Butler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is another version for contemplation.
>
> I accumulated 9 years of Railroad Retirement
> benefits from 1960-1969. I then quit the RR
> (Stupid, I now know I should have gotten 10 years
> in) then worked under SSAN from 1969 to 2006 when
> I retired at age 65+8 months. I then started
> drawing my social security retirement benefits at
> the time I retired from full time employment.
> Social Security, unlike Railroad Retirement, does
> not cap your earnings once you reach your 100%
> benefits age which, for me, was 65+6 months.
>
> In retirement I now have two part-time jobs. One
> is under Social Security where I earn around
> $6k/year and another under Railroad Retirement
> where I earn around $10k/year.
>
> At this point I have over 10 years credit under
> Railroad Retirement, but with a big gap from 1969
> to 2006. I actually worked the railroad job on
> the 50th anniversary of my original 1960 seniority
> date which I thought was kind of neat!
>
> What will all of this mean for me when I finally
> retire for good? Probably nothing; I will just
> keep drawing my Social Security and be thankful
> for that.

There always are exceptions but, when I applied for my RRB benefit they warned me to stay away from the Social Security office, saying that once you drew SS that you could not change and draw RRB benefits. In fact they said if you just talked to SS and they made an entry in their computer it would complicate drawing your RRB benefits.

In your case the additional service might increase your SS check if you aren't at the maximum.

My wife and I both worked 30+ years for the railroad and since we started before 1975 we are both allowed to collect a spouse benefit from each other. Our combined annual benefit is about 130K, which sure beats SS.