I'm 63. My retirement benefit would be approx $2000 a month. I need to file for SS disability as well. Question-CAN I COLLECT MY $2000 while waiting to see if my disability claim is approved. I keep hearing about "reduced social security". What is that? My disability would add an additional $495 a month. I can't live without any income while waiting for disability approval.

Hi. Reduced Social Security refers to starting benefits prior to full retirement age (FRA) at a rate that's reduced for age. Basically, the earlier that you start drawing Social Security retirement benefits prior to FRA, the more of a reduction that applies.

And, yes, you could claim reduced retirement benefits now and collect those benefits while waiting for a decision on your Social Security disability (SSDI) claim. The only downside is that if start collecting retirement benefits prior to the first month of SSDI entitlement, your benefit rate permanently reduced for how ever many months that you collected retirement benefits prior to your first month of SSDI entitlement. And, if your SSDI claim is never approved then the entire age reduction would apply permanently.

Here's an example to illustrate. Let's say Amy files for Social Security retirement benefits 3 years prior to when she reaches FRA. Amy's primary insurance amount (PIA), which is equal to her full retirement age rate or her full SSDI rate, would be $2000, but her benefit rate is reduced for age to $1600. If Amy is approved for SSDI benefits and if her first month of SSDI entitlement is determined to be 6 months after her retirement benefits started, Amy's SSDI rate would be reduced permanently for the 6 months that she collected retirement benefits. Her ongoing benefit rate would then be adjusted to $1933. In other words, instead of receiving a full SSDI rate equal to her PIA of $2000, Amy would receive a lower rate because she collected 6 months of retirement benefits prior to her first month of SSDI entitlement.

Best, Jerry