I have been receiving SSDI payments of 1484/month, But if I can go back to work and I'm 62, can I take early retirement? How much will my benefits be reduced? I want to go back to work and increase my monthly income above my current disability payment.

Hi. You could switch from drawing SSDI to drawing Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, but if you go back to work then there would still be a limit on how much you could earn and be able to collect benefits. In 2021, people receiving Social Security retirement benefits who are under FRA lose $1 of their benefits for each $2 that they earn in excess of $18.960.

Unreduced Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits are calculated at 100% of your primary insurance amount (PIA), which is also equal to a person's Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing retirement benefits at their full retirement age (FRA). That's why SSDI benefits are converted to regular Social Security retirement benefits at the same benefit rate when a person reaches FRA. If you switch from drawing SSDI benefits to drawing Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, your monthly benefit rate will be reduced by between 25% to 30% depending on your year of birth. In other words, instead of getting 100% of your PIA, your monthly rate would only be roughly 70% to 75% of your PIA.

Best, Jerry