PINEBROOK FAMILY ANSWERS HOMECARE

FOUND MONEY Social Security and Spousal Benefits

The following is an excerpt from an article posted on the CSA website in February 2015 entitled "Spousal Benefits Can Provide "Found Money" to read the full article just click on the hyperlink in this sentence.

As a Certified Senior Advisor, Bill Arnold, Program Director of Pinebrook Family Answers HOMECARE assists seniors and their families with finding qualified caring individuals who have been trained to help in the fulfillment of the typical daily task of living that may become a challenge with aging. The posted articles on this site and the HOMECARE blog are intended for your information and edification if you have questions concerning in-home care either hourly, daily, weekdays, weeknights, weekends, overnight or 24 hour live-in care, please call Bill at 610-8967-3946.

Enjoy the article:

Get Good Advice and Plan Early For married couples, Social Security may be one of their largest assets. How you manage it-by deciding which benefits to collect and when-can have a huge effect on your retirement savings and income. It pays for married couples to coordinate how and when they should each begin collecting benefits. Because of the variety of factors-ages of spouses, when the benefits are taken and the different amounts-it helps to get professional advice to find out which combination would reap the most benefits. You should talk to your financial or tax advisor before filing for spousal benefits. Your Certified Senior Advisor® can provide information about the benefits or direct you to someone who is knowledgeable. Information on the Social Security website about spousal benefits may not give the whole picture. Larry Kotlikoff, who writes an advice column for the PBS News Hour website, warns readers not to trust the advice found there ("The Danger of Trusting Social Security's Online Advice," September 23, 2013, PBS News Hour). "You never want to trust what you read on Social Security's websites. What's written is never literally wrong. But it's far too often incomplete," he writes. Referring to the fact that the only way you can get a full spousal benefit is to wait until FRA and apply just for the spousal benefit at that time, Kotlikoff writes, "So, why doesn't Social Security provide this information? Either they think that no spouses ever worked...or they think explaining everything I just explained is too hard . . . . They trap people into thinking they are going to get a spousal benefit, but then don't give it to them. "I believe their 'advice' traps people into making the wrong decisions. Furthermore, the checks you get in the mail don't clarify what benefits you are and aren't receiving. So you may think you are getting a spousal benefit, when actually it's only a reduced retirement benefit since your excess spousal benefit is zero." For other websites, besides Social Security's, that provide information, visit the CSA Blog look for the February posted article and see the "Sources" at the bottom of that page.