Ask Rusty – Will My Benefit Increase If I Work While Collecting Disability?
Social Security Matters by Russell Gloor, National Social Security Advisor at the AMAC Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens
Dear Rusty: I will be 64 in March and currently receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments. My full retirement age is 67, but I’m thinking about trying to return to work.
If I work and my earnings exceed the monthly disability payment limits, but do not exceed the annual limit, how will my disability payments be affected? Will working while receiving Social Security disability payments change my Social Security benefit amount when I reach my full retirement age of 67?
Thank you in advance for your service as a Social Security Advisor. Signed: Mending any one month of 2024 exceed $1,550, that will be a flag to SS that you are no longer disabled ($2,590 per month if you’re blind). If that happens for a few months in a row, they will most likely stop your SSDI payments. Often, this happens retroactively – they won’t find out until sometime later that you repeatedly exceeded the monthly limit – but they will likely cancel your SSDI benefits and require you to repay any benefits you received in months you exceeded the monthly SSDI earnings limit, or months they deem you were capable of working without restriction.
I suggest you consider enrolling in Social Security’s “Ticket to Work” program. While enrolled, you can work and will have a rolling 9 month “Trial Work Period” over 5 years, during which you can earn more than $1,110/ month (in 2024) without jeopardizing your SSDI benefits. If, after completing your 9 month trial work period, you are taken off of SSDI (because you’re no longer considered disabled), and you again become disabled and unable to work, your SSDI benefits can resume