Yes, you can and should report your estimated earnings to Social Security when you apply for benefits. They will ask for this information during the application process. If your earnings change later in the year, you can update your estimate by calling SSA or visiting an office. Regarding your husband's potential consulting work - remember that for self-employment, SSA counts net earnings (after business expenses) and when the income is received, not when the work was performed. So if he does work in December but doesn't get paid until January 2026, that counts toward 2026's earnings test, not 2025. Based on everything discussed here, it sounds like your best approach is to: 1. Delay applying until March entitlement/April payment to avoid the January/February monthly earnings test issues 2. Report estimated earnings when you apply 3. Track any consulting income carefully 4. Remember your tax refund won't affect benefits at all

my cousin had to deal with an overpayment last year and SS was a NIGHTMARE about it. took like 5 months to fix!! def better to just wait til ur totally done working b4 applying

wait i'm confused about something... you said you're making $17k through mid-april but then you said $22,500? which is it? the amount matters for the earnings test right?

One more important detail: make sure you apply for benefits 2-3 months before you want them to begin. While you can apply up to 4 months in advance, I recommend applying no later than February if you want April benefits. This gives SSA enough processing time to ensure your May payment arrives on schedule. And regarding the earnings limit - keep very careful records of all your work income after retirement. If you do pick up part-time work, report any changes to SSA promptly to avoid overpayment issues later. The monthly earnings test is actually designed to help people in your exact situation who have high earnings before retirement and limited earnings after.

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

Quick additional note on your question about the early claiming: When you claimed survivor benefits at 64, you took a reduction from your full benefit amount. If your new husband passes away, the survivor benefit calculation from his record would be based on your age at THAT time. So if you're past your FRA when he passes away, you would get the full survivor benefit from his record (assuming it's higher than your current one).

I went through something similar last year. Remarried at 68 after being on survivor benefits for years. The SSA representative told me that each survivor benefit is calculated separately, and they'll pay you whichever one is higher. In my case, I'm still getting my first husband's benefit because it was higher than what I'd get from my second husband who passed away recently. Make sure you bring your marriage certificate when you report the marriage to SSA - they required that documentation.

my financial advisor told me that for most widows its usually best to take survivor benefits first and then switch to your own at 70 IF your own benefit would be higher with the delayed credits. but if your own benefit is already 3x higher right now, waiting might not make sense. every situation is different!

There's actually a relatively simple way to calculate your break-even point. If your FRA benefit is $3,400 and you delay 4 years to get 32% more (about $4,488), you're giving up $2,200/month for 48 months ($105,600 total) to get an extra $1,088/month for the rest of your life after 70. $105,600 ÷ $1,088 = 97 months (about 8 years) to break even So if you expect to live beyond age 78, delaying still makes mathematical sense even with the big difference between benefits. Of course, this doesn't account for investment potential of that money if you took it earlier, or tax considerations.