One important correction to my earlier response: When I mentioned that you'd likely receive about $3,200 in survivor benefits based on your husband's record, that assumes he would have reached his full retirement age. If he passes before reaching his FRA, the survivor benefit would be reduced. Also, regarding returning to work: The 2025 SGA limit is $1,550/month for non-blind individuals as another commenter mentioned. However, there are work incentives like Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWE) that might help you deduct certain costs related to your disability from your earnings calculation. Given your specific situation with rheumatoid arthritis and potential return to work, I would strongly recommend scheduling an appointment with an SSA Claims Specialist to discuss your options in detail. These consultations are free and can help you make the best decisions for your situation.

btw when u do get thru to SSA make sure u ask for an APPOINTMENT with a claims specialist dont just talk to whoever answers, the regular phone ppl just read from scripts and give wrong info half the time

To your original question - you're absolutely right that you need 40 quarters (10 years) of Social Security-covered employment to qualify for retirement benefits. If you're at 22 quarters now, you'd need 18 more, which means about 4.5 more years of work where you pay into Social Security. If you do get those 40 quarters and qualify, your benefit would still be reduced by WEP because of your state pension. The reduction is most severe if you have under 20 years of substantial earnings. Each year of substantial earnings you have between 20-30 years reduces the WEP penalty gradually. Since you said you have 23 years in state government, I'm assuming most or all of that was non-covered employment (not paying into Social Security). So you'd need to figure out how many years of substantial earnings under Social Security you actually have.

Something else to consider - even if you get your 40 quarters and qualify for Social Security retirement benefits (reduced by WEP), you should also check if the Government Pension Offset (GPO) might affect any potential spousal or survivor benefits you might be eligible for. GPO is separate from WEP and reduces spousal/survivor benefits by 2/3 of your government pension amount. These provisions can be quite complex, so it might be worth consulting with a financial advisor who specializes in federal benefits before finalizing your retirement plans. The SSA's WEP calculator can also help you estimate the impact: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/anyPiaWepjs04.html

does anyone know if this affects disability too? my husband gets SSDI and was going to switch to retirement at full retirement age, but now im worried he wont know what his retirement would be

The RIDICULOUS thing is that they HAVE all this information in their systems!! There's absolutely NO TECHNICAL REASON they couldn't show you both benefit types. It's just bad programming and outdated systems. My neighbor works for SSA and even she admits their computer systems are from the STONE AGE. Our government at work folks!!!

To clarify something important from the comments - after you reach Full Retirement Age (which you have at 68), there is NO earnings limit whatsoever. You can work and earn as much as you want without any reduction to your Social Security benefits. This is different from when someone collects early (before FRA) when there are strict earnings limits. Your neighbor may have been referring to the rules that apply before reaching FRA.

Regarding your specific situation, I'd recommend taking these three steps: 1. Request your Social Security Statement online through your my Social Security account or by calling SSA - this will show if your recent work has already increased your benefit 2. File an application for divorced spouse's benefits immediately - since your marriage was over 10 years and you're already receiving retirement benefits, there's no downside to applying 3. Keep documentation of your current earnings to verify that future benefit adjustments are correct While the automatic recalculation happens annually after tax information is processed, it's still good practice to monitor your benefit amount for changes. These recalculations typically happen in October of the year following your work.

Depends on what your goals are. I went to one of those seminars last year and yeah, it was clearly trying to get me to sign up for financial planning services, but I actually learned a few things about how SS calculates the benefits that I didn't know before. I just said no thanks to the sales pitch at the end and went home with the useful info. Free dinner too lol

To answer your specific question about how much your benefit might increase from part-time work: it varies widely based on your earnings history, but I can give you a rough idea. Let's say you're earning about $30,000 annually from your part-time accounting work. If that income replaces a year in your top 35 where you earned significantly less (or even a year with zero earnings), you might see a monthly benefit increase of $15-40 per month. That's about a 0.5-1.5% increase based on your current benefit amount. Small? Yes. But that's an extra $180-480 per year for the rest of your life, with annual COLA increases applied to that higher amount. Over 20+ years of retirement, that can add up to thousands of extra dollars. And no, there's no form to fill out. The SSA does this recomputation automatically every year after your earnings are reported (usually after you file your tax return). Any increase will be retroactive to January of the year following the work year.