Will switching from full-time to part-time at 63 increase my Social Security benefits?

Your Social Security retirement benefit is calculated based on your 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation. At 63, you likely have a full work history, so part-time work will only increase your benefit if it replaces a lower-earning year in your top 35. With your highest earnings at $78k and part-time at $32k, the part-time work probably won't replace any of your higher-earning years. However, delaying when you start taking benefits (regardless of work status) WILL significantly increase your monthly amount - about 8% per year until age 70.

My brother did this exact thing last year!!! He went part time at 62 and kept working until 65. His SS check ended up being like $50 more a month than if he had just quit completely at 62. Not worth it for him but he liked his job anyway so whatever lol.

i went part time at 61, now im 67 and just started my ss benefits. part time didnt help my benefit much but WAITING to file definitely did. my monthly amount is almost $600 more than if id filed at 62! wish someone had explained this better to me years ago.

THE SSA DOESN'T CARE IF YOU'RE WORKING PART TIME OR FULL TIME!! They ONLY look at your actual earnings and how much you paid in FICA taxes. What matters is the DOLLAR AMOUNT, not the hours. If your part-time job pays less than your previous jobs, it probably won't help your benefit calculation much. They take your highest 35 years REGARDLESS of when those years happened. The whole system is RIDICULOUS and needs to be reformed!

I faced this exact dilemma when I turned 62. After struggling to reach anyone at Social Security to answer this specific question about part-time work, I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me connected to an actual SSA agent in about 20 minutes who explained my options in detail. There's a video demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent explained that continuing to work part-time only increases your benefit if those earnings replace a lower year in your top 35. In my case, working part-time wasn't going to significantly increase my benefit, but delaying when I claimed until my FRA gave me a much bigger monthly payment.

nobody mentioned the earnings limit! if u start taking ss benefits before your FRA and still working, they take back $1 for every $2 u earn above the limit. thats the real killer. the limit is like $21,240 for 2025 i think

my cousin's husband worked part time from 62-65 and said it wasn't worth it for the SS increase but he liked having structure to his day and the extra spending money so 🤷‍♀️

Let me clarify a few key points about part-time work and Social Security benefits: 1. Your benefit is based on your highest 35 years of indexed earnings. 2. Working part-time will only increase your benefit if those earnings replace a lower year in your calculation. 3. At your current age (63), the most powerful way to increase your benefit is to delay filing. 4. Each year you delay filing past your FRA increases your benefit by 8% (permanently). 5. If you file before FRA while still working, you'll be subject to the earnings test ($21,240 in 2025). For personalized advice, I'd recommend creating a my Social Security account at ssa.gov and looking at your earnings history and benefit estimates.

I forgot to mention in my earlier comment - BE CAREFUL about the monthly earnings test in your first year of retirement if you claim early! It's DIFFERENT from the annual test and trips people up all the time! SSA doesn't explain this well AT ALL!

One thing I'd add to all this great advice - don't forget to factor in healthcare costs! If you're switching to part-time, make sure your employer still offers health insurance or you'll need to find coverage elsewhere until Medicare kicks in at 65. That could eat into any financial benefit you're getting from delaying Social Security. I had a friend who went part-time at 62 thinking she'd save money, but ended up paying $800/month for individual health insurance which basically wiped out her part-time earnings. Just something to consider in your overall retirement planning!

Just wanted to share my experience since I went through something very similar! I switched to part-time at 62 and worked until 66. Like others have mentioned, the part-time earnings didn't really boost my Social Security benefit much since my highest earning years were already locked in from when I was working full-time. The real game-changer was waiting until my Full Retirement Age to file - that made a huge difference in my monthly payment. One thing I'd suggest is logging into your my Social Security account and running some scenarios with different filing ages. You can see exactly how much your benefit would be if you file at 63, 66, 67, etc. That really helped me visualize the trade-offs. Also, if you do decide to file early while still working part-time, just make sure you understand the earnings test limits so you don't get any surprises with benefit reductions. Good luck with your decision!

I'm in a very similar situation and this thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm 62 and considering going part-time next year. Based on all the great advice here, it sounds like the key takeaway is that delaying when you file for benefits is much more impactful than whether you're working part-time or full-time. The 8% annual increase for delaying past FRA is huge - that's guaranteed money you can't get anywhere else. I'm definitely going to create that my Social Security account to run some scenarios and see my actual numbers. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and knowledge!

Great question! I'm 64 and just went through this decision myself last year. From what I learned talking to a Social Security representative, your part-time earnings will only boost your benefit if they're higher than one of your lowest 35 years in the calculation. Since you mentioned your peak earning years were 2010-2015 at $78k, and part-time would be around $32k, it's unlikely the part-time work will increase your benefit much. The real advantage comes from delaying when you file - that 8% per year increase until age 70 is where the real money is. I'd recommend using the Social Security calculator online to see the difference between filing at different ages. That really opened my eyes to how much waiting can be worth!

As someone who just went through this exact decision at 63, I can share what I learned from my research and conversations with SSA representatives. The key insight is that Social Security benefits are calculated on your highest 35 years of earnings, so your part-time work at $32k will likely not replace any of your higher-earning years from 2010-2015 when you made $78k. However, the real opportunity is in timing when you file for benefits. Each year you delay past your Full Retirement Age (which is probably 66 or 66+2 months for you), your monthly benefit increases by 8% permanently until age 70. That's a guaranteed return you can't beat anywhere else! I'd strongly recommend creating a my Social Security account at ssa.gov to see your actual benefit estimates at different filing ages - it really puts the numbers in perspective. The part-time work might give you some extra income and keep you active, but the big financial win comes from delaying when you start collecting benefits, not from the earnings themselves.

I'm 61 and have been researching this exact scenario for when I hit 63 next year! From everything I've read and the experiences shared here, it really seems like the consensus is that delaying when you file for Social Security benefits is way more impactful than whether you're working part-time or full-time. That 8% guaranteed annual increase everyone keeps mentioning sounds incredible - I had no idea that was even a thing until I started looking into this seriously. One question I have for those who've gone through this: how do you handle the income gap if you're not working full-time but also not claiming Social Security yet? I'm trying to figure out if I need to build up more savings to bridge that period or if part-time income plus some retirement account withdrawals would be enough. The healthcare insurance piece that someone mentioned is also a big concern for me. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this thread has been more helpful than hours of reading government websites!