Source: https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/social-security-benefit-estimator-simplified/mechanism/

instrument mechanism / verified-clean

# Social Security Benefit Estimator (Simplified) mechanism

The inspectable method record for Social Security Benefit Estimator (Simplified), kept separate from implementation and qualification.

Status: **VERIFIED_CLEAN**Lifecycle: **verified-clean**

## Model scope

Use a year-dated SSA table selected from an explicit benefit year, and direct users to ssa.gov/myaccount for an official estimate. The current specification is suitable only as a clearly labeled educational approximation after the benefit year, rounding convention, FRA determination, and claiming-month treatment are made explicit.

- The PIA bend-point formula is broadly standard, but the specification does not identify the benefit year; SSA bend points are year-dated and must be selected explicitly.

- The claiming-age adjustment factors are not universal percentages: they depend on full retirement age, claiming month, and applicable SSA rules. Age-only factors are a coarse simplification.

- The specification does not define required rounding rules for AIME, PIA, or the final monthly benefit. Official SSA calculations include specific rounding conventions.

- The input description conflates an AIME with a career earnings history. A career earnings history requires indexing, computation of the highest applicable earnings years, and conversion to AIME before the bend-point formula can be applied.

- The simplified formula omits possible real-world adjustments and eligibility issues, including WEP/GPO where applicable, earnings-test withholding before full retirement age, family benefits, survivor benefits, taxes, and legislative changes.

## Units and conventions

- AIME is an average indexed monthly earnings amount in U.S. dollars per month, not annual earnings.

- Bend points are the 2025 SSA PIA bend points: $1,226 and $7,391 of AIME per month.

- PIA is calculated as 90% of the first $1,226 of AIME, 32% of AIME from $1,226 through $7,391, and 15% of AIME above $7,391.

- Claiming-age factors are expressed as multipliers applied to the unreduced PIA.

- These vectors use a simplified age-in-whole-years interpretation and do not model claiming-month adjustments.

- Dollar outputs below retain cents for transparent arithmetic; an implementation must specify whether and how SSA-style rounding is applied.

## Inspectable vector

One of 4 source-bound review vectors:

````
{
  "inputs": {
    "AIME_usd_per_month": 1226,
    "claiming_age_years": 67,
    "full_retirement_age_years": 67,
    "benefit_year": 2025
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "PIA_before_claiming_adjustment_usd_per_month": 1103.4,
    "claiming_adjustment_factor": 1,
    "estimated_monthly_benefit_usd": 1103.4
  },
  "reference_data": {
    "bend_point_1_usd_per_month": 1226,
    "bend_point_2_usd_per_month": 7391,
    "first_segment_rate": 0.9,
    "second_segment_rate": 0.32,
    "third_segment_rate": 0.15,
    "claiming_factor_at_age_67_for_FRA_67": 1,
    "source_convention": "SSA 2025 indexed PIA bend-point table and SSA statutory claiming-age adjustment schedule"
  },
  "working": "AIME is exactly the first 2025 bend point: $1,226.00. First segment = 0.90 × 1,226 = 1,103.40. No AIME remains for the second or third segments. PIA = 1,103.40 + 0.00 + 0.00 = $1,103.40. At FRA 67, factor = 1.00. Estimated benefit = 1,103.40 × 1.00 = $1,103.40 per month."
}
````

## Failure boundary

**BREAK_CLAIMED** · SELF_FLAGGED

The specification does not provide a year for the bend points or claiming-age factors, so the estimator cannot produce a uniquely reproducible numeric result without additional table inputs. It also must reject claiming ages outside 62–70 and explicitly disambiguate monthly AIME from annual earnings; otherwise it can return undefined or materially incorrect benefits.

## Other records

[01**Overview**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/social-security-benefit-estimator-simplified/>)[03**Implementation**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/social-security-benefit-estimator-simplified/implementation/>)[04**Qualification**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/social-security-benefit-estimator-simplified/qualification/>)

## Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

- `VERIFIED_LEDGER.json`

- `evidence-tranche7/tranche7-results.json`

- `BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json`