I need help ASAP / I drawed early retirement because ss office said my check would increase drastically because I still work / but I was told wrong & now my check is $700 a month after premium & early penalty ! I work but it doesn't look like it's ever going to be enough to live on ! They take out ss taxes but don't give much back ! I need your advise on what to do / I appealed & that is going nowhere ! HELP Asap

Hi. I'm sorry, but there really isn't enough information in your question for me to be able to offer you much in the way of advice. I assume you mean that you applied for your own Social Security retirement benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA) at a reduced rate. If so, the only way that you could withdraw your claim and reapply for unreduced benefits later is if you a) claimed your benefits within the last 12 months, and b) you repay any benefits that you've been paid so far (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/withdrawal.html).

Whether or not withdrawing your claim might be a good option depends on a number of other factors, such as whether or not you might later be able to claim spousal or survivor benefits. But, since you don't mention your marital history I have no way of knowing if any other benefit options might be possible.

Even if you don't withdraw your application, though, you can potentially increase your benefit rate by continuing to work and pay into Social Security. However, Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so additional years of earnings only increase a person's benefit rate if they're higher than one or more of the 35 years currently being used to calculate the person's benefit rate. And, since a 35 year earnings average is involved, any such increases in your retirement benefit rate are likely to be relatively modest.

Best, Jerry