Online Benefit Estimator Tells You Advantage of Disability Benefits Over Early Retirement

If you are over age 62, you can get an estimate of eligibility for your Social Security benefits online. Social Security recently announced that it will no longer be mailing benefit estimates annually. This straightforward site asks for some personal identification, your last year’s income, and then issues a form with your retirement benefit. This amount would also be your disability payment if you became disabled before your retirement age. Often it is more financially advantageous to take disability benefits rather than deeply discounted early retirement payments. Click thru to Social Security here:

There is also a page that estimates disability payments for younger claimants, and it requires you to enter income amounts for the past several years. See that form here: