A worker's (the wage earner) base years as used for computing Social Security benefits are the years after 1950 up to the year of entitlement to retirement or disability insurance benefits. For a survivor's claim, the base years will include the year of the worker's death as per Retirement Insurance Benefits or (RIB). Computation years are the years with highest earnings selected from the "base years." Social Security will add total earnings in the computation years and divide by the number of months in those years to get the AME or the AIME. Social Security will use a claimant's 35 highest years of earnings to compute his retirement benefits.