I am 26 years old and have developed stage 4 cancer. I applied for SSDI and early retirement at the same time. My disability was approved in just 8 days, but my claim for early retirement just went away. I am getting the run around from every number I call. I did the application on the Social Security web site. "The web site" brought up the fact that I was over retirement age and asked if would I like to collect my early retirement amount until the disability was started which I answered yes. I don't understand what I need to do next .....

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your illness. I assume you meant to type that you are 62 years old, not 26, since you'd need to be at least age 62 to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits.

Unless Social Security has recently changed their procedures, you would need to file separate applications for Social Security disability (SSDI) and retirement benefits. Answering 'yes' to the question on your SSDI application regarding retirement benefits would protect your filing date for those benefits, but you'd still need to file a separate application form in order to claim retirement benefits.

Therefore, it sounds like you may not yet have completed the necessary paperwork to claim retirement benefits. If that's the case, you'll probably need to call Social Security and complete an application over the phone, because I doubt if you'll be able to apply online since you've already been approved for SSDI.

But, if you've already filed a separate application for retirement benefits then I don't know what more you can do other than continue to follow up with Social Security by phone.

By the way, you don't mention your marital status so I can't tell you whether or not it would be advisable to apply for reduced retirement benefits. Your SSDI benefit rate will be reduced for age for any months that you're paid retirement benefits prior to your initial month of SSDI entitlement, and that could have an adverse effect on the benefit rate that your spouse could eventually be paid as a widow(er) on your account. If that's a concern for you, you may want to use our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to determine whether or not filing for reduced retirement benefits is advisable.

Best, Jerry