texasbound

We are considering retiring in the next 10 years and currently trying to work out how much Social Security will pay us.

We will have worked in the US for ~14 years by then so will have 40+ credits but I know there is something about averages over a 30 year period, which we will not have.

Has anyone worked out SSA payments in such a situation?

Thanks

lansbury

Use the SSA online WEP calculator.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirem...iaWepjs04.html

You will have to adapt it a bit with a bit of guesswork as it isn't meant to account for future payments, but it can be made to give you an idea of what you will be looking at.

texasbound

wondering if this takes into acccount the zero years (when we did not earn us income)

Glasgow Girl

If you set up an online account with the SS website then you can login and find out exactly how mow much social security you will get based upon your contributions to date. If I recall correctly you can also estimate your future earnings to calculate what you would get if you continue working for however many future years you enter. All estimates will take your zero years into account.

As Lansbury above identified you then have to identify how much your social security will be reduced due to WEP, which will apply if you have less than 30 years SS contributions, and you have income that is based upon earned income on which you did not pay social security such as a UK state pension or a UK company pension. WEP is complex and there are several threads on it if you are not familiar with it, but in general it will reduce your social security by 50 cents for every dollar you receive from an overseas pension unless the pension was purely based upon voluntary contributions and was not matched in any way by your employer. The maximum WEP is just under $500 per month for 2021.

texasbound

The SSA system will not give an estimate until you have 40 credits, which we are a couple of years from. Using the link shared above I now have an estimate of SSA - thanks!

Now need to take WEP into account. Sounds like the easiest way is to assume it reduces UK and US government pensions by $500 per month (worse case)

lansbury

As a rough guide if you have paid SS for up to 20 years WEP is the full amount. For each year after 20 WEP reduces by 5%. So assuming the worse case is probably correct in your circumstances.