@bookworm: They only withhold part of your SS if you are still earning if you start to collect SS before your FRA. So if you wait until age 66 (assuming that’s your FRA), you are fine – you won’t have any SS withheld.
And Yes, the SS grows 8% per year for each year you wait. That’s why those of us planning to live long want to wait until age 70 before claiming.
@oregon101: If I have to pay another $40 to rerun my numbers, I guess I will. I still think it’s money well-spent.
Thanks Thumper and VH.
Did anyone meet with a FP? I went to a meeting at library, who,spoke of the spousal plan. A second meeting at local restaurant, but this person was pushing variable index annuities. $40 to run numbers is doable.
:-X
@Thumper1, when do you turn 65? I am wondering when I will start getting information. (65 next August)
Oh, they’ll find you, don’t worry!
@thumper1, you must be one month older than DH. He just signed up for Medicare; his will start in January.
We are doing a happy dance in our house: We’ll go from paying $1,046 a month for his Obamacare to paying ~$105 a month for Medicare plus, maybe, $200 a month for a Medicare Supplement.
Bookworm, I have a fine FP but am not sure the dinners are the way to find the one right for you. The starter advice might be to do a little googling on the SSA sites . There are also ‘expert’ sites advising on SS and retirement in general (explaining,) without pushing their own services. Then you can ask friends for recommendations for planners they are happy with. (And realizing that investing is rarely a straight line.)
VH, for my mother, supplemental was more than worth it. A, B, and F, I think.
@bookworm. Does your place of employment have anyone you can talk with?
So for those of us missing all the deadlines our married strategy is now based on:
age difference
whether your own SS will be more than half your spouses
when to take
does one person take while the other waits.
For Example: I can take reduced amount of my own SS at 62 to bring in some income.
Higher earning spouse waits until FRA to take his.
Since mine is less than half of his, my payment would then be recalculated to a REDUCED potion of 1/2 his when he files.
There is a calculation for this amount. That sound right?
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/spouse.html
this is a quick calculator for if you NEVER worked and are eligible for a spouses SS. I filled it in and found that I would only get 34.79% of spouses SS if I collect at 62 and he collects at FRA. Yikes.
Now, I have worked and am eligible for my own. I don’t think it will be half his. I will have to check again but yikes, that is a pretty big chunk.
I will be 65 on March 2. I expected to get all of this around December 1. So, I feel like it came a little early.
I need to dealmwith my supplemental plan through the teachers retirement board. I understand it’s pretty easy. Hope that is the case.
Oh my. Not so fast.
Yesterday I got in the mail confirmation of my filing. For some reason it said on the confirmation that I had wanted to file as of May 2015 but I figured that didn’t mean anything since I also suspended.
This morning I checked my bank account online because I was expecting a paycheck to be deposited overnight. To my surprise, I have a boatload of money in my account that wasn’t there yesterday. Really – a boatload. And guess who it’s from – the Social Security Administration!!
I beg your pardon??
I called them again and a nice lady, Michelle, shook her head (telephonically) and said – and this is a direct quote – “I’ve seen some errors, but this is a doozie.”
Michelle could see in my record that I called to file and suspend. She has no idea why the person I spoke to last Monday made my filing retroactive to May 2015 (although Michelle said one is permitted to file retro up to six months) and no idea why the person put through six months of benefits when it’s clear in the notes that I specifically was filing and suspending.
To resolve this, I need to go to the local office with a particular form (that Michelle is mailing me) and a check. Michelle made an appointment for me at my local office for November 23.
This is quite amazing. I wonder what people with less mental horsepower do when the SSA makes an error. Stay tuned.
@VeryHappy, I think there is some IT patchwork at SSA that compounds errors.
After DH passed away, I spoke to SSA to notify them and clarify some government pension survivor offset calculations. In the same conversation, I asked about my own benefits.
It seems after that phone call, SSA had both of us listed as deceased…which I found out when an OPM notice was sent to my home informing me of my suspension of benefits due to my demise…BUT to contact them if this was In Error! (I figured that wording meant I was not the first).
The correction at SSA was cumbersome and lengthy. The software impact of my ‘demise’ had far reaching tentacles-including frozen credit; the ‘correction’ impacted a small percentage. I was relentless pursuing access and verification and needed IT involvement for patchwork corrections.
I believe all is repaired, but will find out once I file for benefits.
Jeez.
This article popped up in my FB feed and seemed very straightforward: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/12-secrets-maximizing-social-security-benefits-new-rules/
@2VU0609: That is a very good article. Kotlikoff is the fellow who’s created the MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com website, which I’ve found very helpful.
Your posts about SSA screwups reminded me. Now that I am 62 and eligible for SS benefits I check my account online every so often just to make sure benefits are not currently being paid (to somebody else hacking my account).
Ime, the advantage to going to your office is to see the $ projection sheets, date info,and other details in front of you. YMMV.
The new software is available on MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com, for $40. As I’ve said before, I highly recommend the site. And No, I am not affiliated with it and get no $$$ if you use it! I’m just genuinely recommending it.
Reading the article linked above it states the same thing I did. The only people who will be able to take advantage of the maximum SS amounts will be the rich who can afford to live on other investments untill age 70.
If we take away loopholes, some people who benefited from the loopholes lose their benefit. That’s not a reason for removing loopholes, and it’s certainly no justification for keeping loopholes, but it does explain why it’s so difficult to get rid of them.
Next we should get rid of the carried interest deduction.
I case anyone is on the edge of their seat waiting for the results of my appointment with SS today:
You may recall that I filed and suspended, to preserve DH’s being able to claim his spousal benefit. This is all kosher under the old “loophole” and we can do it because we are, fortunately, Really Old. After I filed and suspended, SS screwed up and decided that I had filed retro for six months of benefits, which I discovered one fine day in my bank account. The lady I spoke to at the general SSA number shook her head and said, “I’ve seen errors, but this one’s a doozie.”
Today I had my appointment to give them a specific form and return their money. It couldn’t have gone faster or better. My appointment was for 10:00 AM and I checked in around 9:20. I didn’t even get to sit down before they came out to get me. I sat with the nice lady for all of ten minutes while she entered some stuff in the computer and then gave me a receipt for my check. She too shook her head.
So, fingers crossed that this is all hunky dory and I won’t have any trouble getting my max benefit at age 70. Stay tuned – only three more years ! @-)