Social Security earnings limit at 62 - Do royalties count & what about SSDI limits?

You've got three separate questions here, so let me break it down for you: 1) For 2025, if you're 62 and collecting retirement benefits, your annual earnings limit is $22,320. That means you can earn up to that amount from wages or self-employment without any reduction in benefits. If you go over, SSA will withhold $1 for every $2 you earn above that limit. 2) Yes, SSDI has completely different rules than retirement benefits. SSDI uses what's called Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) as their limit, which is $1,550/month for 2025 for non-blind individuals. It's a monthly limit, not annual like the retirement earnings test. 3) For your royalty income - good news! Royalty payments are generally considered unearned income (like investment income) if you're not currently involved in creating the work. Since these are from your father's past recordings, they should NOT count toward your earnings limit. Only wages and active self-employment income count toward the earnings test.

just a heads up the limit goes way up once u hit full reirment age. im 65 and can make like $59,520 in 2025 befor they take any money. and when i hit 67 (my FRA) there WONT BE ANY LIMIT AT ALL. so for now ya just stick to that 22k limit and your good

my sister got royalties from a book she wrote and SS counted it against her! they made her pay back like $5000 in benefits they said she wasnt supposed to get. be really careful!!

THE ENTIRE EARNINGS LIMIT SYSTEM IS A SCAM!!! I worked part time after taking retirement at 62 and SSA didn't tell me about the limit until they DEMANDED $11,400 BACK a year later!!! They take our money our whole lives then PUNISH US for trying to work. Your fathers royalties SHOULDNT count but who knows what they'll decide when they want more money from you!!!!

I had a similar situation with trying to figure out the earnings limit when I started my benefits. I spent weeks trying to get through to SSA on the phone and kept getting disconnected after hours on hold. Totally frustrating! I finally tried a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual SSA agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with confirmed exactly what the first commenter said - royalty payments for work you didn't personally create don't count toward the earnings limit. Saved me a ton of worry about my book royalties from my deceased aunt's novels.

i heard the earnings limit is going up to $25,000 next year for people under fra. is that true??

I'm confused about something similar. If the earnings limit is $22,320 annually, does that mean I can earn $1,860 per month? Or do they look at the whole year at once? I have a seasonal business that makes most of its money in the summer months, so I might go over in some months but still stay under the annual total.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet: if your benefits are reduced because you exceed the earnings limit, it's not money you permanently lose. Once you reach your Full Retirement Age, SSA will recalculate your monthly benefit amount to give you credit for the months they withheld benefits. So you'll get a higher monthly payment after FRA to make up for some of those reductions. Also, for your first year of retirement, SSA sometimes applies a monthly earnings test rather than the annual one. You might want to ask about the "first year rule" when you speak with them.

As someone who just went through this process last year, I wanted to add a few practical tips that might help: 1) Keep detailed records of ALL your income sources throughout the year - wages, self-employment, and yes, even those royalty payments. Even though the royalties shouldn't count against your limit, having documentation will save you headaches if SSA ever questions anything. 2) If you do decide to take that hardware store job, ask your employer upfront about flexible scheduling. Since you're close to the $22,320 limit, you'll want to track your earnings carefully as you approach it. 3) One thing that caught me off guard - if you have any unused vacation pay or severance from a previous job that gets paid out after you start collecting benefits, that DOES count toward your earnings limit for the year it's paid, even if you earned it before retiring. 4) The "first year rule" mentioned earlier is really important for your situation since you just started benefits in January. In your first year of retirement, you can use a monthly test ($1,860/month for 2025) instead of the annual test, but only for months after you retire. This can be helpful if you had high earnings early in the year before starting benefits. Good luck with everything! The SSA phone wait times are absolutely brutal, so definitely consider that Claimyr service or try visiting your local office if you need to speak with someone directly.