Many people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits are nearing retirement age and awaiting their Social Security Retirement payments since SSDI benefits alone are often not enough to make ends meet.
But can you collect SSDI and retirement benefits simultaneously?
The short answer is no. It is not possible to collect SSDI and Social Security retirement benefits at the same time. If you are an SSDI beneficiary, your SSDI benefits will automatically convert into retirement benefits once you reach retirement age.
SSDI Eligibility
The Social Security Administration (SSA) determines your eligibility for its SSDI program by taking into account three main factors; work credits, earnings, and disability. We will discuss these in detail below.
Work Credits
The Social Security Administration requires that each applicant accumulates a specific number of work credits based on their age and job history. If you have had a job for at least four quarters out of each year over the past five years and earned at least the amount required to qualify for four quarters of coverage during each of those years, then it is quite likely that you meet the requirements for the required number of work credits.
Requirements for the number of work credits needed are based on the specifics of each individual case. It wouldn’t be fair to demand that each person with different ages and other circumstances have the same number of work credits.
For example, a younger person in their 30s will need fewer work credits to be eligible for SSDI. This is why it’s so important to consult an expert and not assume your eligibility based on someone else’s case.
Earnings
You can only make a certain amount of money in a given month, no matter what job you have. To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance, your earnings must be below the significant gainful activity (SGA) limit. The SSA changes the limit annually.
Monthly earnings of $1,470 are considered to be the SGA cap in 2023. Only wages and self-employment earnings count toward this total. Additionally, self-employed individuals are subject to further requirements.
The purpose of this limit is not to restrict your financial resources, but rather to ensure that you are unable to support yourself due to your condition.
Disability
This is perhaps the strictest requirement by the SSA because of how difficult it is to meet. You need to prove your disability to the SSA. This also means that your disability must be medically determined and well-documented.
The Social Security Administration provides detailed lists of impairments that meet the agency’s rigorous requirements for determining a claimant’s inability to work.
Applicants must have documentation showing that their impairment has led to a drastically reduced capacity to perform even the most menial of tasks. These can include health records, treatment notes, lab and clinical findings, and diagnostic tests.
This disability must also prevent applicants from retaining any kind of employment, including their prior career, jobs for which they are qualified, and even low-skilled jobs. The Social Security Administration requires extensive proof of your disability before they will recognize it as an impairment.
Social Security Retirement Benefits
If you work at a job that is covered by Social Security, then there will be a certain amount of money withheld from your paycheck that will go into Social Security. These are called Social Security taxes.
The money for your social security retirement payments is funded through these taxes. Workers born in 1960 or after are eligible for full retirement benefits at age 67, with early retirement beginning at age 62.
Filing sooner results in lower monthly benefit amounts, whereas waiting until later results in larger payments up until age 70.
When you retire, the income that you receive from Social Security won’t fully replace what you were making before.
Most retirees supplement their Social Security benefits with money from other sources, including 401(k)s, pensions, investment properties, and savings. In addition, some people keep working to increase their financial stability.
Can You Collect SSDI and Social Security Retirement Simultaneously?
Unfortunately, it is not possible for an individual to collect SSDI and retirement payments at the same time. Most Americans who become disabled will find that they are not eligible for both retirement and disability benefits from Social Security Disability Insurance. When you reach retirement age, your Social Security Disability Insurance benefits will automatically transition into retirement benefits.
The Social Security disability insurance benefits are designed to financially assist working Americans who have become disabled as a result of an accident or disease but who are not yet eligible to receive retirement benefits.
There is an immediate financial necessity if you are unable to work but have not yet reached retirement age. The Social Security Disability Insurance program is a form of “early retirement” compensation for people who are disabled and unable to work.
When a person reaches the age at which they are eligible for retirement, they are allowed to access the entirety of the retirement assets that have been set up for them.
The Social Security Disability Insurance program is now obsolete and has been transformed into retirement benefits. Both programs complement one another in helping disabled Americans of all ages access the resources they need.
Can Collecting SSDI Affect Your Social Security Retirement Benefits?
Receiving Social Security disability payments for a considerable amount of time will likely cut into your retirement funds. However, there are other forms of financial aid that you could still receive.
Your Social Security earnings history, the length of your employment history, and the year you retire will all affect your monthly Social Security retirement benefits.
When determining retirement benefits, Social Security uses the 35 greatest earning years. If your income history falls short of 35 years, you will receive no credit for those years.
If you are receiving Social Security disability benefits, those payments are excluded from the calculation of the total amount of income that makes you eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.
If you go an entire year without working, the amount of your total income that is counted toward your Social Security benefits will be considered zero for that year.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, you cannot collect SSDI and social security retirement payments at the same time. If you feel that your SSDI amount is low, then you can look into ways of maximizing this amount or looking for other kinds of assistance, like SSI.
