Read retirement and family estimates as separate outputs
The retirement table, disability estimate, and survivor table are separate calculations. Disability and survivor rows use a current-event assumption and stay in 2026 dollars even when future dollars are selected for retirement. Child and caring-spouse rows show individual estimates; the family maximum is a limit on the combined record, not another amount to add to them.
These additional rows are planning context, not a determination that anyone qualifies. Actual disability onset, survivor age, child status, caring responsibilities, family composition, and work credits can change or eliminate a payment. A household should not total every displayed row or treat the rough family maximum as a promised payment.
A federal employee's separate basic annuity can be reconstructed with the FERS retirement calculator without mixing the FERS amount into the Social Security earnings model.
Start with current or last covered earnings
Enter wages or self-employment income covered by Social Security for 2026. If that amount is zero, the calculator asks for the last covered-earnings year and amount instead. It never signs in to Social Security or reads an actual earnings record, so the modeled history must remain visible and reviewable.
The quick estimate works backward from the latest entered amount using the national average wage index and a fixed 2% individual-growth assumption, rounds assumed years to the nearest $100, and caps each year at the applicable Social Security wage base. Future work years use the salary-growth rate entered on the form. Open See the earnings we used to inspect the record before relying on an estimate.
For a separate 2026 IRA distribution floor based on a confirmed prior-year balance, use the 2026 RMD calculator rather than treating this rough Social Security estimate as a complete retirement cash-flow forecast.
Use the official SSA record before making a claiming decision
SSA records and law determine insured status, the actual earnings history, entitlement, full retirement age, application timing, and payment. This page cannot verify credits, correct a record, submit an application, or decide when a person should claim. A rough estimate can differ materially when the real work history is uneven.
Review the estimate from a my Social Security account or the official SSA calculator before filing. Separately consider the retirement earnings test, Medicare, taxes, pensions, withholding, offsets, spouse-specific rules, and household cash needs. This output is educational only and is not an SSA award, claiming recommendation, tax projection, Medicare instruction, financial plan, or legal opinion.
Build each retirement estimate from the assumed record
The model caps and wage-indexes the assumed earnings, selects the highest 35 years, calculates an average indexed monthly amount, and applies the eligibility-year benefit formula. It recomputes earnings through the year before each benefit start instead of multiplying every retirement row from one fixed result.
Choose a desired age for the selected monthly and annual estimate or enter a specific benefit month. The comparison also shows the earliest currently available estimate, full retirement age, and age 70. Early-retirement reductions and delayed credits apply by month. Today's dollars hold the retirement comparison at the 2026 basis; future dollars apply the model's projected wage and price assumptions.
After checking a Social Security amount against the official record, test the remaining portfolio draw in the retirement drawdown calculator only after aligning gross dollars, start age, inflation, and survivor assumptions.