This entire thread has been incredibly educational! I'm 62 and just filed for early benefits last month, but I had no idea about the 45-hour rule for self-employment. I do occasional tax preparation work during tax season (January through April) and some bookkeeping throughout the year. After reading everyone's experiences, I'm realizing I need to immediately start tracking my hours and probably restructure when I take on clients. It sounds like I should concentrate all my tax prep work into just those 4 months and plan to forfeit benefits for those months, then collect benefits the remaining 8 months. One thing I'm still unclear on - if I'm already receiving benefits and then discover I need to report substantial services for certain months, is there a deadline for notifying SSA? And do they prefer phone calls or written reports for this kind of update? Also, for those who mentioned keeping detailed time logs, what level of detail does SSA actually want to see? Just daily totals, or do they want to know what specific tasks you were working on each day? This community has provided more practical guidance than hours of reading SSA publications. Thank you all for sharing your real experiences - it's saving people like me from costly mistakes!

I'm new to this community but this discussion has been a real eye-opener! I'm 64 and was planning to start collecting Social Security early next year while continuing some freelance graphic design work. I had no clue about the 45-hour monthly rule - the SSA website definitely doesn't explain this clearly. Reading through everyone's experiences, it seems like the key takeaway is to completely separate work months from benefit months rather than trying to stay under annual limits while working consistently. I'm now thinking I should concentrate my client work into maybe 3-4 intensive months per year and collect full benefits the other 8-9 months. For those who have successfully implemented this strategy, do you find clients are understanding when you explain you need to batch work into specific timeframes? I'm worried about losing regular clients if I can't provide consistent availability throughout the year. Also, has anyone dealt with creative work where it's harder to define "hours worked"? Like if I spend 3 hours actively designing but also have ideas percolating in my head throughout the day, how do you track that for SSA purposes? I assume they want actual hands-on-keyboard time rather than creative thinking time, but I'd love to hear from others in similar fields. Thanks to everyone who shared their real experiences - this is exactly the kind of practical guidance you can't find in official publications!

To clarify about file and suspend: The "file and suspend" strategy that allowed spouses to claim on a suspended record was eliminated in 2016. However, you can still file for benefits and then later request to suspend them to earn delayed retirement credits. The difference is that NO ONE can receive benefits on your record while your benefits are suspended. Regarding the original question - one more consideration is that if your wife works until her own Full Retirement Age, she can choose to take either her own retirement benefit or the spousal benefit, whichever is higher. If she files before her FRA, she doesn't get this choice - she's deemed to have filed for both and gets essentially the higher amount.

Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who's been researching this extensively for my own situation. One thing that might help with your decision is to use the SSA's online benefit calculators to model different scenarios. You can create "what if" scenarios showing your benefits at 62 vs your FRA, and estimate your wife's spousal benefits under each scenario. Also consider that if you're in good health and have longevity in your family, the break-even point for waiting vs filing early is usually around age 78-80. If you expect to live beyond that, waiting typically pays off financially. But if you need the income now or have health concerns, filing at 62 might make more sense despite the reduced benefits. The peace of mind factor is real too - having guaranteed income starting at 62 vs waiting and hoping the system doesn't change can be worth something that's hard to quantify in dollars.

Just wanted to add my personal experience here - I delayed claiming for 14 months past my FRA and can confirm that the monthly proration worked exactly as described. My benefit increased by about 9.3% (14 months × 0.667% per month). What really helped me make the decision was creating a simple spreadsheet comparing the cumulative benefits over different time periods. Even though you get less money in the first few years by waiting, the crossover point where delaying becomes advantageous is usually around age 78-80 for most people. Given that life expectancy keeps increasing and healthcare costs are rising, that extra monthly income for potentially 15-20+ years can really add up. The key is looking at your total expected lifetime benefits, not just the monthly amount.

As someone who's been through this exact situation, I can confirm that the delayed retirement credits are definitely prorated monthly at 2/3 of 1% per month. I delayed claiming for 8 months past my FRA and received about a 5.3% increase in my monthly benefit. What I found really helpful was calling SSA and asking them to run a benefit estimate for different claiming dates - they can show you exactly what your monthly benefit would be at various ages. One thing I wish someone had told me is that you can actually file a "restricted application" strategy in some cases, but the rules changed for people born after 1954. Also, don't forget that Medicare Part B premiums are automatically deducted from your Social Security check, so factor that into your net benefit calculations. The extra monthly income from delaying has been worth it for me, especially since it also increased my spouse's potential survivor benefit. Good luck with your decision!

This has been such an informative discussion! As someone who's just starting to navigate the Social Security system myself, I'm amazed at how complex these rules can be, but also how helpful this community is in breaking them down. The key takeaway I'm getting is that the calendar year separation is really the crucial factor here - December 2024 earnings won't affect January 2025 benefits because they're in different tax years. It's one of those things that seems obvious once explained, but definitely not intuitive when you're first trying to figure it all out. I'm particularly grateful for all the practical tips people have shared - from using services like Claimyr to get through to SSA quickly, to keeping detailed records, to using the online tools at ssa.gov. These real-world insights are so much more valuable than trying to decipher the official SSA publications on your own. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and expertise. This thread is going to be a goldmine for anyone else facing similar retirement timing questions!

Wow, what an incredibly thorough and helpful discussion! As someone who's still several years away from retirement but starting to think about these issues, this thread has been absolutely invaluable. The calendar year rule really is the key insight here - it's so logical once explained but definitely not something I would have intuited on my own. I love how this community came together to not only answer the original question but provide so many practical resources and real-world tips. The recommendations for Claimyr, the SSA online tools, keeping detailed records, and having your Social Security statement ready when calling are all going into my retirement planning notes. It's clear that navigating Social Security requires both understanding the rules and having good strategies for actually getting reliable information from the system. Thanks to everyone who contributed their knowledge and experiences - this is exactly the kind of community support that makes these complex government programs more manageable for regular people!

Thank you for this summary. I think my next step is definitely to get accurate numbers from SSA about my ex's FRA benefit amount and then make some calculations. Really appreciate everyone's insights!

One thing I'd add to this great discussion is that you should also consider what happens if your own retirement benefit (based on your work record) might eventually exceed the spousal benefit. If you're still working and earning credits, your own benefit continues to grow until age 70 with delayed retirement credits. Even though you're receiving spousal benefits now, Social Security will automatically switch you to your own higher benefit if it becomes larger. So while you're weighing the spousal benefit decision, don't forget to factor in what your own benefit might look like at 70 - especially since you mentioned you're still earning around $21,500/year. This could potentially change the math significantly depending on your work history and future earnings!