Will try to be concise. I am on Social Security Disability and have been my whole adult life. Originally I was only on SSI, then I was transferred to regular Disability as a Disabled Adult Child (DAC) because I was declared disabled when my dad was taking out retirement. So I am technically disabled under his retirement, and I get more than SSI but not by a whole lot. I was on disability because of my severe anxiety and panic attacks. But I’ve come a long way since then and I am ready to join the workforce for a company I did some side work for.
This is where it gets way more confusing than needed. I don’t have much in savings right now. Living mostly paycheck to paycheck. The only way I afford my apartment is via section-8 (low-income). I make $1200 a month on disability. My current rent is $250. If I make more than ~19k a year I cannot quality for low income apartments from my understanding. But this company wants to hire me 16 hours a week at $11.50 an hour. I’ve done the math – if I subtract what Social Security will take away from my disability for working part time, and then add the amount I would make working, I would make about $1600 a month. Which is just above the threshold for my apartment complex (determined by HUD). So if I did it this way I would lose my apartment. And market rent apartments here are about $700 a month. Which would be half my paycheck. I would hardly be in a better place than just staying on Social Security and not working.
As you might imagine, this is incredibly frustrating. I cannot save money because they’ll take me off Social Security once I reach 2k in the bank. I cannot work a minimum wage job without losing my apartment. I’d have to either work full time, OR work a higher paying job in order to jump out of this hole, but far enough so I don’t end up worse than I was. But if I work full time I will lose both my apartment and Social Security altogether. I feel like I being punished for trying to better myself. I feel stuck financially, and I have no idea what to do.
I’m 25. I have no car payments (I do have a car though), no student loans, no credit card debt, no loans of any kind, and no medical debt. Also no mortgage. I would stay on social security and just save if I could, but social security gets real annoyed when you save money they gave you. ANY and ALL advice is appreciated. Thank you!
This sucks. I’m sorry. Definitely seek out professional advice. I think with SS, there are phase in periods where it won’t kill your benefits right away?
But this might be one of those times when you have to go backwards to go forwards, so to speak. If you don’t do this, you are essentially stuck where you are (financially speaking) forever. If you manage through the tough transition, you will then finally be allowed to save money and build a future. Plus you’ll be able to get raises over time, likely, that would outpace what you would have been getting in disability checks.
Out of curiosity do you have a degree?
You are caught in a common trap. I don’t have any expertise, but I would be looking for someone who does…a social worker, case manager, or disability lawyer, or financial planner with lots of experience in these programs to help see how to “thread the needle” through the program rules. I’m so glad you are doing better, but as you may know, getting requalified for support after you come off can be hard…so you do need to be cautious. Good luck to you.
Perhaps you could contribute to a pre-tax retirement account to lower your income to just under the threshold? I’m not sure if this would work. And I think it would only be possible if you had access to a 401k through an employer. But perhaps it is possible.
Regarding the 2k savings amount, in your shoes I would not hesitate to keep a bunch of money in cash and omit the fact that I have it. (Like withdraw 100 bucks a month or something – not all at once.) Do you know if money in retirement accounts counts towards this maximum?
Sorry you’re dealing with all of this.