Can You Retire Early If You Have A Disability

How It Works If Youre Approved For Disability

For example, lets say you become disabled and have to quit your job in January 2014.

You begin receiving early retirement benefits of $750 a month, but then you decide to apply for disability.

Two years later, in January 2016, you are approved for disability. Your benefit is $1,000 a month.

Social Security knows you were on early retirement and looks at when your disability began. They determine that you were considered disabled as of January 2014 right when you lost your job in the first place.

Therefore, Social Security will reimburse you the $250 a month extra you should have received through all of 2014 and 2015 . Youll receive $6,000 in what is known as back pay.

When Can You Apply For These

In Spain, you can take early retirement before the legal retirement age, under certain circumstances:

• If you have been a mutuality member: if you are an employee and have paid contributions to an occupational mutual insurance company before 1 January 1967, you can apply for retirement when you reach 60.
• Because of occupational activity: if you work in a professional sector with high mortality level due to carrying out strenuous, dangerous, toxic or unhealthy work, you may take early retirement.
• In case of disability: workers with at least 65% disability or those with at least 45% of some legally established forms of disability can take early retirement.
• In case of involuntary termination of work: if you leave your company as a result of corporate restructuring, you can take early retirement.
• In case of voluntary termination of work: you may also take early retirement if you voluntarily decide to leave work.

Voluntary Redundancy Versus Early Retirement

Maybe your employer has offered you redundancy as an alternative to early retirement?

Dont be pushed into making a quick decision. Anti-discrimination laws mean youre protected if youre disabled or have certain health conditions.

For example, your employer must keep your job open for you and cant put pressure on you to resign because youve become disabled.

If youre happy to consider redundancy, make sure you weigh up all the pros and cons.

One advantage of taking redundancy might be the redundancy pay. Find out exactly how much you would get and whether youd need to pay tax on it.

If youre planning to use your redundancy pay as income, make sure you draw up an accurate budget to calculate how long it will last.

Use the statutory redundancy pay calculator on the GOV.UK website

Find out more in our guide Redundancy pay

If you work in the public sector, you might prefer to take redundancy in the hope that your condition improves and youre able to return to work at some point. This might not be possible if you opt for early retirement.

Speak to your union representative to find out exactly what your options are, or get advice from your workplace occupational health department.

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Social Security January Payments: When Will Checks Arrive In 2022

The new year is approaching, and the Social Security Administration will soon be sending out Social Security payments for January 2022. These payments will include the 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries.

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As previously reported by GOBankingRates, if your birth date is on the 1st of the month through the 10th of the month, your benefits will be paid on Jan. 12, 2022. If your birth date falls between the 11th of the month and the 20th of the month, your benefits will be paid on Jan.19, 2022. And if your birth date is between the 21st of the month and the 31st of the month, your benefits will be paid on Jan. 26, 2022.

The U.S. has seen inflation rise to historic levels, reaching 6.8% over the last year the biggest 12-month increase since 1982, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is also the largest COLA update in nearly 40 years. COLA increases over the past few years have been around 1% to 1.3%.

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Throughout 2021, the average Social Security benefit was $1,565, according to the SSA. The average monthly payment will rise to about $1,657 in 2022.

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When Do You Get Paid

Your pension money will be direct deposited into your bank account on the last business day of the month, every month, for the rest of your life. The retirement application has a section for your bank information so your funds will be deposited. Once youve retired, you can make any updates to your direct deposit through your online account.

See live or recorded retirement planning webinars.

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Do I Qualify For The Exception To This Rule Can I Draw Both Ssdi And Retirement

There is one exception that allows qualified individuals to draw both retirement and SSDI benefits at the same time, but this is rare and still does not allow them to collect more than their full retirement benefit.

This occurs when someone opts for early retirement between age 62 and their full retirement age but is then approved for SSDI benefits. Some people set themselves up for this by filing for early retirement after an injury or illness caused them to have to quit work. They can begin receiving early retirement to help them cover bills until their SSDI claim receives approval and the waiting period for those benefits expires.

