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Reaching Retirement Age While On Social Security Disability Benefits

The Social Security Disability system was designed to compensate people who have paid into the social security system and have become unable to work as a result of their physical or emotional impairments. Those who are eligible for disability benefits are most certainly eligible for early retirement benefits as well as full retirement benefits. It's important to remember that an individual's disablity amount is going to differ from their retirement amount. Likewise, an individual's early retirement amount is typically less than their full retirement amount.

This information is critical for someone who begins collecting social security disability before they become eligible to receive early retirement from the Social Security Administration. While a claimant's disability amount is typically higher than their early retirement amount, a claimant's full retirement amount is typically the highest. If you collect social security disability before you reach your full retirement age, you will retain your disability amount even when you reach your full retirement age. Social Security will convert your benefits into retirement benefits, but they will keep your monthly dollar amount the same. They will not raise your monthly benefit to the amount you could have gotten if you decided to collect Social Security at your full retirement age. For a full explanantion of Social Security Retirement Benefits, CLICK HERE.

While this may seem a little confusing, here is a quick example of a typical person's Social Security dollar amounts:

John Smith is 58 years old. He is not yet eligible to collect early retirement, but he is unable to work and is deemed disabled by the Social Security Administration. John is entitled to collect $1,000 a month in social security disability benefits. When John hits the age of 62, his early retirement amount is $800. John will retain his disability amount of $1,000 per month assuming he is still disabled. John's full retirement age is 66 and his full retirement amount from Social Security is $1,300 a month. However, becuase John has been collecting Social Security Disability, he will continue to receive his disability amount of $1,000 per month as opposed to his full retirement amount of $1,300 per month.

You can see from this example that the only way to maximize your Social Security amount is to wait until you reach your full retirement age before you decide to collect benefits. But for some people, this is just not feasible. Social Security allows you to collect early through their disability program and it creates financial stability for those who are unable to continue working.