What's Better at Age 62: SS Disability or Retirement?

What's better, social security disability or social security retirement? Let's say you were getting ready to turn 62. You're 61, you're 60. And you've heard that it takes about two years for most people to get approved for social security disability. It can be longer. Some people do get fast track based on their conditions, but yeah, it's about two years. And you're like, well, at 62, I could take my retirement early. So maybe I should just get my retirement and give up on disability. You might wanna do both. So you might wanna go ahead and apply for social security disability. And if you get it, great. Social security disability, like I said, can take a while. But in the meantime, if you're 62, if you're not working full time, earning over that earned income limit, which is about 20 grand a year, you can take your social security retirement. Even though at 62, it's greatly reduced. So instead of getting 100% that you would get at your full retirement age, which is gonna be between 66 and 67, you're gonna get about 70% if you take it at 62. Now, the bad news is when you take it at that reduced amount, you lock that in permanently. And that's gonna be what your benefit is for the rest of your life. Because a lot of people think, well, it's a reduction. I'm giving up 30%. But when I reach my full retirement age, then I'll get that 100%. No. You're gonna lock that amount in and that'll be your permanent amount for the rest of your life, except for the small cost of living increases you may or may not get each January. So at 62, you go ahead and you're like, I'm gonna take my retirement. I need the money. I'm gonna take it, even though it's reduced. And I understand it's a permanent reduction. I need it. It'll help me. I'm gonna do it. But you also applied for disability, maybe last year or maybe at the same time. If you do get approved for social security disability, boom. Now you are bumped up to disability and the disability payment is how much you would get if you were at your full retirement age. So you get the 100% amount as if you were between 66 and 67. So you can file for both of them at the same time. And if you do later get disability, boom, you gave yourself your raise. Now, changing from retirement to disability has different income rules. When you're on just plain old retirement, you can make up to $20,000 a year. With disability, your income rolls a little tighter. You can only make 1,350 per month gross income or you risk losing your disability. So just remember, disability is a higher payment. It is what you would get if you were at your full retirement age. And again, it locks that in, that amount, and that amount's gonna be permanent for the rest of your life. So a lot of people think, well, my disability payment's not that much. When I get older, it'll go up. No. When you start drawing that benefit, you're locking it in, and it'll be that amount for the rest of your life except for the small cost of living increases that you will get once January. If you have more questions, you can set up your own free account at socialsecurity.gov. I highly recommend you do that. And if you have questions about social security disability when Medicare kicks in, call us at themedicarefamily.com or go to our website, themedicarefamily.com. Top right-hand corner is a yellow box where you can book an appointment. We'd be happy to help you. We're licensed in all 50 states, and you never pay extra for a consultation or for our services. 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.