Just relating my experiences---
Some of you you know I was laid off just before Christmas, and almost immediately took a position with another ( competing) firm. It was for less money. My plan was to take my SS until I earned the $15,160 they "allow" you to earn before age 66. I knew I would have SS benefits for only a few months. The idea was to bank that extra money and then budget it out over the year to boost my new pay checks.
Pretty solid plan--or so I thought.
SS will not allow me to do that. Instead--they figure out when there in insufficient time for me to earn more than the allowed $15,160, and then start the payments on the back end. So, instead of me taking 4 or 5 months of benefits and budgeting it out to myself--they will not send my first payment until August--just to be sure I can't be in a position to owe then anything.
Isn't it nice how the government looks after its subjects!

Posted mostly as a warning to those planning to do the same as I did--and only partly as a rant against bureaucracies.
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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags