And some bad news. I get about $1200 a month of SSDI, I’ve been getting SSDI for about 35 years but I’ve also been working part time for about 43 years (occasionally full time). This info might actually help someone else. To calculate what you get monthly in benefits Social Security looks at your highest earnings of ten years, I receive SSDI in the first place because I worked before I got ill. So if I’ve been making more money at my job these past ten years than the ten years I first started working so when I retire my highest paid years will replace my lowest paid years and they will look at my last ten years and raise my SSDI/retirement money accordingly. That’s the good news. The bad news is it could be only a paltry sum of $50 but that might be higher.
you seem to really have your life in order, its really great man
The SSA is looking at your 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation. Ten years is the minimum amount of years you need to have worked to qualify for Social Security Retirement.
IDK about that but yes, I take care of business like financial and social security and deal with doctors and stuff, I thought life was pretty complicated about ten years ago but it’s gotten a lot simpler (not easier).
Are you sure about that? Two social security agents agreed that it was ten years.
I’m pretty sure, but I might be wrong.
I’ll call social security next week and straighten it out whether it’s 35 or 10.
I read ssdi is 10 years not disabled it’s 35 years
[Age and Work Credit Requirements:
Under 24: 6 credits (1.5 years of work) in the 3-year period ending when the disability begins.
24 to 30: Credit for working half the time between age 21 and the time the disability began.
31 or older: Generally requires at least 20 credits (5 years of work) in the 10-year period just before the disability.]–AI Overview
If you have SSDI, you’re exempt from the 10-year work minimum to receive Social Security Retirement (SSR) even if you never worked after you were approved for SSDI. When you turn 65 your SSDI will automatically change to SSR. The amount of your check will not change.
Thanks that was informative
Yeah, I knew that. But the important question is if I’m on retirement, can it go up by making more money in the last 14 years than I did when I was younger? Do they look at your earnings history and if you were making more money in your later years will they raise my retirement? Another related question is will they raise my SSDI before I retire to reflect my higher earnings in my latter years?
[Yes, your Social Security retirement amount can potentially increase if you worked and earned higher income while on SSDI. When SSDI converts to retirement benefits at Full Retirement Age (FRA), the SSA automatically re-calculates your benefit to include these new, higher earnings, which may replace lower-earning years in your record.
Key Details on SSDI to Retirement Conversion:
Automatic Increase: If your earnings in the last 14 years were higher than the years previously used to calculate your SSDI, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will update your record and increase your monthly payment.
Conversion Process: At your full retirement age (67 for those born in 1960 or later), your SSDI benefits automatically switch to retirement benefits.
No Simultaneous Payment: You cannot receive both SSDI and retirement benefits at the same time.
Work Earnings Limit: If you are working while receiving SSDI, ensure you are staying within Trial Work Period rules to avoid losing disability benefits, but high earnings in those years can boost your eventual retirement amount.]–AI Overview
The answer to your first question is yes (I just noticed that you have a second question–I’ll look that up).
[Generally, the Social Security Administration (SSA) does not raise your SSDI check simply because you are making more money; however, if you work while on SSDI and those new earnings are higher than a previous year used in your benefit calculation, your benefit could be recalculated and increased. This is rare and typically requires high earnings, as SSDI is based on your highest lifetime earnings rather than current income.]–SSA
So, yes, the amount of your SSDI check could be increased if you earn more money, but it seems they only do that if there’s a large increase.
Thanks @Catman, that answers a lot of questions. Yeah, the lady at social security said that if I’m due a raise in my benefits they will do it automatically and I don’t need to call them anymore. One worker also said that a raise in benefits could be as low as $50, that’s not much but it would help.
I wish someone could tell me how much my benefits go up with my specific earnings. I don’t know what years they used to calculate my benefits but some years I made as little as $200 for the entire year and one year I made $23,000.
I’m not sure how they calculate it. I get $2.1K from SSDI a month but I made a lot more than that when I worked.
Apparently you can get up to $4K maximum that’s wild guess for really high earners.
The SSA is looking at “working years” (age 22-62). They don’t just add up the amount you paid into Social Security Insurance and divide by 35 (they only look at the 35 years you paid the most (years that you didn’t work are calculated at $0)), they use an Average Wage Index (AWI) which varies each year.
For example:
[Based on the Social Security Administration’s Average Wage Index (AWI), an income of $23,000 in 1987 is equivalent to approximately $87,175 in 2024.]–SSA
Thus the AWI for 1987 was about 3.79
Just search “SSA AWI calculator” for the AWI of specific years.