Social Security benefits can be confusing, and understanding the various methods for calculating benefits can be overwhelming. One method that you may come across is the old-start method, which was used to calculate benefits for individuals who reached age 62, became disabled, or died after 1977. In this blog post, we’ll break down the requirements and steps for using the old-start method, as outlined in §404.241 of the Social Security Administration’s regulations.
Qualifying for the Old-Start Computation
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-0241.htm
To be eligible for the old-start computation, you must meet one of the following conditions:
- You must have earned one “quarter of coverage” (as defined in §§404.101 and 404.110) before 1951, attained age 21 after 1936 and before 1950, or attained age 22 after 1950 and earned fewer than six quarters of coverage after 1950. You must not have had a period of disability that began before 1951 unless it can be disregarded (as explained in §404.320), and you must have attained age 62, become disabled, or died after 1977.
- You or your survivor becomes entitled to benefits for June 1992 or later, you do not meet the conditions in paragraph (a)(1), and no person is entitled to benefits on your earnings record in the month before the month you or your survivor becomes entitled to benefits.
- A recomputation is first effective for June 1992 or later based on your earnings for 1992 or later.
Steps in Old-Start Computation
If you meet the requirements for the old-start computation, the following steps are used to calculate your benefit:
- Allocate your earnings during the period 1937-1950 as described in paragraph (c).
- Compute your average monthly wage, as described in paragraph (d).
- Apply the old-start formula to your average monthly wage, as described in paragraph (e)(1).
- Apply certain increments to the amount computed in step 3, as described in paragraph (e)(2).
- Find your primary insurance amount in the benefit table in appendix III, as described in paragraph (f)(1).
- Apply automatic cost-of-living or ad hoc increases in primary insurance amounts to the primary insurance amount found in step 5, as described in paragraph (f)(2).
Finding Your Computation Base Years
To find your computation base years for the period 1937-1950, the following procedures are used:
- If you reached age 21 before 1950 and your total 1937-1950 earnings are not more than $3,000 times the number of years after the year you reached age 20 and before 1951 (a maximum of 14 years), your earnings are allocated equally among those years.
- If you reached age 21 before 1950 and your total 1937-1950 earnings are more than $3,000 times the number of years after the year you reached age 20 and before 1951, your earnings are allocated at the rate of $3,000 per year for each year after you reached age 20 and before 1951 up to a maximum of 14 years.
- If you reached age 21 in 1950 or later and your total pre-1951 earnings are $3,000 or less, the total is credited to the year you reached age 20.
- If you reached age 21 in 1950 or later and your total pre-1951 earnings are more than $3,000, $3,000 is credited to the year you reached age 20 and the remainder is credited to earlier years (or year) in