Fresia, this is TomThomas who answered yesterday with 9 points. I did not mean to add to your fears. For those of us on SSDI, working CAN be a very good idea. I just think it is is always good to make fully-informed decisions. Bye the way, I forgot to mention why monthly reporting is so important for SSDI beneficiaries who begin to earn income from work. The reason is the problem of "overpayment." If for a number of months your earnings made you ineligible in for your monthly SSDI cash benefit, but you failed to report your earnings to the SSA, the SSA will come after your for the "overpayment," i.e., they will demand that you immediately repay the amounts you didn't deserve. This has caused nightmares for people, who suddenly find that they owe THOUSANDS of dollars to the SSA. The way to PREVENT this is to faithfully do monthly reporting of all income to the SSA. The funny thing is that the SSA does eventually get a report from the IRS of all earnings of every SSDI beneficiary. What I mean by "funny" is that sometimes it takes 6-12 months before the SSA gets that info from the IRS, or before they do anything about that info. That's why monthly self-reporting is so crucial.

In my opinion it really is regrettable that each individual SSDI beneficiary must educate themselves about the effects of earned income on their benefits. Understanding the laws and regulations is not easy, in my opinion.

The information on the SSA web site on "working while disabled" is pretty good, though, in my opinion, not complete, and not completely clear. The SSA pamphlet titled "Working While Disabled-How We Can Help" is a good place to start. It can be read online. A much more in depth SSA publication is called the "2014 Red Book" (SSA Publication No. 64-030).

Probably the main things for you to keep in mind is the current SGA amount: $1070 per month. The other main thing, if you have never before earned income while a SSDI beneficiary, is the 9-month long "Trial Work Period." If you have worked before while a SSDI beneficiary, but worked for fewer than 9 months in total, you may still have some number of months left in your trial work period. The SSA can tell you if you have used up your trial work period.

Good luck. I agree that you should not let yourself get bogged down by fears.