In the United States it is very common to see retirees working while collecting Social Security. This is not only due to economic reasons. There can be a myriad of motivations behind the whole situation. Regardless of the reasons for continuing to work while collecting Social Security, there is a limit for some people who do both at the same time. But there is no such limit for all retirees alike.
A person applying for Early Retirement Age has different conditions when working at the same time. On the other hand, doing the same thing with a Full Retirement Age is totally different. The retirement age changes a lot both when it comes to collecting the monthly check and when it comes to penalties for working at the same time.
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Can I work and apply for Social Security FRA?
Although there is no exact formula for this type of thing, generally you can work while collecting Social Security after the FRA. If your retirement age is 67, there is no penalty for working at the same time. This is good news for all those people who want to continue working after retirement.
However, the rest of the rules do affect retirees with the FRA, so if you change anything in your life or get married, don’t forget to report it. As for work, there are several reasons why we can continue to work while collecting Social Security. Most people do not want to continue working, but it is possible.
Reasons to work after FRA
Let’s look at the main reasons many people work and collect Social Security after FRA:
- Entertainment: Many people see work as part of their entertainment. Thus, working and collecting Social Security at the same time is not a problem for these types of people. In this case we are talking about people who have been working all their lives and are used to working continuously. For some of these people, stopping work may mean that their health may decline.
- Income: If Social Security is low, despite applying for FRA, there is a good reason to keep working. If you need extra money, you can continue to work without financial penalty, so you can have a higher monthly income.
- Own business: If you have your own business and want to keep it, working after the FRA is practically mandatory. No one will be able to run your business better than you, so even if you collect Social Security, you can continue to take care of your business no matter how much profit you make.