About the Social Security Calculator
This site provides individuals with an estimate of their future Social Security retirement benefits. The benefits are based on the earnings record provided by the Social Security Administration. A detailed report is created from this data.
What If?
This site provides clear interactive visuals that let the user investigate how different choices might affect their overall benefit. Scenarios include:
- What happens to my benefit if I earn additional wages for several more years?
- How does my benefit change as my total earnings grow during my lifetime?
- What happens if I choose to take my benefits early? What if I delay and take them late?
- How are my benefits affected by my spouse's earnings records, and vice versa.
Security
This site does not store any data entered by users. All calculations are made client-side in the browser's JavaScript and are never transmitted over the internet.
While unnecessary for security, this can be confirmed by loading the site in your browser, and then disconnecting your computer before entering any additional data.
Accuracy
This site should be correct, and I will update it as Social Security rules change. However, there are no guarantees of the accuracy of this information. It should be treated as a useful exploratory tool, but any decisions should be made after researching the subject yourself.
The site was most recently updated on Oct 12, 2023 with the latest 3.2% COLA adjustment.
Why?
This site is completely free and contains no advertising. I don't collect your email address, subscribe you to SMS services, make a credit report inquiry, kill a dolphin, etc. Feel free to use the site without wondering if there is a catch.
Costs for running the site are minimal, just a few dollars a year, plus my time.
I noticed that most people don't understand their Social Security benefits very well. The online tools at SSA.gov are excellent, but I felt lacking in a few places. In particular, I felt that by simply spitting out a final number, the results failed to educate the user as to how the program works. I thought it would be useful to contribute a tool that helped folks to understand their own Social Security benefit and how it will help them in the future.
The author of this site could never have done all of this without help from the internet. This page lists some of the contributors that have made this all possible.
Major Contributors
Greg Grothaus: Greg is the primary developer of this site. He is a software engineer who has worked on this project on the side for several years. You can find Greg's personal blog at gregable.com.
Sotirios Keros: a physician, financial planner, and co-founder of the not-for-profit Doctored Money. Sotirios contributed heavily to the design and correctness of the calculations this tool makes.
Steve Nicolai: a semi-retired telecom software engineer. Steve contributed the implementation of social security credits.
Contributions Welcome
If you would like to contribute, the project is on github at: Gregable/social-security-tools . Please file issues in the Issue Tracker .