One more thing to consider - when you apply, you'll have the option to choose which month you want benefits to start. This gives you flexibility in timing. You could apply now, but request benefits to start the month after you plan to stop working. This ensures everything is processed and ready to go without creating potential tax complications from overlapping full salary and benefits. Also, if you haven't already, create a my Social Security account on ssa.gov to see your estimated benefit amount. This will help with your retirement budget planning.

That sounds like a solid plan! Just to reinforce what others have said - applying in April for July benefits is perfect timing. Since you're already past FRA, you're in the clear for earnings restrictions. One small detail that might help with your planning: Social Security payments are typically deposited on the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Wednesday of the month based on your birth date. So your July payment would actually arrive sometime in the third or fourth week of July, not July 1st. Might want to factor that into your financial planning for the transition period. Also, make sure to keep good records of your final work paystubs - you'll need them for tax purposes since you'll be mixing W-2 income and Social Security benefits in the same tax year. Good luck with your retirement!

I had a similar situation when I suspended my benefits last year! Turned out to be a combination of things. In my case, I got a $600+ payment about 6 weeks after suspension that was mostly Medicare Part B premium refunds - when you suspend SS benefits, you have to start paying Medicare premiums directly instead of having them deducted, so they refund what was already deducted for the suspension period. I also got smaller payments throughout the year that were earnings recalculations. Since I was working while collecting early retirement, SSA does annual reviews of your earnings record and sometimes discovers they owe you money from previous months where your earnings were below the annual limit. The frustrating part is they really don't explain these well anywhere online. I ended up getting lucky and reaching an SSA rep who walked me through my entire payment history. Definitely recommend keeping track of all these payments for tax purposes too - some might be taxable depending on your situation.

I'm dealing with something similar right now! Just got a $450 payment out of nowhere last month and had no idea what it was for. After reading through all these responses, I'm pretty sure mine might be related to Medicare premiums too since I also suspended my benefits recently. One thing I discovered that might help - if you create an account on Medicare.gov (separate from MySocialSecurity), you can see your premium payment history there. It shows when premiums were deducted from SS vs when you need to pay directly. That might help you figure out if any of those mystery payments were Medicare-related refunds. Also, for anyone still trying to reach SSA by phone - I've had better luck calling right when they open at 7am local time. Still a wait, but way shorter than calling during peak hours. The rep I finally got through to was actually really helpful once I had her on the line.

Update: I called Medicare this morning and got it all sorted out! They confirmed my SS benefits start in May, and SS will begin deducting my Medicare premium from my May payment. I need to keep my autopay active for April's premium, then cancel it by April 25th to prevent a double payment in May. Thank you everyone for your helpful advice!

Congratulations on getting this resolved so quickly! Your experience is a perfect example of why it's so important to be proactive about these transitions. For anyone else reading this thread - Caden's approach of calling Medicare directly before the benefits start is exactly the right way to handle this. It's much easier to prevent double payments than to deal with refunds later. Thanks for sharing your update!

To follow up on my earlier comment, here's one more consideration: if you're planning to delay taking Required Minimum Distributions as long as possible (now age 73), remember that those RMDs could force your income into higher brackets later AND potentially increase the taxation of your Social Security benefits. So even though Roth conversions now might increase taxes temporarily, they could save you more in the long run by reducing your future RMDs. It's always a balancing act.

I'm in a similar situation and have been researching this extensively. One thing I learned from my CPA is that you can actually do "test conversions" - convert a small amount first (maybe $10-15k) and see exactly how it impacts your tax situation before committing to larger amounts. Also, consider the timing within the year. If you start SS benefits in early 2025 like you mentioned, you might want to wait until later in the year to do any conversions so you have a clearer picture of your actual SS income for the year. This helps you calculate your provisional income more accurately. Another strategy is to use tax software or work with a professional to model different conversion amounts before you actually do them. This way you can see exactly how much additional tax each conversion level would trigger. Given that you have $240k to convert and want to avoid RMDs, spreading it over 8-10 years might be more tax-efficient than trying to do larger chunks. Good luck!

Update: I called the fraud hotline and filed a formal report. They gave me a case number and are sending written confirmation. I've also placed freezes with all three credit bureaus and filed the FTC report. Still waiting to hear if they can tell me how someone got my information in the first place, but at least I feel like I've taken steps to protect myself. Thanks again to everyone for the advice - this community has been incredibly helpful during a stressful situation!

I'm so sorry this happened to you! As someone who works in cybersecurity, I can tell you that Social Security fraud attempts have absolutely skyrocketed in recent years. You handled this perfectly by calling immediately and not ignoring that suspicious email. One additional step I'd recommend is requesting your Social Security Statement (Form SSA-7005) to verify that no unauthorized earnings have been reported under your SSN. You can do this through your mySocialSecurity account or by calling SSA. Also, consider signing up for credit monitoring services if you haven't already - many are free and will alert you to any new accounts or inquiries. Some banks and credit cards also offer identity theft protection services to their customers. The fact that you caught this so quickly is huge. Most fraudsters rely on people not noticing these things for weeks or months. You've likely prevented a much bigger headache down the road!