Ask Rusty: Does Paying FICA Tax Now Increase My SS Benefit?

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Dear Rusty: If a person retires at age 66 and continues to work full time, Social Security (SS) federal payroll (or FICA) taxes are still taken out of his weekly paycheck. Will this taxation for Social Security contribute more to the person’s SS benefit, even if already retired? Signed: Curious Retiree Dear Curious Retiree: Since its inception […]

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Signed: Curious Retiree

Dear Curious Retiree: Since its inception in 1935, Social Security has been a “pay as you go” program where contributions from those who are working are used to pay benefits to those who are collecting Social Security benefits. That remains true even if, after you start collecting Social Security, you work and pay payroll taxes into the system.

Those FICA payroll taxes you are contributing now aren’t deposited into a personal account for you; they’re used to help pay benefits to all recipients. So, paying SS federal payroll taxes after you start collecting benefits doesn’t affect your benefit payment. However, what might affect your benefit amount is if your current earnings from working are more than any of those in the 35 years used to originally compute your Social Security benefit when you filed.

When you apply for SS benefits, the U.S. Social Security Administration adjusts every year in your lifetime-earnings record for inflation to bring those earlier earnings up to today’s dollar values. It then selects the 35 highest-earning years over your entire lifetime. And from those 35 highest-earning years it develops your “Average Indexed Monthly Earnings” (AIME). Your AIME, in turn, is used to compute your Social Security benefit at your full retirement age (FRA).

The Social Security Administration examines your earnings every year after your earnings for the previous year are reported to it by the IRS. After your benefits have started, and if your current earnings are higher, the Social Security Administration will replace an earlier year’s earnings with your more recent earnings and recompute your benefit, resulting in a small benefit increase (small because it would represent only 1/35th of the average lifetime earnings used to compute your benefit).

A key thing to remember is that each of your past year’s earnings (up until you are 60) are adjusted for inflation before computing your benefit amount. So, for example, $25,000 earned in 1990 is worth more than $60,000 in today’s dollars, and it is the inflation-adjusted amount that your current earnings would need to exceed increase in your benefit. I recently published an article on this topic which you may find helpful. It is available at: www.socialsecurityreport.org/ask-rusty-does-paying-social-security-payroll-tax-increase-my-benefit/.

Russell Gloor is a certified Social Security advisor with the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.3 million member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: SSadvisor@amacfoundation.org.

Author note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA, the AMAC Foundation, and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.

OPINION: Biden Created Disorder at the Border

Opinion, Subscriber Only

What we are witnessing [currently at the U.S. border with Mexico] of course is “Biden’s Border Crisis.” If you want to think of it another way, it’s disorder at the border by executive order. President Biden’s knee-jerk reversal of productive, effective border-security policies from the previous administration was a political calculation that has created a humanitarian,

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What we are witnessing [currently at the U.S. border with Mexico] of course is “Biden’s Border Crisis.” If you want to think of it another way, it’s disorder at the border by executive order.

President Biden’s knee-jerk reversal of productive, effective border-security policies from the previous administration was a political calculation that has created a humanitarian, security, and public-health crisis.

We are a nation of laws, but instead of enforcing the law, the administration has chosen to:

• Halt border-wall construction already funded by Congress

• Implement “catch and release” policies, allowing migrants to flow into American communities amidst a pandemic

• lEiminate the critical “Remain in Mexico Policy”

• Cancel asylum cooperative agreements with our Central American partners

That’s what they’ve done. What they haven’t done is admit that it’s caused a crisis.

The facts speak for themselves.

Fact: Last month U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered over 100,000 individuals seeking to cross the Southwest border, a 28 percent increase in just one month and 173 percent higher than the same time a year ago.

Fact: U.S. Customs and Border Protection currently encounters an average of more than 3,000 individuals a day. When Jeh Johnson was Secretary of Homeland Security, he said that 1,000 apprehensions a day was a “bad number.”

