Hi!
My birthday is in December, I am 67 years old, and still working. Next month, my 1st year of DRC's will appear on the "my Social Security" website. If I understand the rules correctly, I can file for benefits up to six months retroactive, receive a lump sum check, and then immediately suspend my benefits. The DRC "clock" will start back up and the only penalty is I will lose 6 months of DRC's. Is that correct?

Hi,

I'm not sure if I completely follow you. In order to receive immediate credit for any delayed retirement credits (DRC) you earned in 2017, your initial month of entitlement to benefits would need to be January 2018 or later. If you filed in January 2018 and elected July 2017 as your month of entitlement to benefits, your monthly benefit rate wouldn't reflect DRCs for 2017 until your payment for the month of January 2018.

For example, say you reached age 66 in December 2016 and filed for benefits in January 2018 electing July 2017 as your month of entitlement so that you would receive 6 months of back pay, and say your full retirement age rate (PIA) is $2000. Your initial monthly benefit rate effective July 2017 would be $2013, including only 1 DRC for the month of December 2016. Your 6 months of back pay would be paid at that rate. Then, effective January 2018 your monthly rate would be increased to give you credit for the additional 6 DRCs you earned in the first half of 2017, raising your monthly rate to $2093 in this example. You could subsequently suspend your benefits in order to earn additional DRCs, but the earliest that your benefits could be suspended is the month after the month of your request.

You may want to strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website to compare your options and do your planning before filing for benefits.

Best, Jerry