20 CFR § 404.231 - Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the guaranteed alternative—general.
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s404.231"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 404.231 - Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the guaranteed alternative—general."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "404.231"
section_name: "Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the guaranteed alternative—general."
chapter_name: "SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION"
part_number: "404"
part_name: "FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE (1950- )"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
cfr_part: "404"
---
# 404.231 Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the guaranteed alternative—general.
If you reach age 62 after 1978 but before 1984, we follow three major steps in finding your guaranteed alternative:
(a) First, we compute your average monthly wage, as described in § 404.232;
(b) Second, we find the primary insurance amount that corresponds to your average monthly wage in the benefit table in appendix III.
(c) Then we apply any automatic cost-of-living or *ad hoc* increases in primary insurance amounts that have become effective in or after the year you reached age 62.