Will working affect my Social Security survivor benefits at age 67?

Good news! Since you're already past your Full Retirement Age (FRA), which is 66 and 10 months for someone your age, the Social Security earnings limit no longer applies to you. You can work and earn as much as you want without any reduction to your survivor benefits. This is different from people who collect benefits before their FRA - they do face benefit reductions if they earn over certain limits.

my sister went thru this exact thing last year. she started working part time at walmart and nothing happened to her checks. your fine just make sure u report the income on your taxes

BE CAREFUL ABOUT THIS!!!! I started working after my husband died and they TOOK AWAY some of my benefits because I earned "too much"!!! The SS people never explain anything properly and then they demand you pay back thousands!!! They said I was over some "earnings limit" and now I owe them $4,600!!!

Since you're 67, you're already past your Full Retirement Age, so the earnings test doesn't apply to you anymore. You can earn any amount without affecting your survivor benefits. However, be aware that working could potentially make a portion of your Social Security benefits taxable, depending on your combined income. If your combined income (adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + half of Social Security benefits) exceeds $25,000 for singles or $32,000 for married couples, up to 85% of your benefits might be subject to federal income tax. This doesn't reduce your benefit amount - it just means you might owe taxes on a portion of them.

i was in the EXACT same boat last year!!! lost my husband in 2022, started collecting his benefits (they were higher than mine) and then got a job at michaels craft store. i was already 68 so guess what??? nothing happened to my benefits! i get the full check every month plus my paycheck. its really helped me make ends meet especially with rent going up every year

If you're finding it challenging to get clear information from Social Security, you might want to try Claimyr (claimyr.com). I was in a similar situation last year and needed to clarify how going back to work would affect my widow's benefits. Spent weeks trying to get through on the SS phone lines with no luck. Claimyr connected me to an actual SSA agent in under 10 minutes, and I got all my questions answered in one call. They have a video demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - it saved me so much time and frustration!

Actually working might INCREASE your benefits eventually. Social Security calculates your benefit based on your highest 35 years of earnings. If you're earning more now than you did in some of those earlier years (after indexing for inflation), you could ultimately see a small increase in your benefit amount. The SSA automatically recalculates this annually. Just something to keep in mind as an added benefit of returning to work.

one thing nobody mentioned is that youre on survivor benefits not regular retirement so theres different rules sometimes. but at your age it doesnt matter youre good to work

To summarize what everyone has said: 1) At 67, you're past FRA so there's NO earnings limit 2) You will keep 100% of your survivor benefits no matter how much you earn 3) Working could potentially make some of your benefits taxable if your total income exceeds certain thresholds 4) Working now might actually increase your benefit slightly if you replace lower-earning years in your calculation. Sounds like taking that bookstore job is a good move for you!