Reply to Graduate students and paying into Social Security (disability related question)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is the difference between being disabled and never working (and collecting benefits) and becoming disabled and collecting benefits? Sorry, I don’t know anything about this sort of thing. Why are they different?[/quote]

If you have never worked, or you have not worked enough to qualify for SSDI, the benefit you can get is called SSI, and it is not a lot of money. I think the maximum monthly SSI benefit right now is $994.  And to remain qualified for this $994 monthly benefit, you really can have no assets. I think the maximum you can have in a savings account is $2,000.

If you have worked the required number of credits, and paid into SSDI all your years, the maximum benefit is much more: $4018 per month. And it is not means-tested - you can have a million in the bank in assets, it doesn't matter.

So very, very different in terms of what kind of life you can have, if you have the misfortune to become disabled.

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This is all true. But I think this post somewhat overstates the likelihood of an SSDI recipient getting the maximum payout. It is based on earnings, so someone early in earning pay that is subject to payroll taxes is not likely to see anywhere near $4018 in SSDI. The average monthly benefit in 2025 was $1580 per month.

OP, are you saying that your kid has [b]never[/b] worked a W2 job? Because literally anything they did for pay--even minimum wage--for which FICA was deducted is potentially an eligible quarter. It takes $1890 in payroll-taxed earnings quarter, with a max of four earnable per year. 40 quarters needed for SSDI coverage. There is an adjustment to the 40-quarter requirement for recipients ages 24-30. https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/credits.html[/quote]

Yeah - he worked very few W2 jobs. A couple small summer things. In undergrad he worked as a TA for 2 years but that didn't pay into SS.

You are right about a young person not earning a lot to earn the maximum in SSDI of course. It's just the fact that he has almost no credits right now 2 years post graduation (due to the post-bac not paying into SS either) and now looking at another 5 years of not paying into SS.

At thirty he could (in his field) start earning a decent salary but have no few credits into SS.  I suppose at that point, he could buy private disability insurance at least.

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