Fact: Hundreds of border-patrol agents are being diverted from interior drug checkpoints and the northern and coastal borders to the Rio Grande Valley. The administration is even asking people to volunteer to help with this crisis. You can’t come from England by plane. If you fly from Mexico by plane, you first must have a test to show you are COVID-free. Yet you can walk across the border and come right in. What is wrong with us? What are we doing?

The high volume of unaccompanied children encountered at the border continues to rise. Reports indicate that CBP is projecting a peak of 13,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border per month by May. HHS facilities are reaching capacity, so they’re checking with NASA and DOD to find facilities to house these children coming across the border because Biden put a “come on in” sign on the border. That is not right.

All of this was predictable. These politically motivated policies have created a crisis that must be reversed. As I said, there is disorder at the border because of his executive order.

Rep. John Katko (R–Camillus), 58, represents the 24th Congressional District of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes all of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Wayne counties and a portion of Oswego County. This article is drawn from a news release his office issued on March 11. It contained his remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a news conference in Washington, D.C. that day, to discuss what he says is the crisis at the U.S. border with Mexico.

OPINION: What U.S. Foreign Policy Can Look Like

Opinion, Subscriber Only

We often think of foreign and domestic policy as two separate and distinct fields. But for an American president, they are inextricably tied together. And as the Biden administration moves forward on its priorities, this is likely to become clear. The reason is that what we do in one area has an impact on what we

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The reason is that what we do in one area has an impact on what we can do in the other. If we are not strong economically and politically at home — stable, prosperous, and free — we are weaker in the world. And for those of us at home, our ability to lead globally is not only of great interest, but [also] affects our perception of our own country. There may be concern of U.S. involvement in entangling wars, but Americans also tend to believe that we have much to contribute to the world and that it can be a better place because of American participation and leadership. Many of our allies — the countries with which we trade and that help us build our economy — believe so, too.

Yet we cannot carry on major aspects of American policy around the world without the support of the American people, which means explaining what we are aiming for, what we are planning to do, and why we plan to do it. In other words, it is important for President Biden to continue to articulate to Americans what he believes the U.S. role in the world should look like and to make the case for their support in pursuing it.

The challenge is plain. Under his predecessor, American prestige, power, and influence all were battered. We are weaker abroad now than we were. To come back from this, we must reinvigorate our alliances, reassert our democratic ideals, and make clear that an erratic, improvisational foreign policy is behind us.

What might this look like, specifically? First, it means committing to continued U.S. global leadership, which Biden has already done. “We are a country that does big things. American diplomacy makes it happen,” he said in a speech at the State Department two weeks after taking office. Yet even if there is no alternative to U.S. global leadership, regaining it is going to take hard work, given how far [America’s] global reputation has fallen.

Cooperating with the multilateral community is crucial. Moving away from the previous administration’s unilateralism and enlisting our friends in facing the big challenges we face, especially our relations with China, a fast-growing superpower, and Russia, a major regional power with nuclear weapons, will require a deft mix of both cooperation and firmness of purpose.

Similarly, how we conduct the two important relationships with our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, needs to be much more than an after-thought. We have the extraordinarily good fortune to be insulated from much of the world by two oceans, but we have also had the good fortune to keep our borders peaceful — we do not face the threat of war or hostilities from either the north or south. Sustaining good relations has been a key part of this, and it is something our allies elsewhere note with envy.

Finally, caution in all its forms should be key to the Biden administration’s approach: restoring deliberation to how we conduct our affairs, avoiding wars and military intervention, making certain that we husband our natural and human resources and do not waste our words, prestige, and other assets on quixotic pursuits.

In a recent interview in The New Yorker, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass noted that President Biden takes over his role “at a time when what happens in the world matters enormously to America’s domestic well-being, but also at a time when U.S. influence in the world is much diminished.” The path forward from there is tricky — and we all have a stake in how the Biden administration pursues it.

Lee Hamilton, 89, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.

