People are always telling me that Social Security rules are so complicated. Actually, most of the basic rules are rather straightforward and simple. But to the extent that the program does get messy, there is a reason why that happens. It’s because life gets messy. In other words, if our lives weren’t so complicated, Social Security laws wouldn’t have to get so complicated.
For example, if we all worked for a minimum of 35 years (the number of years used to compute a Social Security benefit), and if we all retired at the same age—let’s say 62—then everything would be so simple. The Social Security retirement calculation would be a piece of cake.
