Social Security early retirement and monthly earnings limit - will March paychecks affect April SS benefits?

Yes, this is definitely a mistake based on what you've described. If your husband exceeds the monthly earnings limit in March (which it sounds like he will), then he won't be eligible for benefits that month. The 2025 monthly limit for early retirees is around $1,840 per month. Regarding April: Social Security uses a "monthly earnings test" in the first year of retirement. If he stops working mid-April AND his earnings that month stay below the monthly limit, he CAN receive benefits for April. But that vacation payout will count as earnings in the month received (April), which means he'll probably exceed the monthly limit in April too. You should call SSA right away to change his start date to May 2025, with first payment coming in June. His Medicare can still begin April 5th - that's completely separate from when his SS retirement benefits start.

when i retired last yr i had the SAME problem!! the vacation payout totally messed me up and i had to repay 2 months of benefits back to SSA!! terrible experince. def change start date to May if both march and april will be over the limit. dont mess with SSA and paybacks trust me

You're right to be concerned about this. For 2025, if your husband will earn over the monthly limit in March (approximately $1,840), he shouldn't receive benefits for that month. The vacation payout in April will count toward April's earnings, not March, which is an important distinction. One approach to consider: If your husband would earn less than the monthly limit in April EXCLUDING the vacation payout, he could ask his employer to delay the vacation payout to May. Then April could potentially be his first month of eligibility if his regular earnings stay under the limit. If that's not possible, then yes, changing his start date to May would be the simplest solution. You'll need to contact SSA directly to make this change to his application. His Medicare can still start April 5th regardless of when his Social Security benefits begin. Important: The earnings test only applies until your husband reaches his Full Retirement Age (FRA). After that, he can earn unlimited amounts without reduction in benefits.

Definitely change it to May! I didn't know about the earnings limit when I first applied and ended up having to pay back over $5,000. Complete nightmare dealing with SSA afterwards. Not worth the headache just to get benefits one month earlier.

I had trouble getting through to someone at SSA last month to fix an issue with my benefits. After getting disconnected twice and waiting on hold for hours, I finally tried a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com). It got me connected to an actual SSA agent in about 20 minutes instead of hours. You might want to check out their video to see how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU It was worth it since I needed to get my issue resolved before the deadline. Much less stressful than the regular SSA phone system.

Theres a special rule for the first year of retirement where they look at monthly earnings instead of annual earnings. So if he stops working in April and doesnt earn anything for the rest of the year, they'll only check if he was over the limit in those months he worked. Just be careful with how they define "earnings" - its not when the money is paid but when its earned. So for example if he gets paid in April for work done in March, that counts for March. But vacation payout counts in the month you receive it i think. Anyway my advice is change to May start date and avoid the whole headache. One month wont make a huge difference in the long run.

WAIT!! Make sure you understand how the monthly earnings test works! If your husband will have ZERO earned income after April 4th for the rest of 2025, then he only needs to worry about the monthly limits for March and April. For any month where he earns less than the limit AND is officially retired, he CAN receive benefits! In your case, if he'll exceed the limit in both March and April, then yes, May is his first eligible month. BUT don't delay unnecessarily if he'll be under the limit in April!! BTW Medicare enrollment is separate from SS benefits start date so no issues there.

My cousin went through this exact situation last year. Had to change his start date because of the earnings limit. Just call SSA and tell them you want to modify the application to change the start month to May. Shouldn't be a big deal as long as benefits haven't started being paid yet. They told him it happens all the time.