a month added to their Social Security benefit. Is this true?
A: The only practical way to estimate what the reduction in your Social Security benefit is to plug your numbers into a computer program and see what comes out. While the Social Security Administration has such a program, it is less user friendly that one at http://www.FEDbens.US.
To learn about special earnings for military service, go to http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/military.htm. There you’ll find out if you would qualify to have extra earnings credited to your Social Security account.
