8/13/2019 The Social Security Benefit Estimate Program
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The Social Security Benefit Estimate Program for Personal
Computers
Description of program
The Office of the Actuary, Social Security Administration,
produces a SocialSecurity Benefit Calculator. There are two
versions of the interactiveprogram: one works on IBM PC's and
compatibles running recent versions of theMicrosoft Windows
operating system, either Windows 2000, Windows XP,Windows Vista, or
Windows 7, and the other runs under the MacOS. Either
versionproduces the Social Security benefit for an old-age,
survivor, or disabilityclaim, given the characteristics of a
particular worker (such as birth date,past earnings, and type of
benefit). It also produces the "primary insuranceamount" (PIA),
"maximum family benefit", the actuarial reduction or
incrementfactor (for early or delayed retirement), and the monthly
benefit amount (MBA).
The benefit can be computed for either a new entitlement or a
recomputationafter initial entitlement. Summary results are
presented on the screen; thereis an option to print out details of
the computations.
The calculator can produce a benefit for any historical case
from the firstSocial Security benefit paid (1940). It can also
produce a projected benefit,based on standard or user-specified
assumptions, through 2080. Although wehave tried to be as accurate
as possible, this is not the same calculatoras is used for official
Social Security calculations and it may produce
results that differ from an official calculation. In particular,
forprimary benefits, we have made approximations for pre-1965
benefits and forthe frozen minimum PIA, and we do not yet take
account of disabilitynon-exclusion calculations. In addition, the
calculator is not set up toestimate dependent or survivor benefits
in situations where the dependentor survivor also receives benefits
on their own record, or survivor benefitswhere the benefit is
affected by the worker's retired worker benefit priorto death.
Based on experience to date, this calculator matches theofficial
calculations very well, with most differences due to late postingof
earnings to the earnings record, or different assumptions for
projectedbenefits.
The 2012.2 version, which takes all amendments to the law, and
automatic
adjustments, through 2011 into account, is now available from
the SocialSecurity website.
Special note for the MacOS version
The MacOS version of the calculator is still under development.
It has allthe basic features that the Windows version has, and
produces the sameresults for a given case. However, it is lacking
the more advanced featuresof the Windows version, such as
context-sensitive help. We hope to postupdated versions as features
are added.
In addition, the Mac version does not work on Macs running Lion,
the newestversion of the OS X operating system. We are currently
working on
producing a new Mac version which will work on Lion, but this
may take sometime.
Obtaining the program electronically
The program can be obtained from the Social Security website. Go
tohttp://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/anypia for more
informationabout downloading and installing the calculator.
Updating the program
