Avoid calling for help during busy times. Peak hours for the national toll-free number are the first week of the month and when payments are made, generally Wednesdays.Skip the phone and seek help online if you can. “The silver lining of the pandemic is that it is now easier to do more things online,” says Mary Beth Franklin, a certified financial planner who specializes in Social Security.Explore the Social Security website. If you’re receiving conflicting answers to questions, research your issues at ssa.gov. “It’s a treasure trove of information,” Franklin says. Find your answers there, then show the Social Security representative where you found it.Research independently. AARP’s Social Security Resource Center includes a comprehensive mix of calculators, tools and articles, plus the ability to submit questions. Many other nonprofits and investment companies also offer useful information, with no obligations.Consider hiring an expert. Deciding when and how to file for retirement benefits is often tricky, especially if you have a spouse. Not thinking through the details can cost you thousands of dollars in lost benefits. But making those decisions is not the SSA’s job. “The Social Security representative is there to process your claim, not to tell you how to file it,” Franklin says. , That’s the foundation the Social Security Administration uses to calculate your benefits, using a three-step process. First, Social Security adjusts your earnings for historical changes in U.S. wages, takes your 35 best-paid years and produces what it calls your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME)., Now that Social Security has mostly stopped sending out paper benefit statements, an online account is the primary way people can keep track of their retirement benefits. About 86 million people have established My Social Security accounts, according to the SSA..