Once this happens, they can begin receiving additional money from the SSA each month on top of their early retirement benefits. This will bring them to their full retirement benefit amount. They are also most likely qualified for retroactive benefits, which will bring them to their full retirement amount for any month they suffered a disability but were not yet approved for SSDI.

Filing For Early Retirement Benefits

For most people, it does not make sense to file for early retirement benefits at age 62 if you are already receiving SSDI because of a disability. Your disability payments equal your full retirement amount, and those who opt for early retirement receive reduced benefits.

Imagine that, at age 60, you suffer a back injury leading to a disability. You are approved for SSDI benefits, and you begin drawing an amount equal to your full retirement amount. When you reach age 62, nothing changes you continue to draw your full SSDI amount.

Once you reach your full retirement age, the SSA swaps you from SSDI to traditional retirement benefits. However, this occurs automatically, so you will not see a break in your benefits and do not need to do anything to ensure this happens.

For a free legal consultation, call

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Who Is Eligible For A Cpp Disability Benefit

In order to qualify for a CPP disability benefit, your condition must meet the legislative definition of severe and prolonged, and you must have made contributions for at least the minimum qualifying period .

Severe means that your disability makes you incapable regularly of pursuing any substantially gainful occupation.

Prolonged means that your disability is likely to be long continued and of indefinite duration or is likely to result in death.

Each of the words in the above definitions has a specific meaning within the disability guidelines that have been developed, but for the purposes of this article lets just consider that they mean that you are permanently incapable of doing any type of paid employment.

There are currently two methods of meeting the minimum qualifying period, as follows:

• You must have made valid CPP contributions for at least four of the last six years in your contributory period, or
• You must have made valid CPP contributions for at least 25 years, at least three of which must be within the last six years of your contributory period.

Note: Valid CPP contributions means contributions on earnings that are equal to at least 10% of the Years Maximum Pensionable Earnings for that year.

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Social Security Disability Benefits

If you choose to apply for disability benefits and you qualify for Social Security disability, you will receive 100% of your monthly benefit. That 100% rate will continue when it switches over to Social Security when you reach your full retirement age. So, if you can successfully prove your disability case, you will receive more money each month continuously.

Disability claims can be time consuming and challenging, but if you have the proper documentation to support your claim, you should be able to prove your case and be awarded benefits.

Can You Do Any Other Type Of Work

If you cant do the work you did in the past, we look to see if there is other work you could do despite your medical impairment.

We consider your medical conditions, age, education, past work experience, and any transferable skills you may have. If you cant do other work, well decide you are disabled. If you can do other work, well decide that you dont have a qualifying disability and your claim will be denied.

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What We Mean By Disability

The definition of disability under Social Security is different than other programs. Social Security pays only for total disability. No benefits are payable for partial disability or for short-term disability.

We consider you disabled under Social Security rules if all of the following are true:

• You cannot do work that you did before because of your medical condition.
• You cannot adjust to other work because of your medical condition.
• Your disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death.

This is a strict definition of disability. Social Security program rules assume that working families have access to other resources to provide support during periods of short-term disabilities, including workers’ compensation, insurance, savings, and investments.

Ssdi And Retirement Benefits

As we said earlier, you cannot receive both SSDI and Social Security retirement benefits. The purpose of SSDI benefits is to replace a portion of the recipients income while he is unable to work due to disability. Retirement benefits, on the other hand, are designed to provide an income stream once the recipient reaches retirement age, which again is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born.

Logically, the prohibition against receiving both types of benefits makes sense your loss of income at retirement age isnt due to disability, but rather the fact that you retired. When this happens, the SSDI benefit converts to retirement benefits. In essence, SSDI is retirement benefits for people who can no longer work, but have not reached retirement age.

An individual can, however, receive both SSDI benefits and benefits from their pension or 401 plan, though it is possible your SSDI benefits will be reduced by the amount of your pension. Generally speaking, whether distributions from your pension or 401 will reduce your monthly SSD benefit depends on whether you paid social security taxes on the wages that allowed you to earn the pension or 401. If you did, there will be no reduction. If you did not pay social security taxes on those wages, your monthly SSDI benefit will be reduced. But you will still be able to receive both.

