I'm so sorry for your loss, Keith. Losing an ex-spouse is complicated emotionally and financially. Your situation is actually quite common - many people don't realize they may be eligible for survivor benefits on an ex-spouse's record. Just to add one more consideration to the excellent advice already given: since you mentioned being exhausted and wanting to work less, you might want to calculate what your net income would be if you reduced your hours to stay under that $22,780 earnings limit. Sometimes working less + receiving survivor benefits can actually give you similar or better total income while improving your quality of life. Also, remember that any survivor benefits withheld due to the earnings test aren't lost forever - SSA will recalculate your benefit at FRA to give you credit for those withheld months, effectively giving you a higher monthly amount going forward. The documentation others mentioned is key - especially your marriage certificate and divorce decree showing you were married for 10+ years. The SSA agent will need to verify your eligibility based on those records. Hang in there - once you get those benefit estimates, you'll have a much clearer picture of your best path forward!

I'm so sorry for your loss, Keith. This is definitely a complex situation, but you're smart to research your options thoroughly before making any decisions. One important clarification I'd like to add: while the earnings test can reduce your survivor benefits if you work before FRA, there's actually a special rule for the year you reach FRA. In that year, the earnings limit is much higher (about $60,240 for 2025) and only earnings in months before you reach FRA count against you. Since you'll be 65 in April, if your FRA is 67, you'd have this higher earnings limit available in 2027. This might influence your timing strategy. Also, I'd strongly recommend creating a my Social Security account online if you haven't already. While it won't give you survivor benefit estimates (you need to speak with SSA for those), you can at least see your own benefit estimates and earnings history, which will help you compare your options. The suggestion about potentially reducing your work hours is excellent - sometimes a strategic reduction in income can actually increase your total monthly resources when benefits are factored in. Just make sure to run the numbers carefully with actual benefit amounts once you get them from SSA. Best of luck navigating this process!

Welcome to the community! I see you're getting great advice here. Just wanted to add that when you do file your application, make sure to keep a copy of your confirmation number and any paperwork. Also, if you're planning to have taxes withheld from your Social Security payments, you'll need to submit Form W-4V or request it during the application process. Many people forget about this until tax time and then get surprised by owing taxes. Good luck with your application!

Hey Natalie! As a newcomer here, I just wanted to say this thread has been incredibly helpful to read through. I'm in a similar situation - planning to start my benefits soon and had the same confusion about timing. From everything I've seen here, it sounds like you'll definitely get your first payment in May (around the 21st since your birthday is in November), and it'll be prorated for the partial April month. One thing I noticed that might help - several people mentioned filing your application ASAP since processing takes time. Better to get that paperwork in motion now rather than risk any delays. This community seems really knowledgeable about the ins and outs of Social Security timing!

Thanks for this thoughtful advice. I think I'll create that spreadsheet to visualize the scenarios better. The quality of life considerations are important too - I don't love my job but don't hate it either. I think I'm leaning toward a middle path, maybe claiming around 65. That gives me some early retirement years but doesn't reduce the benefit quite as drastically as claiming at 62.

I'm glad this discussion has been so helpful! As someone who just went through this exact decision process last year, I wanted to add one more perspective. I ended up creating what I called a "regret minimization" framework instead of just focusing on break-even math. I asked myself: "Which choice would I regret LEAST if things don't go as planned?" For me, that was waiting until 66 (one year before my FRA). Here's why: if I live a long life, I'm not leaving too much on the table compared to waiting until 67. But if something happens to me earlier, I still got several years of benefits I wouldn't have had by waiting the full time. It felt like the sweet spot between the two extremes. The peace of mind from having that guaranteed monthly income bump was worth more to me than the mathematical optimization. Sometimes the "good enough" decision that you can sleep well with is better than the theoretically perfect one that keeps you up at night worrying!

One more thing to consider - regardless of the earnings test, there's no financial advantage to waiting past your FRA unless you want to earn delayed retirement credits (8% per year until age 70). Since you're retiring anyway, if you're at FRA, you might as well start benefits in May because: 1. You'll get an extra month of benefits compared to starting in June 2. The earnings test won't impact you once you reach FRA 3. There's no advantage to waiting unless you're specifically trying to maximize your benefit by waiting until 70 You can apply up to 4 months before you want benefits to begin, so you could actually submit your application now and specify May as your start month.

Here's what the SSA website says exactly about the earnings test in the year you reach FRA: "In the year you reach full retirement age, we deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above a different limit, but we only count earnings before the month you reach your full retirement age." So just to be 100% clear - they only count earnings BEFORE the month you reach FRA. If you reach FRA in May, they only count January through April earnings. May earnings don't count AT ALL, even if your birthday is May 31st. This is one of the few Social Security rules that actually works in our favor!

Thank you all for the helpful responses! So relieved to hear my SSDI is safe. I'll definitely report this to SSA for record-keeping purposes and will look into quarterly tax payments. I'm going to try using that Claimyr service to reach someone at SSA tomorrow to get everything documented properly. Really appreciate all the advice!

Congratulations on the inheritance! Just wanted to add a few practical tips since you're moving forward with this: 1. Keep detailed records of all oil payments - dates, amounts, and source. You'll need this for tax filing and it's good to have documentation if SSA ever has questions. 2. Consider setting up a separate savings account just for the tax portion of these payments (usually 20-25% is a safe estimate to set aside). 3. The oil company should send you a 1099-MISC each year showing the total payments, which you'll use for tax filing. 4. Since you mentioned this has been generating income for 12 years that you didn't know about, make sure to get documentation of the full payment history from the oil company - you'll need this to properly report the back payments on your taxes. Good luck with everything, and smart move getting it all documented with SSA properly!