I am a widow turning 60 but am still working but I am a 1099 insurance sales person. Do they use my 1099 earrings our my adjusted gross in figuring out what the maximum I can earn with out being penalized. Also I am remarrying I do not receive ssi benefits will it negatively impact me?

Hi,

Social Security would basically count your net self-employment earnings for purposes of the earnings test, but the countable amount is sometimes different when renewals are involved. Treatment of insurance renewals varies depending on the type of insurance sold, and it is too complex a subject to delve into in this forum.

If you file for benefits this year you could have countable earnings of up to $17,040 without losing any benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html), but you would lose $1 of benefits for each $2 earned in excess of that amount.

You could remain eligible for widow's benefits on your deceased husband's record while remarried, but only if you remarry at age 60 or older. It sounds like your best strategy would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age. However, if your deceased husband received reduced retirement benefits prior to his death the optimal time for you to file for widow's benefits would likely be earlier than at full retirement age.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our maximization software can sort all of this out for you and help you determine your best strategy.

Best, Jerry