Ask Larry
Financial Safety Planning, Inc.
Right now’s Social Safety column addresses questions on early submitting reductions and delayed retirement credit, submitting with a partner and a disabled little one and the way survivor’s advantages are calculated. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston College and the founder and president of Financial Safety Planning, Inc.
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Do I Get Credit For Ready Till 67 To File For Social Safety Retirement Advantages?
Hello Larry, I turned 67 in October and filed for my retirement profit in January 2022. Do I get and credit for ready two years previous 65? I’ve heard of getting six months price of again advantages however do not know get it. Thanks, Steve
Hello Steve, Because you have been apparently born in 1954, your full retirement age (FRA) for Social Safety retirement advantages was the month you turned 66. For those who had began drawing your advantages at 65, your profit charge would have been diminished for age. Your charge will not be diminished for age because you did not begin drawing early, plus you earned delayed retirement credit (DRC) for every month that you simply did not gather advantages between 66 and 70. DRCs improve your FRA charge by 2/3rds of 1% per 30 days, or 8% per yr.
Once you utilized for advantages you can have began your advantages as much as six months previous to the month that you simply apply, however in the event you selected to receives a commission for retroactive months, you’ll have misplaced the DRCs that you simply earned for these months. In different phrases, the sooner you have chose to start out drawing your advantages previous to 70, the decrease your month-to-month charge can be.
You might need to think about using my firm’s software program — Maximize My Social Safety or MaxiFi Planner — to make sure your family receives the best lifetime advantages. Social Safety calculators offered by different corporations or non-profits might present correct options in the event that they have been constructed with excessive care. Greatest, Larry
Is It Greatest For Me To Wait Till FRA?
Hello Larry, I’m 65 years and at present not working. I plan to attend till FRA at 66 and 4 months to file. My spouse is 63 and eligible to file underneath her personal account if obligatory. Our 22 yr previous son with Down’s syndrome has been disabled since beginning. My son receives an SSI profit.
Is it finest for me to attend till FRA? Can my spouse file concurrently I at 64 underneath her personal account or as partner? Can we file all three functions on the similar time? Are we topic to household most profit guidelines? Thanks, Julian
Hello Julian, I am unable to inform you when the very best time to file could be as a result of too many components are concerned. I can inform you that you simply and your spouse and son can all file for advantages concurrently, and the household most profit (FMB) that may be claimed on a single report will apply. You will not all be capable to file on-line although, so in the event you select that possibility, your son at the very least might want to apply by telephone with a Social Safety consultant.
For those who and your spouse each apply for advantages primarily based in your particular person earnings histories, then your and your spouse’s FMBs can seemingly be mixed to liberate extra whole advantages to be paid to your loved ones. Nonetheless, it would initially be extra useful for considered one of you to use in your personal advantages and have the opposite apply only for little one in care spousal advantages. My firm’s software program can assist you resolve that.
One other factor that I can inform you is that if and when your son qualifies for childhood incapacity advantages (CDBs), previously referred to as disabled grownup kid’s (DAC) advantages, his Supplemental Safety Revenue (SSI) funds can be offset roughly greenback for greenback by the quantity of his DAC profit. Greatest, Larry
What Share Of My Profit Would My Spouse Obtain If I Die Earlier than Her?
Hello Larry, I’m 70, drawing my Social Safety retirement profit and nonetheless working. My spouse is 62 and has not labored outdoors the house in our 39 years of marriage. If I die, what share of my profit does she get? Thanks, Alan
Hello Alan, The reply relies upon the age you began drawing your advantages and at what age your spouse begins drawing widow’s advantages. If she’s at the very least full retirement age (FRA) when she begins drawing widow’s advantages, her profit charge could be a minimum of 100% of your profit charge. Her charge might even be considerably greater than your charge in the event you began drawing your advantages at age 62.
But when your spouse begins drawing widow’s advantages previous to FRA, then her profit charge could be topic to a discount for age. How a lot if any that would cut back her precise profit charge would depend upon if you began drawing your advantages and your spouse’s age on the time she begins drawing widow’s advantages.
For instance, in the event you began drawing your advantages at FRA or later and in case your spouse began drawing widow’s advantages at age 62, her profit charge could be roughly 80% of your month-to-month quantity. Greatest, Larry
