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October 13, 2022 — It has been four decades since the Social Security COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) was this high. The government announced the increase today, which came in as widely expected at 8.7%. The rate was calculated on a formula based on current rates of inflation. For a…
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 29, 2022 -- More than a few retirees on Social Security turn down work that they would like to do. The concern is that their benefits will be reduced, thus making the effort not worthwhile. To help people understand how work might affect your Social Security benefits, here are the facts to help you decide the best course of action. But the good news first - over the long term, working has no negative impact on your benefits, and might even help.
Reached Full Retirement Age - no problem!
If you have reached your Full Retirement Age (FRA) - 66 if you were born in 1954 or before, gradually reaching 67 for those born in 1960 or later - there is no impact. You can work and earn as much as you want and it will not affect your Social Security benefit in any way.
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Category: Social Security
June 6, 2022 -- Social Security Trust Funds are now projected to last one year longer, as outlined in the latest Trustees Report. High employment rates and lower disability claims, it seems, have increased contributions to the retirement fund (OASI).
Thanks to those, instead of the retirement trust fund (OASI) becoming exhausted in 2033, that event has been pushed back to 2034. The disability (DI) fund is now expected to last at least for 75 years, up from 2057. At this time, there is no consensus among experts on the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trustees currently assume that the pandemic will have no net effect on their long-range projections. The assumptions for their report were determined in mid-February 2022, and they are uncertain regarding the path of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy in the near-term.
Based on their best estimates, the 2022 reports determine:
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Category: Social Security
April 14, 2022 — As anyone who reads this Blog regularly knows, Topretirements is a big fan of waiting as long as you can before you start to collect Social Security. But that is not to say there aren’t many good reasons to take it early, or at least not…
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 23, 2022 - A worrying study by the University of Michigan’s Retirement and Disability Research Center found that many workers tend to overestimate how much they will receive in Social Security retirement benefits. That is concerning because that overconfidence has a negative impact on how much people save getting ready for retirement. About half of the survey takers noted that they wished they had done a better job of planning. Note that about half of Social Security recipients rely on it for at least half of their income. The average Social Security retirement benefit in 2022 is $1658 monthly. The maximum is $4194 (for someone who takes it at age 70).
Among the findings in the study:
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 15, 2022 -- Everybody knows some things about Social Security, the benefit that changed retirement for the good when it was signed into law in 1935. Unfortunately, some of the items many people think they know either aren't true, or are just plain wrong. This misinformation could have a serious and negative impact on the decisions they make, and their ultimate retirement well-being. One of the sources used in this article are the results from our 2020 Social Security IQ Quiz , where we looked at the answers that people tended to get wrong the most.
How many years you work doesn't really affect your Social Security benefit that much.
Only 49% of people who took our 2020 quiz got this answer correct. The choices for how many earning years are used to calculate your benefit were 25, 30, or 35 – and the correct answer is that Social Security calculates your benefit on your highest 35 earning years (adjusted for inflation). While that might not seem that important a detail, it is, because every year you had no earnings counts as a zero!
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
October 13, 2021 — Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a record 5.9 percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2022. It is the largest COLA since 1982. The increase is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2020 through the…
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
September 8, 2021 — The latest Trustees report for Social Security shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 recession are affecting the future of this popular program, but no one is certain exactly how that will play out. One thing the report does lay out is that the Trust…
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 5, 2021 - Naturally enough, most people concentrate their focus on their own Social Security retirement benefits. If they are careful, they compare the advantages of taking it early (as soon as age 62), waiting to Full Retirement Age (FRA, which is 67 for those born 1960 or later), or hanging in to get the maximum benefit at age 70. While it is great to know your own situation, most people overlook the importance of the benefits that might apply to their spouses. For some couples, particularly where one member earns much more than the other and Social Security will be the major source of income in old age, a bad decision can be disastrous down the road. This article will lay out the issues involved, so people can decide the best strategy for maximizing their Social Security spousal benefits.
There are two different scenarios to consider: spousal benefits while you are both alive, and survivor benefits when you depart this world. Let us take them one at a time.
Spousal benefits while you are both alive.
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
January 9, 2020 - Most of the people who took the new version of our popular Social Security IQ Quiz were able to get a passing score of 60%. But there were 3 questions that many people had a lot of difficulty answering correctly. That lack of knowledge, unfortunately, could cost them significant amounts of money over their lifetimes.
Underestimating your Social Security benefits will cost you money
These were the Social Security questions that most people missed, along with the correct answers and more detailed explanations:
How many earning years are used to calculate your Social Security retirement benefit.
Only 49% of quiz takers got this answer correct. The choices were 25, 30, or 35 years - the correct answer was 35 years. While that might not seem that important a detail, it is.
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