After doing this column for so many years (more than a quarter century now), I’ve learned there are two kinds of potential Social Security beneficiaries. The vast majority are those who just want a general idea of how their benefits will be figured. But there are more than a few people out there who want to know exactly how the government comes up with their retirement benefit calculation.
I’ll start today’s column addressing the first group. In a nutshell, a Social Security retirement benefit is a percentage of your average monthly income using your highest 35 years of inflation-adjusted earnings….