Thread: Boost Your Social Security Benefits

good find, Kev. Always need to be thinking ahead, especially those of us within 10 years of 62, whether married or otherwise.

What if you make more money than your husband - do you take your life expectancy into account, and use those guidelines, or do you use the guidelines for "married men"??

Ah, never mind...it's the same guideline, I should wait to claim benefits.

A spouse is a spouse regardless of gender, it's a New World out there!!

I started getting husbands SS when I became 65 - I am CSRS with 39 years, still working - the day I retire I loose his social security. I have the 40 quarters, which per SS may bring me $100.00 a month. I guess with the economy no hopes of any more attention to the offset/windfall that they were trying to give to lower income folks???

Angel- have you taken your information to the SS office and had a sit-down-face-to-face talk with them?
My experience here has been the people have been quite knowledgeable, and really worked with me, suggestions, etc, on when & how to do what, including the required Medicare when you retire.
Call & have them make you an appointment; let the mb know, and the pray-ers will assist in making sure you get the most knowledgeable & compatable one working your assignment.
After my initial meeting, I had her card, and was able to call her desk direct as needed.
grandma

Originally Posted by grandma

Angel- have you taken your information to the SS office and had a sit-down-face-to-face talk with them?
My experience here has been the people have been quite knowledgeable, and really worked with me, suggestions, etc, on when & how to do what, including the required Medicare when you retire.
Call & have them make you an appointment; let the mb know, and the pray-ers will assist in making sure you get the most knowledgeable & compatable one working your assignment.
After my initial meeting, I had her card, and was able to call her desk direct as needed.
grandma

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you suppose to collect off either yours or his SS depending on which one will pay you the most; however it still will be cut due to WEP regardless once you retire. However it is my understanding that you can actually draw your SS say at 66 years of age. When you reach age 70 which will give you a high amount you can actually contact SS and discontinue your SS, re-pay all that they have paid you from age 66 to 70 with no interest added. You can then reapply at age 70 for the higher amount of SS. Once again it will still be subjected to WEP. I printed and article off and gave this to one of the employees at work who was retired and working for a contractor and was drawing his SS he has since been laid off and never found out if he contacted them to confirm this. The article was from a legitimate source but I have not personally contacted them to confirm it.

This is why she needs to have a sit-down talk with SS. If she's still working when she is 70 she can go ahead & collect monthly benefits that will have no effect on her benefits when she retires -
actually - that has been so long ago now, that I really can't
remember how that worked without searching out the paperwork!!
I know I collected on spouse's for awhile, and I know I was getting a goodly sum while still working. And I know they looked at what his would have been, and what mine was.
My retirement was FERS - no windfall stuff

Angel, is there a typo with your note: I have the 40 quarters, which per SS may bring me $100.00 a month. ??

OKAY - I see you added to yours while I was typing mine - !!

Secrets to Maximizing Social Security

http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/...etire-planning

Forced to retire, some take Social Security early

"MIAMI – Paul Skidmore's office is shuttered, his job gone, his 18-month job search fruitless and his unemployment benefits exhausted. So at 63, he plans to file this week for Social Security three years earlier than planned.
"All I want to do is work," said Skidmore, of Finksburg, Md., who was an insurance claims adjuster for 37 years before his company downsized and closed his office last year. "And nobody will hire me."
It is one of the most striking fallouts from the bad economy: Social Security is facing its first-ever shortfall this year as a wave of people like Skidmore opt to collect payments before their full retirement age. Adding to the strain on the trust are reduced tax collections sapped by the country's historic unemployment — still at 9.5 percent.
More people filed for Social Security in 2009 — 2.74 million — than any year in history, and there was a marked increase in the number receiving reduced benefits because they filed ahead of their full retirement age. The increase came as the full Social Security retirement age rose last year from 65 to 66."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100808/...early_retirees