Great question! As a fellow SSDI recipient who works part-time, I can confirm that PTO absolutely counts toward SGA when you actually use it and receive payment. The key thing to remember is that SSA looks at when you're PAID, not when you earned the time off. Here's what I've learned from my own experience: spreading out your PTO usage across multiple months is definitely the safest approach. Since you're already at $1,200/month with regular hours, using all 30 PTO hours at once would likely push you over the $1,550 SGA limit for that month. A few practical tips: - Keep detailed records of ALL income including PTO payments - Consider using just a few PTO hours each month to stay comfortably under the limit - Remember that going over SGA for one month isn't an automatic benefit termination, but it's still risky - If you haven't used all 9 Trial Work Period months yet, you have some flexibility The most important thing is to stay in communication with SSA about your work activity. I report my earnings every month through their online portal to avoid any surprises. Better to be overly cautious than risk your benefits!

I've been dealing with similar PTO questions for years! One thing that really helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet to track my monthly earnings including any PTO usage. I calculate my projected monthly total BEFORE taking any PTO to make sure I won't go over the SGA limit. Also wanted to mention that some employers are flexible about PTO policies for employees with disabilities. I was able to work with HR to cash out small amounts of PTO periodically (like 4-5 hours per month) rather than taking large chunks of time off. This keeps me safely under the SGA limit while still allowing me to use my earned benefits. If your employer offers this option, it might be worth exploring. Just make sure any PTO cash-outs are properly documented on your pay stubs since SSA will want to see exactly when and how much you received.

Thanks everyone for clearing this up! Sounds like I don't need to do anything and my payment will stay the same. I was worried I might have to choose between two different benefit amounts.

Just to add some clarity - the reason both SSDI and retirement benefits use the same calculation is that they're both based on your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which comes from your highest 35 years of earnings. Think of SSDI as getting your retirement benefit early due to disability. When you hit full retirement age, you're just switching from the "early access due to disability" program to the regular retirement program, but the underlying benefit calculation remains identical. The Social Security Administration makes this transition seamless - you'll get a letter notifying you of the change, but your monthly payment amount stays the same.

One additional consideration: If your own benefit at Full Retirement Age would be more than 50% of your ex-spouse's PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), you might want to run the numbers on a different strategy. It might be worth delaying your own retirement claim and taking reduced ex-spouse benefits now (if you're eligible). The math gets complicated, but a good SSA agent can help you compare scenarios. Also, when calculating potential survivor benefits, remember that your ex receiving $4,900/month means he delayed until 70, receiving 132% of his PIA. Survivor benefits are based on that higher amount (including the delayed retirement credits), not his original PIA.

As someone who recently went through a similar situation with my ex-husband's benefits, I wanted to share what I learned that might help clarify things. The key point that really helped me understand this was that survivor benefits and your own retirement benefits are completely separate calculations - taking one early doesn't affect your eligibility for the full amount of the other. Here's what worked for me: I took my own reduced retirement at 62 because I needed the income after losing my job. When my ex passed away two years later, I was able to switch to his survivor benefits, but I waited until my survivor FRA (which is different from regular retirement FRA - it was 66 for me) to get his full amount. The mistake I almost made was switching to survivor benefits immediately when he died because I thought "more money now is better." But waiting those extra months to reach survivor FRA meant getting about $800 more per month for the rest of my life. That math definitely works out better in the long run! One tip: keep copies of his Social Security statements if you can get them. It helped speed up the process when I applied for survivor benefits.

I'm in a somewhat similar situation - divorced after 25 years and my ex is already collecting his benefits while I'm still working. One thing I learned from my financial advisor is that you can actually apply for survivor benefits online in many cases, which might be easier than dealing with the phone system that others have mentioned. The SSA website has a specific application for survivor benefits that walks you through the process. Also, it's worth noting that if you're working when you become eligible for survivor benefits, the earnings test still applies if you're under full retirement age, but since you'll be 67 when you start your own benefits, this won't be an issue for you. The online application can be a real time-saver compared to trying to get through by phone!

This is such valuable information for anyone in a similar situation! I wanted to add one point that might be helpful - even though you can switch from your own retirement benefit to survivor benefits if your ex passes away, it's worth noting that you cannot "test drive" survivor benefits and then switch back to your own if you change your mind. Once you elect survivor benefits, that decision is generally final. However, given that your ex's benefit is almost double yours ($3,200 vs $1,750), this wouldn't be a concern in your case. It's also worth mentioning that survivor benefits are not subject to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) or Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) in the same way that spousal benefits might be, which could be relevant if you have other pensions. Best of luck with your retirement planning!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to express my gratitude for this incredibly thorough and reassuring discussion! I'm 62 and have been wrestling with this exact question about post-60 earnings and Social Security for weeks now. Like so many others here, I completely misunderstood how the indexing system works and was genuinely worried that my higher current earnings (around $55,000 after years of much lower wages) were somehow being "discounted" because they aren't indexed. Reading through everyone's real experiences has been such a relief! The key insight that helped me was understanding that indexing is designed to help your OLDER earnings compete fairly with your NEWER earnings by adjusting for inflation, not to penalize current work. When your current salary is genuinely higher than what you earned decades ago (even after that inflation adjustment), those current earnings still win and boost your benefit calculation. I immediately followed everyone's advice and created my ssa.gov account, and what an eye-opener! I can clearly see that my current earnings will replace several very low years from when I was working minimal hours. The 35-year calculation really does favor people with variable work histories when they have higher earnings later in their careers. This community has provided such valuable real-world evidence that working past 60 with higher earnings is beneficial, not harmful, for Social Security purposes. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences - you've helped me make a much more confident decision about continuing to work rather than filing for early benefits!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to add my heartfelt thanks for this incredibly informative discussion! I'm 59 and recently got promoted to a position that will put me at around $70,000 starting next year - my highest salary ever after decades of lower-paying work. I had been losing sleep over whether accepting this promotion would somehow hurt my Social Security benefits because of the indexing cutoff at 60. I was even considering turning it down! But reading through all these real-world experiences has completely transformed my understanding. The breakthrough moment for me was realizing that the indexing system is actually designed to be FAIR - it gives your older earnings a chance to compete with modern wages by adjusting for inflation, but if you're genuinely earning more now than you did back then (even after that adjustment), your current work still provides the greater benefit. What really sealed it for me was seeing how many people here have tracked their actual benefit estimates on ssa.gov and watched them increase month by month as they continued working past 60 with higher salaries. That's concrete proof that the system works exactly as described. I'm definitely accepting this promotion and will be setting up my ssa.gov account this week to monitor how my estimated benefits change. This community has probably saved me from making a terrible career mistake based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how Social Security actually works. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experiences!