The surviving spouse benefit is a critical part of retirement planning.   At some point in time, nearly every married couple will have to deal with the loss of their spouse and the financial ramifications that go with it. When both a husband and wife are eligible for a Social Security benefit, and one spouse predeceases the other, the surviving spouse is entitled to the higher of the two Social Security benefits.  Assuming the surviving spouse has reached full retirement age, they are … [Read more...]

The year 2015 brought about significant changes to the Social Security system through the Bipartisan Budget Act.   In typical political style, each side of the aisle negotiated to have desired law and rule changes implemented by mutually conceding items to the other side. Some lawmakers felt that there was a loophole in the Social Security system that needed to be closed regarding ways to maximize Social Security that were not originally intended. … [Read more...]

A common question that I get regarding claiming Social Security benefits has to do with the potential negative impact of claiming a benefit on either a spouse, divorced spouse, or even their own future benefit.   In today's article, let's discuss when claiming a Social Security benefit could negatively impact another benefit. … [Read more...]

If you have a government pension and a Social Security benefit, your Social Security benefit may be reduced by both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which impacts your own Social Security benefit or the Government Pension Offset (GPO) which impacts your Social Security spousal benefit.   What is not generally known is that both these reductions are calculated based on the amount of government pension ACTUALLY BEING RECEIVED CURRENTLY. … [Read more...]

I've known for a long time that the most common age for both men and women to claim Social Security benefits is just after the age of 62, which is the earliest age available.  In fact this is the slide that I show in the Maximizing Social Security class: … [Read more...]