I want to thank everyone for the helpful responses. I'm going to go ahead with just the regular retirement application since it seems there's no benefit to pursuing disability at my age. It's frustrating that the SSA representatives gave me conflicting information, but I'm grateful for the clear explanations here.

I'm really glad you found this thread helpful! Just wanted to add one more thing - since you mentioned early-onset Alzheimer's, you might want to consider setting up a representative payee arrangement if you haven't already. Even though you're going with retirement benefits instead of disability, having someone you trust designated to help manage your Social Security payments in the future could be really valuable as your condition progresses. You can set this up proactively with SSA, and it doesn't affect your benefit amount at all. Wishing you all the best with your application!

To add one more helpful bit of information - if you're wondering exactly how much your benefit will be after the COLA, you can calculate it yourself. Just take your current benefit amount and multiply it by 1.032 (for the 3.2% COLA for 2025). It won't be exact to the penny due to rounding rules SSA uses, but it'll be very close and can help with your budget planning while you wait for the official update.

Just wanted to add that you can also sign up for text alerts through your MySocialSecurity account! I set this up last year and got a text notification when my COLA update was processed. It's under the "Message Center" settings - you can choose to get alerts for benefit changes, payment updates, etc. Really helpful so you don't have to keep checking manually every day. The setup only takes a few minutes and gives you peace of mind.

That's a really helpful perspective I hadn't considered. My boyfriend is actually 5 years older than me and has a higher earnings history, so that could potentially benefit me later in life. Not that I'm planning around that, but good to understand all the implications.

Congratulations on your upcoming engagement! Just wanted to add my experience as someone who works at a local SSA field office - your $1867 retirement benefit is completely safe and won't be touched by marriage. I see this confusion all the time, and it's totally understandable why people worry about it. Your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) is calculated solely from your highest 35 years of earnings, indexed for inflation. Marriage status has zero impact on that calculation. The only time marriage affects Social Security payments is with auxiliary benefits like spousal, survivor, or divorced spouse benefits - but never your own earned retirement benefit. One tip though: if you're planning to marry soon and are close to your FRA, you might want to file for your retirement benefit first before the wedding, just to get the paperwork started and avoid any potential processing delays. Best wishes on your marriage!

One more thing to check - make sure your mother is actually receiving her own benefit and not an early widow's benefit. Since she's 83 and your father is 79 and still alive, that's probably not the case, but I've seen situations where the SSA computer system had incorrect death information and automatically converted a spouse to survivor benefits erroneously. Also, if your father had any other marriages that lasted at least 10 years, former spouses might also be drawing benefits on his record (though this wouldn't affect your mother's amount). The most likely explanation remains that your mother claimed her own benefit early, locking in a permanent reduction. The spousal benefit would then be reduced as well. For what it's worth, these benefit amounts do seem plausible given the circumstances you described (your father being the primary earner, your mother working part-time).

I went through something very similar with my grandmother a few years ago. She was getting around $900 while my grandfather got $2,400, and we couldn't understand why the difference was so large. After calling SSA (took forever to get through!), we discovered she had filed at 62 instead of waiting until her full retirement age of 66. This reduced her own benefit by about 25%, and since spousal benefits are also reduced when you file early, she was stuck with the lower amount permanently. The agent also explained that even though spousal benefits can be up to 50% of the higher earner's benefit, that's only if you wait until full retirement age AND if 50% is actually higher than your own reduced benefit. In my grandmother's case, her reduced spousal benefit was only slightly higher than her own reduced benefit, so the total increase was minimal. One thing that helped us was requesting a detailed benefit statement that showed exactly how they calculated her amounts. It made everything much clearer. Definitely worth calling to verify everything is correct - we found out my grandmother was actually eligible for a small additional amount she hadn't been receiving.

have u checked if ur eligible for divorced spouse benefits from any ex husbands? if u were married 10+ yrs and didn't remarry before 60 u might be able to claim on their record instead. just another option to look into!

I'm a financial planner who specializes in Social Security optimization, and I want to emphasize what others have correctly stated: the restricted application strategy (claiming spousal benefits only while delaying your own) was indeed eliminated for anyone born after January 1, 1954. However, given your situation as a self-employed individual still earning income, here's what I'd recommend considering: 1. **Run the numbers on your projected benefit at 70 vs. what you'd get now** - Self-employed folks often have variable income histories, so your benefit calculation might be more complex than typical W-2 employees. 2. **Factor in the earnings test** - As mentioned, your self-employment income would likely reduce any early benefits significantly. 3. **Consider your health and family longevity** - If you're in good health with family members who lived into their 80s+, waiting until 70 often provides the best lifetime value. 4. **Look into estimated Social Security statements** - You can create an account at ssa.gov to see your projected benefits at different claiming ages. The 2015 law changes were frustrating for many, but in your case with continued earnings, waiting might actually be the optimal strategy anyway. The key is doing the math based on your specific situation rather than general rules of thumb.