Social Security for people born in 1958 who are still earning
Past full retirement age, a paycheck can only push your benefit up.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
People born in 1958 (January 2, 1958 to January 1, 1959) reached their full retirement age of 66 and 8 months in 2024 and are 68 in 2026. Two rules work in their favor if they still earn wages. The retirement earnings test stopped applying in the month of full retirement age, so pay of any size no longer causes withholding. And every year of covered earnings enters the record at face value, because indexing stopped in 2018, the year they turned 60: when a year of 2026 pay beats one of the 35 years in the average, the SSA recomputes the PIA. The base formula is the 2020 one, with bend points of $960 and $5,785, raised since by six COLAs including 8.7% for December 2022. In our example, a worker with 3 empty years who keeps earning $60,000 from 66 to 68 lifts the PIA from $2,090.20 to $2,264.30. Delayed credits run to 70, in 2028, for up to 40 months.
Your formula year and the COLAs stacked on it
PIA in 2026, all COLAs included
$2,214.80
| Formula year (turned 62) | 2022 |
| Bend points of that year | $1,024 and $6,172 |
| PIA in the formula year | $1,873.90 |
| COLAs 2022 to 2025 | +18.2% |
COLAs count from the year you turn 62, even if you have not claimed yet.
No more earnings limit after 66 and 8 months
The retirement earnings test withholds $1 for every $2 or $3 above its thresholds, but only in the months before full retirement age (SSA, Receiving benefits while working). For a 1958 birth those months ended in 2024. Anything withheld before then was not lost: the SSA recalculated the benefit at full retirement age to give credit for the months not paid.
Recomputation: when a late year replaces an early one
The average indexed monthly earnings always uses the best 35 years (20 CFR 404.211). Earnings from 2018, the year you turned 60, onward are not indexed, so a $60,000 salary in 2026 counts as $60,000. Earlier years were scaled up to 2018 wages instead, which means a modest early year can be smaller than today's pay. The table follows a worker who stopped at 53 with 3 empty years, then went back to work at 66.
| Earnings record | Years with pay | AIME | PIA with COLAs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record ends at 53 | 32 | $3,412 | $2,090.20 |
| Plus 2024 at $60,000 | 33 | $3,555 | $2,148.30 |
| Plus 2025 at $60,000 | 34 | $3,698 | $2,206.10 |
| Plus 2026 at $60,000 | 35 | $3,841 | $2,264.30 |
Each year that fills a zero adds about $58.03 a month to the PIA in this example. Replacing a low year rather than a zero adds less. For the reasoning behind empty years, see fewer than 35 years of work.
The 2020 formula and its COLAs
All 1958 births use the 2020 bend points, $960 and $5,785, published from the 2018 average wage of 52,145.80 (SSA bend point table). Six adjustments followed: 1.3%, 5.9%, 8.7%, 3.2%, 2.5%, 2.8%. Together they multiply a 2020 PIA by about 1.268.
A worker who has not filed at all is gaining delayed credits on top, two thirds of 1% a month, until the month of the 70th birthday in 2028. After that, recomputation is the only thing that can still raise the amount. Our AIME guide explains which years make up the average.