How claiming age changes Social Security

Primary insurance amount is the monthly benefit at full retirement age, computed from AIME and bend points on how Social Security benefits work. Claiming earlier or later does not recompute AIME. It multiplies PIA:

$$B = \text{PIA} \times f$$

On a teaching PIA of $2,345.80, a factor of 0.70 produces $1,642.06. A factor of 1.24 produces $2,908.79.

Those factors are inputs on this sheet. The live reduction is a percent per month before full retirement age, with a different percent for the first 36 months than for earlier months. Delayed retirement credits accrue monthly up to a cap. Look up the factor that matches the claiming month.

The 0.70 line is a smaller monthly amount. It also starts earlier, so more months are paid if the claimant is alive. The 1.24 line is a larger monthly amount that starts later. Which total is larger depends on how long the claimant lives, and on spousal and survivor rules this page does not price.

The Social Security PIA calculator on this page is the full-retirement-age benchmark those claiming percentages apply to. The retirement withdrawal calculator is a portfolio spending rate. They sit next to each other in a plan. They are not the same identity.

How required minimum distributions work is a different statutory withdrawal, from an account.

A spousal benefit is often described as up to half of the other spouse's PIA, with its own reduction if claimed early. That is not the 0.70 or 1.24 on this sheet. Those two factors scale the worker's own PIA.

How FICA works is the payroll tax that funded the worker's record. Tax-deferred accounts are a separate income stream in retirement.

The two teaching rows are $2,345.80 times 0.70 ($1,642.06) and times 1.24 ($2,908.79). They are not a full retirement age lookup, not a month-by-month reduction table, and not a break-even age. This is educational material, not financial advice.