I am 60 receiving disability social security. I was an educator and want to return to work. If so, do I stop receiving disability but begin receiving social security at 62. And then can I work and still receive socia security

Hi,

If you return to work earning and earn more than $1170 per month your disability benefits (SSDI) likely would be suspended and then terminated, at least eventually. It's actually rather complicated, though, because SSDI recipients are first allowed a 9 month trial work period before suspension of their benefits is considered. You'll want to peruse the following Social Security publication to get a better understanding of how a return to work would likely affect your SSDI benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf.

But let's say you do return to work and you no longer qualify for SSDI benefits. You could claim Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, but your benefit rate would be reduced by upwards of 25% in return for starting to draw 4+ years prior to your full retirement age (FRA). At least part of that reduction may not be permanent, though, depending on when your period of disability is determined to have ended. Furthermore, there is a separate earnings test that applies to retirement benefits that could limit or prevent you from receiving benefits until you reach FRA if you continue working. For more on the earnings test, refer to Social Security's website: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html.

The maximization software available on this website is programmed to handle earnings test considerations for retirement benefits, so you may want to consider using it to explore your options with regard to drawing retirement benefits.

Best, Jerry