Thanks everyone for all the helpful information! I think I understand now that since my benefit will be about double his, and his SSDI is likely equal to his PIA, he probably won't qualify for any spousal top-up. I'll definitely verify his exact PIA figure though. I appreciate all the explanations - this stuff is so complicated!

You're welcome! Just to add one more thing - even though it looks like your husband won't get a spousal top-up based on the numbers you've shared, it's still worth having SSA run the calculation when you file for retirement benefits. Sometimes there can be small differences in how benefits were calculated originally, or other factors that aren't immediately obvious. Plus, once you start receiving retirement benefits, your husband will automatically be checked for spousal eligibility, so you don't have to do anything extra to make sure he gets the maximum he's entitled to.

One important point for everyone following this discussion - while the Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate WEP/GPO for domestic public employees, international pension issues are typically governed by bilateral Social Security agreements (totalization agreements). These agreements are negotiated country-by-country and have their own unique provisions. If you have work history in multiple countries, it's essential to understand both the general WEP rules and the specific provisions of any applicable totalization agreement. These agreements help determine: 1. Whether you can combine work credits from both countries to qualify for benefits 2. How benefits are calculated when you have split work histories 3. Which country's benefits you're eligible to receive The US-UK agreement helps prevent double taxation and allows for totalizing credits, but it doesn't completely eliminate WEP reductions.

I'm in a similar boat with a pension from Australia! Been dealing with WEP reductions for 3 years now and it's so frustrating. From what I've researched, the Social Security Fairness Act unfortunately won't help us with foreign pensions - it's really focused on US government workers like teachers and police officers who didn't pay into Social Security during their government service. The international pension situation is handled under totally different rules through those totalization agreements everyone's mentioning. I've been told by multiple people that we're basically stuck with WEP unless we can somehow get to 30 years of substantial US earnings (which seems impossible for most of us who worked abroad). @Andre Laurent thanks for mentioning the Office of International Operations - I didn't know there was a specific department for this! Going to try calling and asking for OIO directly instead of getting bounced around to regular customer service.

A final important tip: keep very good records of your earnings throughout the year. I recommend creating a simple spreadsheet to track monthly income, and regularly check it against the annual limit. This makes it much easier when you need to communicate with SSA about your earnings and helps avoid surprises at tax time.

This is such valuable information! As someone who's been considering early retirement with my spouse, this thread has answered so many questions I didn't even know I had. The seasonal work approach sounds perfect for our situation too - we've been looking at summer work opportunities at national parks. It's reassuring to know that Social Security focuses on the annual total rather than monthly distribution. I'll definitely be bookmarking this discussion and setting up that tracking spreadsheet that Carter mentioned. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and knowledge!

Great plan, Holly! Just wanted to add one more tip from my experience helping folks with SSA earnings issues - make sure to keep copies of your pay stubs and track your hours worked each month, not just earnings. Sometimes there can be discrepancies between what you think you earned and what gets reported to SSA, especially with variable retail schedules. Having that documentation makes it much easier to resolve any issues that might come up later. Your approach of being proactive about contacting SSA is smart - it's always better to get ahead of potential problems than to deal with them after the fact.

As someone who's been through this exact scenario, I can confirm what others have said - SSA doesn't make proactive projections based on your early-year earnings. They work with actual reported data. However, I'd strongly recommend setting up a my Social Security account online if you don't already have one. You can monitor your earnings record there and see what's been reported by your employer throughout the year. One thing to keep in mind with retail work is that your employer reports wages quarterly, so there might be a slight delay in what shows up in SSA's system versus your actual pay dates. This is usually not an issue, but it's good to be aware of the timing. Your plan to scale back hours later in the year should work perfectly with both the annual and monthly earnings tests.

I'm sorry for your loss, Avery. This is such a common confusion - I went through the same thing when my father passed. The key thing everyone has explained well is that adult children (over 18/19) only qualify for survivor benefits from parents if they became disabled before age 22. Your previous marriage and divorce have absolutely no impact on parent-to-child survivor benefits - that only matters for spousal survivor benefits. It's frustrating because it feels like all those years of contributions should benefit the family somehow, but Social Security is structured as insurance rather than inheritance. The silver lining is that this experience has motivated you to think more seriously about your own retirement planning, which is really important at 56.

I'm sorry for your loss, Avery. This thread has been really helpful in clarifying the confusion around survivor benefits. As someone who also lost a parent recently, I initially thought the same thing - that somehow my parent's decades of contributions would translate to benefits for me. What strikes me from reading everyone's responses is how the system really is designed around dependency rather than inheritance. It makes sense from a policy perspective, even if it feels harsh emotionally. The key takeaways seem to be: 1. Adult children only qualify if disabled before 22 (not your situation) 2. Marriage status is irrelevant for parent-to-child benefits 3. Age 60+ rules apply only to spousal survivor benefits, not parental ones 4. Benefits stop at death with no estate continuation I'd echo what others have said about using this as motivation for retirement planning. At 56, you still have time to build up your own Social Security credits and other retirement savings. Have you looked into whether you're on track for your own full retirement benefits when the time comes?