You Can Apply for SS Disability & Retirement (At the SAME Time)

You're getting close to the age of early social security retirement, which is 62. So you're 61, 60, 61, 59. And you're wondering, should I apply for disability or should I wait and apply for retirement? Which program is going to give me the most money? And can I apply for both of them at the same time? Since social security disability reputedly can take years to get. And that is based on fact. Yes, it could take six months to two or three years to get on average. You can Google it. I'm not making it up. There's a huge backlog to get disability. So while you might be disabled, unable to work, and you're like, I'm going to slam dunk to get disability. It might take you a couple of years to actually get through the system and get approved. So can you apply at 62 for your retirement, even though you've already applied for disability? Yes, you can. Okay. So you can apply for your retirement at 62, but you're only going to get about 70% of your social security. So I'm saying your full retirement age is 67. Yours might be different because this is for people that were born in 1960 or thereafter. So if you're born in 58, 59, get our social security cheat sheet. It'll tell you when your full retirement age is. So I'm just saying for the purpose of explaining this today, full retirement age is 67. So if I wait till 67, me, I'm going to get a hundred percent of what I paid into social security, my highest 35 years of earnings. They index that for inflation and they give me a number and hopefully it's going to be high, right? So let's say my number is a thousand dollars. It's not high, but I can do the math on that. But I want to take it at 62, like 30% of people do because they want it early. They want it now. They need it now. Maybe they're not healthy. Maybe they don't expect to live, you know, until their late seventies. So they want to take it at 62. If you take it at 62 or 63, 64, it'll show you on the chart, you're going to get a reduced amount. And a lot of people like that's fine. So I get 70%. That's better than nothing. However, they assume when they reach 67, they'll get that increase. No, social security doesn't work like that. When you choose to pull the trigger and apply for your benefits, you're going to lock in that amount permanently for the or 70 or 75. A lot of people have that hope. No, it's going to be a permanent amount. The only way you'll get more is some Januaries, not all. There is a cost of living increase that across the board, anybody getting any social security benefit would get a little bump and it's to help you keep pace with inflation. You're not really getting an increase. So if I'm 62 and I apply for social security disability and I get approved, they're going to give me the amount I would have gotten at my full retirement age. So I'm going to get this amount, the full thousand dollars versus only getting 70% of that $700 if I do retirement. So people say, is it even worth it applying for disability? Yeah, it's worth it. Because if you do get approved, you're going to get 30% more every month for the rest of your life. Okay. You're going to lock in that higher benefit so you can apply for both programs at the same time. They don't have a bearing on each other. Your retirement benefit you're entitled to because you worked, you paid into the system long enough. You're entitled to file for that whenever you want. That's your choice. Your disability benefit depends on are you qualifying for social security disability, which I said, even if you do qualify, could take you a very long time to get it. I don't want to dissuade you from applying for both of them at the same time. Or maybe you apply for disability a couple of years earlier down here. And that's fine. You'll be getting that amount, which is your full amount that you would have gotten ahead of your full retirement age. You'll get that amount level for the rest of your life. That is the one problem with social security disability. A lot of people are disabled. They didn't work that much to begin with, or they haven't worked that much in the last couple of years. And their amount of money is not very much, even though it is their full amount. So they're like, well, it's okay. Because when I do get to my full retirement age, I'm going to get more. And that's not correct. They're holding out hope after hope that, you know, I'm only getting five, six, $700, $800 a month now. When I reach, they think 62. No. Or 65. No. Or 60. No. You're going to get that same amount level for the rest of your life. The only way it will increase is if you do get a small cost of living increase each January. So if you found this video helpful, you can get my social security cheat sheet on our website. And this cheat sheet shows you those percentages that I talked about. And there's a lot more helpful information. If you're trying to make retirement decisions, it is free. It's on our website. You can download it right now. If you like this video, you might really like this video, check it out. And we'd appreciate if you subscribe to our channel. So you never miss a great video. We put out one every week. Check in the description below this video for a link to our cheat sheet on social security and Medicare. And you can also give us a comment. If you have a specific question, always feel free to call us or email us at the Medicare family.