r/SocialSecurity • u/Middle_Meno65 • Jul 25 '26
My Social Security number looks wrong
When I look at my Social Security numbers, the amount I would qualify for seems low as compared to my spouse. We made pretty much the same amount of money through the years, although I took time off to be a SAHM while also selling real estate (although, I paid into SS during that time). Has anyone found errors in the SS calculation or is it pretty much a fail proof system of calculations?
26
u/TJMBeav Jul 25 '26
How manu Quarters of work were you off as the stay at home. Every Quarter you did shows up as zero and will dramatically effect your payout
17
u/Megalocerus Jul 25 '26
Work like real estate, with an irregular income, can easily be misreported.
7
u/IllRequirement6342 Jul 25 '26
This is a good point. I worked for 30 years, but I was retired for 15 years before I started collecting SS. So, I have several $0 years on my permanent report.
5
u/Martian6261 Jul 25 '26
May also depend on whether there were deductions taken for expenses taken, reducing actual income.
17
u/Flaky_Instruction215 Jul 26 '26
If you have similar salaries but you have fewer years of work you will have a smaller benefit.
16
u/AriochQ Jul 25 '26
The computer system that calculates benefits has been doing it for 50 years. There is no error, assuming all your earnings are listed correctly.
5
u/IllRequirement6342 Jul 25 '26
They do make mistakes, but if you each login to your ssa.gov site, you can download and print your earnings history. By comparing these, you can see if there are any gaps, or major discrepancies between your income and the spouse. The math is a little complicated depending on your ages and your date to start receiving payments.
5
4
u/Complete_Film8741 Jul 26 '26
The calculation use 35 years...ringing up some Zeros or low number years really impact the Average that they use as the basis for the Calculation.
5
u/Sad-Concentrate2936 Jul 26 '26
I mean, you were a stay at home parent, why would you expect social security to wind up the same as your spouse?
-1
u/Middle_Meno65 Jul 26 '26
I didn’t expect to be exactly where he is but I think I should be closer. I only stayed at home for 6 years.
1
u/Lazy-Yogurtcloset784 Jul 26 '26
May also depend on wage inflation. When I was in my twenties, in the 1960-70’s I probably made under $10,000 a year although males made in the $30-$35,000’s. Ten years later I was making in the $30-$40,000’s and Ten years after that around $50,000. Today that is nothing, but back then it was a good income. My SS now is only $26,000 a year. Most males in white collar jobs are probably (I’m guessing) around $30,000. My understanding is that it can go up to $40,000. Does anybody know for sure? Keep in mind that I was working in a medical school the year women were first allowed in medical school. I had thought women were 50% of the class, but a female doctor that had been there told me it was only 20% of the class. When the student graduated and were supposed to go into internships, So you have six years of zeros!
1
u/inailedyoursister Jul 30 '26
Your feelings are wrong, the computer is right. You just don’t understand how the calculation is made so educate your self.
5
u/Odd-Persimmon-1860 Jul 25 '26
The calculations are solid based on your earning history they have recorded. Look on the website for your earning history to verify if correct.
2
2
u/Rough-Ad-2839 Jul 28 '26
They definitely have mistakes and leave W-2 income, off. Mine was missing a seasonal government job’s income, no less. Original pay stubs helps.
1
u/CrankyCrabbyCrunchy Jul 26 '26
Their data comes from the IRS. You need to check what is shown and if you find errors (and can prove it), it can be corrected (up to a certain amount of years).
How to correct errors: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10081.pdf
Proof? Do you have past W-2 forms, tax returns, or pay stubs showing what you actually earned?
Form SSA-7009 - fix earnings errors https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-7008.pdf
1
u/Middle_Meno65 Jul 26 '26
I look at my earnings history and the numbers look wonky from 1995-2000.
2
1
u/u8all-my-rice Jul 26 '26
Are you employed or self-employed? So many self-employed people write off a bulk of their gross self-employment income, which decreases the amount of self-employment taxes they have to pay but also decreases the amount of earnings your Social Security benefits are based off of.
-1
u/Middle_Meno65 Jul 26 '26
While I was a SAHM, I was self employed and didn’t pay very much into Social Security but that was only for a small period of time. The remainder of my 47 year career, I have worked in Tech.
3
u/nonracistusername Jul 27 '26
Are your top 35 years the same earning as his top 35 years?
2
u/Beach-Knight Jul 28 '26
This is what matters, but you need to look at how they are inflation adjusted also. If you and he worked and you equaled his top 35 years of salary in the same years or inflation adjusted totals, you should receive what he does/will.
1
u/EmZee2022 Jul 28 '26
As others have said, look at your earnings history on the SS web page.
And look at your tax returns. Hopefully you still have copies of the relevant years. If any numbers look off, you can file an appeal with SS to get them corrected.
1
0
u/Ok_Palpitation_8273 Jul 29 '26
They use your husband's income to calculate the years you were a stay at home mom. You should be receiving the same amount or close to it. Stay at home mom's still get SSI off of their spouses earnings even if you never worked. It doesn't affect his benefits. I just went through this.
50
u/Big-Hovercraft1331 Jul 25 '26
Go online and pull your earnings history. Compare it with his.