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When You Reach 65 You Must Apply For A Normal Retirement Pension

You will continue to receive a disability pension benefit up until age 65, as long as you continue to qualify for Social Security Disability payments. Three to six months before you turn 65, you should contact the Pension Fund to apply for a normal retirement pension. Please note that the conversion to a normal retirement pension will not happen automatically. You will have to complete a pension application form for the normal retirement pension, including obtaining spousal consent, if applicable. If your Social Security Disability pension is discontinued or ends before age 65, you will no longer be eligible for a disability pension benefit from the Pension Fund. If that happens, you should contact the Pension Fund to see if you may be eligible for an early retirement pension.

NOTE: If you have applied for and are eligible for weekly disability benefits from the 1199SEIU National Benefit Fund or Workers Compensation payments for up to a maximum of 26 weeks, you may not receive normal, early or disability retirement pension payments until the first of the month following the expiration date of that benefit.

You must apply promptly for a disability pension. Retroactive payments cannot be made for any period more than two years before the date you file your disability pension application with the Fund.

How Much Work Do You Need

In addition to meeting our definition of disability, you must have worked long enough and recently enough under Social Security to qualify for disability benefits.

Social Security work credits are based on your total yearly wages or self-employment income. You can earn up to four credits each year.

The amount needed for a work credit changes from year to year. In 2021, for example, you earn one credit for each $1,470 in wages or self-employment income. When you’ve earned $5,880, you’ve earned your four credits for the year.

The number of work credits you need to qualify for disability benefits depends on your age when you become disabled. Generally, you need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last 10 years ending with the year you become disabled. However, younger workers may qualify with fewer credits.

For more information on whether you qualify, refer to How You Earn Credits.

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Calculating Your Potential Benefits

By applying and being approved for Social Security Disability benefits, your monthly benefits amount could possibly increase. To calculate the amount of SSD benefits you could receive, it is important to factor in whether your disability occurred prior to retirement.

If you can show your disability occurred before you took early retirement, you will have the advantage of what is called a disability freeze. The freeze disregards any low-earning years in calculating the amount of disability benefits.

The amount you were getting for early retirement benefits would then change to generally higher disability payments, with any retroactive amounts added to your monthly check.

At the law firm of Frank M. Eidson, P.A., we understand how challenging and confusing it can be to deal with all the forms the Social Security Administration requires as well as how difficult it can be to get the benefits you are legally entitled to receive.

Attorney Frank M. Eidson has a thorough understanding of the SSA system. Our law firm can help to streamline the process for you while working to seek the absolute maximum amount of benefits for you.

We truly understand how receiving these benefits can go a long way towards ensuring a fulfilling retirement for you and your family.

What Happens To My Disability Benefit At Age 65

As mentioned above, a CPP disability converts automatically to a retirement pension at age 65. The easiest way to estimate the amount of the retirement pension in this situation is to subtract the flat-rate portion of the disability benefit and divide the result by 75%.

Example: Susan is receiving a CPP disability benefit of $900.00 per month. When she turns age 65 in 2018, her disability benefit will convert to a retirement pension of $553.07.

/ 75% = $553.07).

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Disability Benefits For Veterans

You may be eligible for disability benefits if you’re on disability from your service in the Canadian Armed Forces or Merchant Navy.

You may get social assistance payments from:

• your province or territory
• your First Nation

These payments will depend on your household income, savings and investments.

You may also be eligible for health-related benefits from your province or territory. These benefits may include benefits that help cover the cost of:

• medications
• medical aids or devices

Youll Need This Information

The following preparation can expedite your request:

Provide the dates for the missing service. Find your service credit history in your online account.

Let us know if there is a gap in your service credit or if you withdrew from your account.

• If there is a gap in your service credit, do you know why? Were there any special circumstances around your employment at the time? Some common events for missing credit include: authorized leave of absence, childbirth, substitute teaching, temporary duty disability, or injury.
• If you withdrew from your account, when did you pull out the contributions?

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