Social Security timing question - FRA in Sept 2024 with earnings above limit

Good news! Once your wife reached FRA in September, the earnings limit no longer applies regardless of how much she made before FRA. The earnings test only counts income earned BEFORE the month of FRA. So she can apply for December or January - either way no penalty for her 2024 earnings.

Wait really? That's a huge relief! I thought they'd look at her entire 2024 income and penalize accordingly. To be clear, even though she earned $63,800 between January-August 2024 (before her FRA), she won't face any reduction if she starts benefits in December?

The previous answer isn't quite right. The SSA does use a monthly test in the year you reach FRA. For 2024, your wife could earn up to $4,960 per month for months before reaching FRA (Sept). Any month she earned over that amount before FRA would be subject to withholding. However, since she wants to start in December 2024 or January 2025, her earnings before September don't matter at this point. Once she reached FRA, the earnings test disappeared completely. She can earn unlimited amounts without affecting benefits starting with the month she reached FRA (September 2024).Between Dec 2024 and Jan 2025 start dates, it's just a matter of getting benefits one month earlier or waiting. Each month of delay increases her benefit by about 2/3 of 1% (8% per year).

thxs for clearing that up! i was getting so confused about the FRA stuff. my husband is approaching his FRA next year and we've been trying to figure out all these rules too

I HAD EXACTLY THIS SITUATION LAST YEAR!! The SSA messed up my benefits because they didn't understand their OWN RULES about the earnings test in the year of FRA. I had to fight with them for 4 months to get it fixed. MAKE SURE you specifically tell them when applying that your wife reached FRA in September 2024 and that you understand the earnings test no longer applies. Get the name of the person you talk to!!! Trust me on this!!

Thanks for the warning. That's exactly what I'm worried about - someone at SSA misapplying their own rules. Did you eventually get it all straightened out? Was there any specific documentation that helped your case?

My two cents - apply for December benefits. You get an extra month of payments with no penalty as others explained. January would just mean losing a month of benefits for no reason since she's already at FRA. The earnings test is gone after FRA month.

I had luck using Claimyr when I needed to talk to a real person at Social Security about a similar situation with my earnings test questions. Calling SSA directly was impossible - kept getting disconnected after 2+ hour waits. Claimyr got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU and their site is claimyr.com - it saved me so much frustration when dealing with these retirement application earnings test questions.

Thank you! I hadn't heard of this service before. Getting through to SSA has been absolutely impossible lately. I'll check out that video.

Hmm not sure why everyones saying to apply in Dec. Waiting til January gives her a slightly higher monthly amount for the rest of her life. If money is tight now maybe do Dec but otherwise Jan makes more sense financially in the long run.

That's a good point. Each month of delay from FRA to 70 increases benefits by 2/3 of 1% (or 8% per year). So waiting from December to January would increase her lifetime benefit by 2/3 of 1%. However, she would miss one payment. The break-even point would be around 12.5 years (150 months). If she expects to live longer than that, January would be slightly better financially. If not, December would give her more total benefits.

This is really helpful analysis! We hadn't considered the break-even calculation. My wife is in good health with longevity in her family, so perhaps the January start date makes more sense after all.

my husbnd started his ss right at FRA last yr and it was no problem even tho he made like $75k before his FRA that year. they dont care once you hit that magic FRA date!

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's reassuring to hear.

One thing nobody mentioned - if she works for someone else, only wages earned through September count toward the limit. If she's self-employed, the SSA looks at whether she performed

She works for a large company, so thankfully we don't need to deal with the self-employment complications. I can only imagine how much more confusing that would be!

Wait, I'm confused now after reading all these answers. So is there ANY reason to wait until January? December seems like free money with no downside unless I'm missing something? Someone plz explain!

The only reason to wait until January would be to get a slightly higher monthly benefit (about 2/3 of 1% more) for the rest of her life. It's a trade-off between getting one extra payment in December versus slightly higher payments forever. If she lives long enough (about 12-13 years after starting benefits), the January start date would provide more total benefits over her lifetime.

Thanks that makes sense! I always forget about that monthly increase thing.