Author Topic: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities  (Read 2002 times)

MrRichards

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Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« on: August 20, 2018, 08:41:39 AM »
Hi Everyone! I have a question on behalf of my partner - what are some unconventional ways that someone can generate earned income and pay FICA taxes on it?

The situation is that my partner has a degenerative medical condition that involves periods of high pain and limited mobility. She hasn't worked for the past 10 years (recession-related unemployment and then SAH parenting), and she will probably never again be able to work at a "regular" job.

We've never bothered with any "official" disability-related programs. We have a more than comfortable lifestyle on just my salary, with plenty of savings and great health insurance from my job.

BUT, I just found out that people who qualify for Social Security Disability also qualify for Medicare (after a two-year waiting period). Given the massive amount of uncertainty around US healthcare costs, this would be a huge benefit for our future FIRE plans.

So, what are some ideas for getting my wife ~30 "quarters" of SS earnings other than "get a regular job"? She has a bachelor's and a MA in a social science field (i.e. not all that marketable), but obviously no recent experience. The earnings themselves don't really matter as long as we can get her ~$6,000/year to earn all four quarters. Neither of us is particularly entrepreneurial, and it needs to be something not physically demanding. (Extra childcare or driving for Uber aren't options because of her pain/low mobility.)

Any creative ideas out there?

wordnerd

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Re: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2018, 08:51:25 AM »
If she can sit and interact with kids via webcam for a couple hours of day, she can do VIPKID. It's online English tutoring to kids in China for about $20/hr. There a bunch of threads on the forum about it. The early morning hours suck, but it's a super easy way to generate the level of income you're talking about.

RedwoodDreams

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Re: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2018, 10:55:40 AM »
Could she (and your household) handle doing something like rover.com where you take in small dogs for day care or overnight pet sitting? With small dogs, there's not so much need for exercise (or if you have a yard you can just let them out to go), and even better, senior dogs just sleep all day! Another idea is to post her availability on craigslist or nextdoor.com to offer day care to someone's senior or anxious dog while they're at work. Where I live (HCOLA), a surprising number of people are looking for this kind of care for their pets.

One thing I've learned about SSDI is that you can still work ("substantial gainful activity (SGA)") while collecting SSDI, up to a monthly limit. The SGA limit for 2018 for a non-blind person is $1,180/month.

MrRichards

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Re: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2018, 11:52:18 AM »
Thanks for the recommendation on VIPKID; we'll check into that.

Pet sitting might be a good option, but depends on the ability of the dog in question to deal with kids, so maybe more elderly pets and fewer anxious ones? Definitely worth considering.

That's a good note about SSDI earnings; I had some concerns that they would say "Well, she was able to do Job X 2018-202X, and she was disabled then too, so no SSDI." Her condition is degenerative, so it's likely she'd be able to point to some change that would prevent future earnings at whatever point she hit the 40-quarter requirement.

civil4life

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Re: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2018, 12:00:13 PM »
Data-Entry, Virtual Assistants, Bookkeeping, tutoring, selling crafts on etsy, MLM, blog, learn computer coding, website design, or computer repair.

Check out Amazon Mechanical Turk for online jobs like the ones listed above.

Do you have room in your home for AirBnB?

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RedwoodDreams

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Re: Earned Income Ideas and Disabilities
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2018, 04:04:47 PM »
Thanks for the recommendation on VIPKID; we'll check into that.

Pet sitting might be a good option, but depends on the ability of the dog in question to deal with kids, so maybe more elderly pets and fewer anxious ones? Definitely worth considering.

That's a good note about SSDI earnings; I had some concerns that they would say "Well, she was able to do Job X 2018-202X, and she was disabled then too, so no SSDI." Her condition is degenerative, so it's likely she'd be able to point to some change that would prevent future earnings at whatever point she hit the 40-quarter requirement.

Keep impeccable health records as well. Make sure your wife is seeing a doctor regularly and having her degenerative status on record over time so it's clearly documented, indisputable, and isn't just "how she feels." SSDI is a whole world unto itself, and if she's going to work on gaining the right credits for the next few years, there's time to read up on the process and how to best secure your case. I found the NOLO information very helpful. Also, I didn't need a disability lawyer but I've heard they can be helpful in harder-to-prove cases. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/disability

Also, the Medicare eligibility after two years of SSDI is fantastic. I was misinformed, however, in thinking it was "free." It isn't. Part A (Hospitalization) is free (no small thing), but Part B costs me $134 per month (coveres 80% of doc visits, tests, etc.) plus $172 for a Medigap policy (pays the other 20%) plus $27 for prescription coverage, for a total of about $330/month. A great value, and once you're in you can't be thrown off or your policy rescinded, but not free. :-)