Who Gets Hit by the Social Security Earnings Test
Continuing to work after age 66 could actually increase your Social Security benefits.
I plan to keep working after age 66. Can I draw Social Security with no reduction in my benefits? --S.P., York, Pa.
Yes. The earnings test that reduces benefits if you earn “too much” disappears when you reach full retirement age, which is 66 for workers born from 1943 through 1954.
(See this previous Ask Kim column for details on How Social Security Cuts Your Benefits If You’re Still Working.)
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Continuing to work could actually increase your Social Security benefits, notes Tim Steffen, director of financial planning for Robert W. Baird & Co. Benefits are based on your 35 years of highest earnings and will be recalculated if an added year’s salary replaces a year of lower earnings in the formula.
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As the "Ask Kim" columnist for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Lankford receives hundreds of personal finance questions from readers every month. She is the author of Rescue Your Financial Life (McGraw-Hill, 2003), The Insurance Maze: How You Can Save Money on Insurance -- and Still Get the Coverage You Need (Kaplan, 2006), Kiplinger's Ask Kim for Money Smart Solutions (Kaplan, 2007) and The Kiplinger/BBB Personal Finance Guide for Military Families. She is frequently featured as a financial expert on television and radio, including NBC's Today Show, CNN, CNBC and National Public Radio.
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