I happened to talk with a neighbor who has just put in for s.s at 63. He claims that if you have not contributed to social security for 4 years and one day that they remove your last 4 years of earnings and that this could cause a cut of almost 3 thousand dollars when you begin collecting -- he went back to work for one year to break the4 year hiatus - hehad gone out at 55 because of a back injury from his former job. he claims that if he had not (lucky that he could find something!), his earning would be 15,000 rather than the 18,ooo he isnow collecting.
Anybody ever hear of this rule???And if so,how many quarters would it take to break this rule ??

Neighbors come up with all kind of stuff. It seems most of the time it isn't true. SSA uses your top 35 years of earnings to calculate your benefit.
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10070.html