Working in 2025 while collecting Social Security before FRA - earnings limit question

Your thinking is on the right track! Yes, you can collect SS benefits while working before your FRA, but you need to understand exactly how the earnings limit works. For 2025, the limit is $62,160 for people reaching FRA that year. For every $3 you earn over that limit, $1 is withheld from your benefits, but ONLY in the months before you reach FRA. Your strategy of working until you hit the threshold could work, but remember two things: 1) The earnings test is based on your annual earnings, even if you stop working partway through the year, and 2) Any benefits withheld aren't lost forever - you'll get them back in increased monthly payments after you reach FRA.

ppl overthink this stuff tbh... i started my SS at 65 last yr while still working. they just held back some of my payments for a few months and then started paying me. not a big deal. the money isnt lost, they adjust ur payment later. just do what works for u

The earnings limit applies to your earnings BEFORE the month you reach FRA. It sounds like your FRA is December 2025, so the $62,160 limit applies to your earnings from January through November 2025. If you earn the full $70,000 in that period, you'd be $7,840 over the limit. That means about $2,613 would be withheld from your benefits ($7,840 ÷ 3). BUT! Here's what I learned when I went through this: SSA doesn't apply the earnings test in the month you reach FRA or any month after that. So if you can arrange to earn most of your income in December 2025, that income won't count toward the limit at all. Have you tried calling SSA to discuss your specific situation? I spent weeks trying to get through until someone told me about Claimyr.com - it got me connected to a real person at SSA in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent I spoke with helped me understand exactly how the earnings test would affect my specific situation.

They just needed basic info to connect me with SSA. The agent I spoke with walked me through my specific dates and earnings to calculate exactly how the earnings test would affect me. Much easier than trying to figure it out myself!

WAIT until FRA!!! I started 4 months early and REGRET IT!!! They withheld EVERYTHING for 2 months because I went over the limit by accident. They don't tell you how complicated this is until it's TOO LATE!!! 😡

My situation was similar to yours last year. I turned 67 (my FRA) in November 2024. What I did was reduce my hours at work from January-October to stay under the limit, collected reduced SS payments during that time, then went back to full-time in November when I hit FRA. No more earnings limit to worry about! The partial benefits plus partial salary worked well for me - kind of like a gradual retirement. Something to consider.

Looking at your specific dates, here's what I recommend analyzing: 1. If you work Jan-Oct earning $58,333 ($70k × 10/12), you'd be under the annual limit and could collect full SS benefits starting in February. 2. If you work Jan-Nov earning $64,167 ($70k × 11/12), you'd exceed the limit by $2,007, resulting in a $669 total withholding ($2,007 ÷ 3). 3. If you wait until your FRA in December to claim, you'd collect one month of benefits in 2025 without any reduction, but you'd miss out on 10 months of payments. The key calculation: Will 10-11 months of slightly reduced benefits in 2025 provide more value than waiting until FRA and getting a slightly higher monthly amount forever? For most people, taking benefits in February even with potential reductions would provide more total lifetime benefits unless you expect to live well into your 90s. The break-even age is typically around 82-83 years for this scenario.

One more important thing to consider - are you still contributing to a 401(k) or other tax-deferred retirement account? If so, those contributions reduce your countable income for the earnings test. So if you're making $70,000 but contributing $8,000 to a 401(k), your countable earnings would only be $62,000 - under the limit! This is a strategy many people overlook.

I went through a very similar situation in 2023! One thing that really helped me was creating a month-by-month earnings tracker to make sure I stayed under the limit. Since you're planning to start benefits in February, you'll want to be extra careful about tracking your cumulative earnings from January forward. Also, don't forget that the earnings limit only applies to W-2 wages and self-employment income - it doesn't include things like pension payments, investment income, or rental income. So if you have any other income sources, those won't count against your $62,160 limit. The 401(k) contribution strategy that Zainab mentioned is gold! I increased my contributions by about $10,000 that year specifically to stay under the earnings limit, and it worked perfectly. Just make sure your payroll department processes the contribution changes quickly enough to affect your early paychecks. One last tip: Keep detailed records of everything. SSA sometimes makes mistakes in calculating earnings, and having your own documentation makes resolving any issues much faster. Good luck with whatever you decide!