CNY TWEETS — MARCH 29, 2021

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

Here are some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering small business, COVID-19, and HR tips. SBA @SBAgovAlert! Fraudsters have been targeting small business owners through email phishing schemes. Reminder: Any email from SBA will come from accounts ending in http://sba.gov Learn how to report suspected fraud to @SBAOIG: https://sba.gov/covidfraudalert Small Business

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Here are some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering small business, COVID-19, and HR tips.

SBA @SBAgov
Alert! Fraudsters have been targeting small business owners through email phishing schemes. Reminder: Any email from SBA will come from accounts ending in http://sba.gov Learn how to report suspected fraud to @SBAOIG: https://sba.gov/covidfraudalert

Small Business Trends @smallbiztrends
Escape the “Shecession” and Start a Business https://sbt.me/dsu By @corpnetnellie

NFIB @NFIB
Did you know that the PPP loan calculation has been adjusted for self-employed #smallbusiness owners? Read the full details here: https://www.nfib.com/content/news/economy/ppp-loan-amounts-adjusted-for-self-employed-small-business-owners/

Tobin Cookman @TobinCookman
The pandemic has changed how people work and how companies recruit future employees. Instead of seeing the pandemic as a disruptor, it enables us to rethink and improve our #recruiting strategies to attract top talent at @onsemi. #HR @EBNbenefitnews: https://www.benefitnews.com/list/6-recruiting-strategies-to-win-the-talent-war-in-2021

SwoopTalent @SwoopTalent
1 in 5 employees worked while ill during pandemic, signaling need for paid leave, says Just Capital https://bit.ly/3rFNtTT via @hrdive

Barclay Damon LLP @BarclayDamonLLP
“#IRS Issues Additional Guidance on the #EmployeeRetentionCredit for 2020” — Learn more in this #tax alert: https://barclaydamon.com/alerts/irs-issues-additional-guidance-on-the-employee-retention-credit-for-2020

Mark C. Crowley @MarkCCrowley
60% or so of companies will be let their people work a hybrid schedule post-COVID says Gartner. This may require workers to reserve a desk on-line for each of the 3 days they #work in the office each week. And belongings will be stored in a locker.

Cadient Talent @CadientTalent
Make sure your work from home workforce has all the right stuff to be successful. https://hubs.li/H0HW3Lx0 #HRTech #HR

Lolly Daskal @LollyDaskal
How to Watch Out for Blind Spots in Your Leadership: http://bit.ly/29LNFcb

Sully Sullenberger @Captsully
Prepare yourself for #leadership by choosing to act every day. Let someone in front of you in traffic rather than cutting them off. Alleviate social awkwardness in groups by making sure all are included. That’s all it takes — be the one to say, “This is where we start.”

Ashley McGraw Architects names new CEO

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, People on the Move

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Ashley McGraw Architects, D.P.C. of Syracuse has announced Matthew Broderick as its new CEO. Broderick has been serving as the firm’s president

Oneida County unveils decals for businesses, residents to show they’ve been vaccinated

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Nonprofits, Regional News, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

UTICA, N.Y. — Business owners and residents who want to let others know they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 have a new way of showing that

Syracuse airport to use federal funding for expenses as it prepares for spring-break travelers

Construction, Design & Real Estate, New York News, Nonprofits, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) will use more than $5 million in federal pandemic-relief funds as it prepares for what it calls

Oneida County expands vaccine waiting list to age 18-49 group

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA, N.Y. —Oneida County has expanded its excess-vaccine waiting list to include everyone age 18-49. County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said the county is

Incoming Fort Drum commander meets with Schumer in Washington

Law, Accounting & Taxes, New York News, Nonprofits, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The incoming commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division heard about Fort Drum’s impact on the North Country region during a Tuesday

Rochester firm acquires Binghamton internet-service provider

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Regional News, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Technology

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Plexicomm, LLC, a Binghamton–based internet-service provider, will soon have a new owner. Rochester–based Greenlight Networks on Tuesday said it has signed an

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