Once you reach the retirement age, you can continue to work as an employee or in a self-employed capacity and earn an income whilst continuing to receive the full income from your Social Security Pension. If you take up such employment, you will continue to pay your social security contribution until you reach 65 years. It is important to know that this contribution is not assigned to your pension contribution history but is posted as an inter-generational contribution on your part.
You should know that if you accumulated a minimum of 50 weekly contributions for a period of 35 years, you could retire when you reach the age of 61 years.
Should you decide to retire if you meet these conditions you will not be allowed to continue in employment until you reach your statutory retirement age (62, 63, or 64 years of age depending on your date of birth). This is a ‘social cost’ that you are asked to incur for the decision you made to choose ‘leisure’ as against continuing to contribute productively up to your retirement age.