What's an average payment per month for SSDI, and do you lose your Social Security?

Average won't help you. Payments are based on what you paid into the system over the years. The main difference between Social Security Disability (SSD, or SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the fact that SSD is available to workers who have accumulated a sufficient number of work credits, while SSI disability benefits are available to low-income individuals.
If you are thinking you will get double benefits, the answer is NO

Once you begin receiving retirement you cannot also receive disability. You get one or the other.

One can collect SSI with retirement, if the recipient receives very little retirement and has under $2,000 in assets.

when can you collect SSI? (at what age) Can I still get mine even if I have not worked in over ten years now. I had worked for 30 years prior to that but sometimes as an independent not paying into the system.

SSI is not dependent on age, so it's not a matter of how long or not it's been since you worked, but you can't get actual Social Security for jobs not paying into the system; concerned about my son in that regard

I understand about the ones that I had not paid into the system but for the ones I did. I havent worked cant get work im 54 now. cant I get what I did pay into it?
Or do I have to be disabled.

when you retire? and I don't believe you can't get work at 54; know too many people who are, so...

long story. very specific field, not a field actually a niche we created. biz partner screwed me over. Lost everything and now no one wants to train me for something new. thinking im too old especially when they realize what my income was. Believe me, Its been a long depressing long story. so much so I am on antidepressants, suffer from migraines, insomnia, panic attacks. it has ruined me.

SSI is for low income, disabled individuals. Someone under 18 can get SSI if they are disabled and the parents are low income. Once the individual turns 18 they may receive SSI if they are disabled, unable to work, and have no real assets. SS is for individuals who have worked, paid into SS and are of legal retirement age - not sure what that is these days - somewhere in the mid 60'

Oops - hit send by accident. So - somewhere in the mid 60's - mid 70's. SSI can be very difficult to qualify for unless one is profoundly disabled - just having a bad back or chronic fatigue syndrome often won't qualify as the government will expect

Crap! Did it again! The government will expect the person to do some sort of modified job and SSD can supplement. Time for bed - kept posting mid way due to nodding off, lol!

At 54 you can work in the Fast Food industry, Wal-Mart and other type jobs like that. A good friend of mine went back to work after being a stay at home mom for years. She's 53 and is now working as a Front Desk clerk at local hotel and she loves it. She suffers from headaches too, but she says she get's them less now then she did when she stayed at home. She's feeling more fulfilled I think.

The qualifications for getting SSI for a disability as far as proving you're unable to do any work in the national economy is exactly the same as for SSDI.

While you cannot collect SSDI if you haven't worked in the last ten years, that does not mean you'd qualify for SSI as a senior. Only if your retirement is very low and you have less than $2k in assets would you get that also.

Go to SSA.Gov and create a personal profile for yourself. You can see your earnings record, get an estimate of your retirement amount at various ages and also see your SSDI payment.
It is the best and closest estimate unless you actually file for disability and SS crunches the numbers for you.
2015 earnings are not in the computer yet so they are not calculated in. Keep that in mind. Some seniors who are disabled and get a very low retirement (400-500$) do apply for SSI, It is a good way to bump up your income to about 710$. Good luck.

It is based on how much you made & contributed over the years that you worked. If you made $120,000 annually, you're going to get more than if you made $50,000 annually.

I really am cincerbed about many answered listed here. Many are 100% inaccurate. Please please please call or go to the social security office. Well-meaning answers or answers that people think that they have, might be there it's untrue and might hurt very badly in the long run. Miss guided in vice can really cost a lot of money. Social Security offices are very helpful they will sit with you and go over it. Or if you can call the Bar Association for the state attorney it's worth the investment to sit with someone who knows the laws in your state. They are different. Please invest in your family in this manner

To answer the OPs question. You need to contact your Social Security Office and set up an appt. SSI, from my understanding, is for people who have never paid into SS or its higher than what you would accumulated on SS. You have to work 40qtrs (10 yrs) to collect SS or be married to someone 10yrs to collect from theirs, if they have paid in. Ss is based on the last 35 yrs u worked. It cannot be collected until 62 which is the lowest amount. The longer u wait the more you collect. For those retiring now 66 is the age for full SS. SSD is hard to get. You will be likely be turned down the first time. At that point u need a SS lawyer. He is not allowed to charge u a fee until you get SSD. At which point you are paid retro back to when u first applied. You will get a lump sum payment which the lawyer will get a percentage not exceeding $6000.

If you suffer from mental illness, sometimes you will qualify for disability. You need to have a paper trail, so to speak. It is best to have a psychiatrist that you see for your mental illness, and that you get your mental illness medication from, compared to just a family doctor treating you for depression, insomnia, and panic attacks. You need to read all about how social security makes their decisions, concerning your particular disabilities. Disability does not always mean physical. Just go to your local disability office, and they can help you. And/or go to SSA.gov, and make an online account, and you can even apply for disability there, too. Or, just call your local SSA office, they can help you over the phone. They can look up to see if you have enough credits built up, they can set an appointment for you to come in and get their help in filing for it, etc.

