(a) Who is eligible for this method. You must before 1979, reach age 62, become disabled or die to be eligible for us to compute your primary insurance amount under the average-monthly-wage method. Also, as explained in § 404.230, if you reach age 62 after 1978 but before 1984, you are eligible to have your primary insurance amount computed under a modified average-monthly-wage method if it is to your advantage. Being eligible for either the average-monthly-wage method or the modified average-monthly-wage method does not preclude your eligibility under the old-start method described in §§ 404.240 through 404.242.
(b) Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the average-monthly-wage method. We follow these three major steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the average-monthly-wage method:
(1) First, we find your average monthly wage, as described in § 404.221;
(2) Second, we look at the benefit table in appendix III; and
(3) Then we find your primary insurance amount in the benefit table, as described in § 404.222.
(4) Finally, we apply any automatic cost-of-living or ad hoc increases that became effective in or after the year you reached age 62, or became disabled, or died before age 62, as explained in §§ 404.270 through 404.277.