JUST BE PERSISTENT!!!! These SSA people will try to get you off the phone quick and sometimes give wrong info. Ask for a supervisor if you have to. I had to call like 5 times to get someone who actually knew what they were talking about for my disabled kid.

Thank you everyone for all your helpful responses! I feel much more confident now about how to approach this. I'm going to call back tomorrow and specifically request the childhood disability determination using the exact phrasing suggested. I'll also gather all her recent medical documentation to have ready. If I have trouble getting through, I'll try that Claimyr service someone mentioned. I'll update once I get this sorted out!

my brother waited till 70 to maximize his ss and then died 8 months later. dont wait too long!!!!!

Just to clarify some points from the discussion: 1. Yes, you can file for retirement benefits AND continue working once you reach FRA (which you're very close to). There's no earnings limit penalty at that point. 2. The annual recomputation (ARF) happens automatically, usually in October of the following year, so 2025 earnings would likely be reflected around October 2026. 3. For most people with steady work histories, a few additional months of work has minimal impact on benefits because it's based on 35 years of indexed earnings. 4. If you do get an increase from your 2025 work, SSA will pay retroactively to when you first began receiving benefits. Given how close you are to FRA, I'd suggest filing for benefits soon and continuing to work as long as you want/need to. You'll get the best of both worlds.

maybe u can just not tell them about ur business?? my cousin has a small etsy shop and doesnt report it

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses. I think I've got a much clearer picture now. I'll start my business but keep it small - under 15 hours/month since it's skilled work, careful income tracking, and detailed hour logs. I'll also talk to a financial advisor about the best way to structure things. Really appreciate all the advice!

also remember they take back $1 in benefits for every $2 you go over the limit so if you go a little over its not the end of the world lol

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! This is much clearer now. I'll make sure to stay under the $1,950 monthly limit after I start collecting in June, and I won't worry about what I earned earlier in the year. I really appreciate all the advice!

Just to add one more clarification: Multiple eligible survivors can receive benefits based on one worker's record simultaneously. So theoretically, if both your ex-wives were eligible for survivor benefits (if marriages lasted 10+ years and they never remarried before 60), AND your current wife becomes eligible in the future, all three could potentially receive benefits on your record. The benefits of one don't reduce or affect the others. This is why there's no need for any kind of "removal" process - the system is designed to handle multiple eligible survivors.

my grandma got remarried after my grandpa died and she still gets his ss payment every month! shes 82 now. the SSA doesn't care about ur previous marriages they just look at if u qualify now based on age and stuff

Everyone's giving good advice about the earnings test, but I want to address your IRMAA question more specifically. IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) is the Medicare premium surcharge based on your income from 2 years ago. For 2025, the first IRMAA tier starts at $103,000 for individuals. So unless your father's MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) from 2023 was above that threshold, he won't pay any IRMAA surcharges when he enrolls in Medicare at 65. The critical difference between IRMAA and the earnings test is that IRMAA looks at ALL income - wages, farm profits, capital gains, dividends, interest, rental income, etc. - while the earnings test only counts earned income (wages and self-employment net profit). Also worth noting that if your farm has a particularly good year that pushes him into IRMAA territory, but then income drops the next year, he can file Form SSA-44 for a reduction due to a life-changing event.

One more thing no one mentioned!! If your selling breeding livestock there different tax rules that might help! We sold some breeding cows we had for years and our accountant said that was capital gains not regular income! Check with your tax person on this!!

Just to clarify one thing I didn't see mentioned - if your sister is considering claiming both her own retirement benefit and the survivor benefit from her ex, she needs to understand that there are different rules for each. She can claim survivor benefits as early as 60 (or 50 if disabled), but her own retirement she can't claim until 62. If she's dealing with cancer, the disability route might make more sense as others have suggested. Wishing her all the best with her health and benefits situation.

tell ur sister to be careful about when she files!!! if she's still getting short term disability and then gets SSDI and survivor benefits she might end up owing money back to somebody. my friend got a huge overpayment notice from SS because her disability insurance didn't tell her they were offsetting for SSDI

When my husband filed for his retirement benefits, I was already receiving my own. The SSA was supposed to automatically review my case for the spousal benefit but they didn't. I had to go to the local office and request it specifically. Make sure you follow up - don't assume they'll do it automatically even though they're supposed to!

My sister went through this exact same situation! Started on her own benefit then got the higher spousal when her husband claimed. But there was a 3 month gap between when he filed and when her increased payment started. They did pay her the back payments eventually but just be prepared that it might not be immediate. The SSA is soooo slow with everything.

u shud also check if ur state has any special deals with social security. some states have agreements that change how WEP works for certain employees. like in TX they have something for teachers that helps a little bit

My mother-in-law went through this whole mess last year and finally just gave up trying to understand it. She's a retired Texas teacher and just accepted the lower amount rather than fighting the system. These formulas are designed to be so complicated that normal people just give up. Meanwhile Congress keeps "promising" to fix it but never does. Been going on for decades.

i think the bigger question is why take SS early if ur still working good money? better 2 wait for bigger checks unless u really need it now

One other piece of advice - if you expect to earn over the limit, you can voluntarily suspend your benefits for any months you expect to exceed it, rather than having SSA calculate the withholding. This can give you more control over when the reductions occur. Just contact SSA before the month you want to suspend. You can then resume benefits in months where your earnings will be lower.