Some people call a SSD lawyer, and they will give you a free consultation, and they will give you a free intake interview. If they think you could possibly qualify for SSD, they will send you a packet to help you file. But, really, you need to just talk to SSA, first, and they can answer any and all questions for you and advice you. But, you need to read, read, read, so you even know the right questions to ask if they don't bring it up, first.

If you are too mentally unstable to do all of this yourself, then you need to get a family member to help you. CALL SSA. Be prepared to have to stay on hold for anout 30 minutesbto even an hour if you call the National 1-800 number for SSA. I would call the local SSA, if i were you. And, then go from there. And, you need to talk to all your doctors and ask them questions about filing, and can they help you with any of your questions, because they will have to send in paperwork and your medical records, once you are assigned a case worker in your state.

But, to answer one of the questions above, you cannot just contact SSA and say, I am ready to start drawing my SS from when i paid into it for 30 years, unless you are either 62 yrs, or 65 yrs, (whatever the age is now) and eligible to draw SS retirement. Bottomline, read the SSA.gov website, make an account online, or just call them, period, or go to your closest local SSA office.

Boy....all these answers. I am currently on Disability so I have experienced it first hand. First of all, either go to the SS office or online to ssa.gov (social security administration). That is where you will learn if and what you may qualify for if you file for Disability. Here's what I did when I filed for disability:
1. I had two doctors that recommended I file so I had them in my corner. The paperwork that you complete will ask for doctors names so the SSA can contact them. 2. After I filed I immediately found an attorney. I completed their paperwork, signed all docs for them to represent me and then we waited. By completing this step early I was prepared that if I were denied, which most are with the first filing, all I had to do was pick up the phone and call the attorney. They would be ready to get to work that day. It is not easy and they are serious when they investigate if Disability payments are truly necessary. I can't speak to the SSI. Good luck

I guess I should consider myself lucky as I never retained an attorney when I
applied for SSD, The first time I was denied, (which according to the caseworker
I talked to on the second attempt , that should not have happened), but I was
granted SSD on the second try. I am almost 63 now and I have been on SSD for 18 years.. Believe it or not, I was told I got it on two conditions, one for depression ( which never really goes away)and for a cardiac condition which they would not divulge to me the nature of. When I asked why, they said the
SSA would not give this information to me because they could not predict how
learning such information would affect me. I never heard of such a thing. I didn't argue with them. I would like to know if I'm going to die prematurely, so I
can get my affairs in order.

You cannot receive disability AND social security. Each state has a set figure for disability and social security is based on wages earned. Contact Social Security for your questions to be accurate.

I was told age has a lot to do with being turned down. It has to do with being able to retrain for another job like if your in your 50s. My GF went thur a lot to get her SSD and had multiple health problems. A SS lawyer finally got it for her.

No matter what, it can take a while to receive.

People operate under the mistaken idea that being disabled is the key component to collecting SSDI/SSI. Plenty of disabled ppl work with no problem at all.

It's a legal determination that one or more of your disabiling conditions is so disabling as to prevent you from being able to do any job in the national economy based on your experience and education.
This is why a letter from your dr saying you are disabled is irrelevant.

Age is a factor in your retrainability and physical ability to sit, stand and lift.

I am on SSDI and collect the amounts from both my late husband's "hours paid into the system" AND my own "hours paid into the system". A lot of widows and widowers out there don't seem to know this fact. You are able to collect TWO checks from SSDI. It is NOT the same as regular SS where you have to choose which one is higher and then get that single benefit.
As for "proving" whether you can work or not. The paper trail mentioned is HUGE. My psychiatrist gave me a list of all meds I had been on for the past 20 years and dates I had been hospitalized. When I speak with others about SSDI and whether they were accepted the very first time, for mental illnesses, it seems to be the number of days you were in the hospital for your condition over the course of each year. If you were never hospitalized, there is VERY LITTLE chance you will be granted SSDI for a mental illness, such as depression, bipolar, anxiety, OCD, or any number of other conditions. I know this is unfair, but it seems to be a benchmark that SSDI uses on whether to grant the benefits or not.

My husband was approved for Socual Security Disability on the first application based on his mental illness. He has never been hospitalized for that.

I stand corrected. Thank you for setting me straight and all the folks that depend on accurate information on this site. I appreciate you letting me know.

Foxxmolder You get a survivor benefit from your husbands account. It's true a lot of ppl don't realize it's available. The SSA doesn't trip all over themselves telling you either!

That depends on what type of disability you're talking about. I know, for a fact,
because I was told this by an attorney, that I could have gotten a FERS disability
and SSD, but believe it or not, even though a SSD is the hardest to get, I was
denied a FERS disability, and when that happened I also lost my federal health
benefits as well, leaving me with only medicare. Since I'm not 65 yet I would pay a much higher premium for a supplemental policy, hence I pay a co-pay for
every Physician's visit I make. My federal health insurance would've helped me
immensely.

kathylee53 To clarify FERS disability is for Federal Employees only and would not apply if you were not a Federal Employee.

Ladylee115, were you directing that answer to me about FERS? I am fully aware that FERS is for federal employees, and it just so happens that I was a FERS employee until I suffered a heart attack, on the job, no less.