Retirement benefits and disability benefits

by Myrene O'Connor
(Gaithersburg, MD, USA)

I am eligible for disability and will get my first check soon. Will I also be able to collect my social security retirement benefit or are the two combined?

Wendy: As with many of these questions, it depends. Where does your disability come from?

If an employer plan, it's quite likely that they have an offset provision for when you get any other employer related benefits like pensions, Social Security, etc.

An offset doesn't usually mean you lose one for the other, but they do take part of the disability benefit when the SS benefit begins.

I hope this helps!