Recently I had a conversation with Sue, an acquaintance who started receiving her Social Security benefit at age 62. Sue’s now 63, and she told me that she thinks she might have made a mistake. The problem is that she has realized that starting Social Security early reduced the benefit significantly, and she’d been wondering if it was possible to increase her benefit. (In case you’re wondering, it was more than 12 months after Sue’s original filing, so she can’t enact the “do-over”. More about that later.)
Read: Why your Social Security check might be lower As it turns out, later in the conversation Sue also mentioned that she has an opportunity to take on some part-time work. This part-time work is consulting for her previous employer — and they’re willing to give her $3,000 a month for her efforts (and Sue tells me it’s not that much work at all). “But that’s over the earnings limit”, Sue told me. “Won’t that mess up my Social Security?” Taking on this job will impact Sue’s Social Security, but it won’t mess up anything. In fact, it might be part of the answer to her question from earlier — about how to increase her Social Security benefit. Read: Losing a spouse’s Social Security benefit can push the elderly into poverty When you’re receiving Social Security benefits while also working, as you may know, there’s an earnings limit — specifically impacting your …