Code of Federal Regulations Title 20. Employees' Benefits § 20.404.204 Methods of computing primary insurance amounts—general

(1) If after 1978 you reach age 62, or become disabled or die before age 62, we compute your primary insurance amount under what we call the average-indexed-monthly-earnings method, which is described in §§ 404.210 through 404.212. The earliest of the three dates determines the computation method we use.

(2) If before 1979 you reached age 62, became disabled, or died, we compute your primary insurance amount under what we call the average-monthly-wage method, described in §§ 404.220 through 404.222.

(1) Your primary insurance amount, computed under any of the special methods for which you are eligible as described in this paragraph, may be substituted for your primary insurance amount computed under either major method described in paragraph (b) of this section.

(2) If you reach age 62 during the period 1979–1983, your primary insurance amount is guaranteed to be the highest of—

(3) If you had all or substantially all of your social security earnings before 1951, we will also compute your primary insurance amount under what we call the old-start method.

(4) We compute your primary insurance amount under the rules in §§ 404.250 through 404.252, if—

(5) In some situations, we use what we call a special minimum computation, described in §§ 404.260 through 404.261, to find your primary insurance amount. Computations under this method reflect long-term, low-wage attachment to covered work.