Jan. 14, 2026

From Confusion to Confidence: Navigating Today’s Social Security Changes with Marcia Mantell

From Confusion to Confidence: Navigating Today’s Social Security Changes with Marcia Mantell
iHeartRadio podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Pandora podcast player icon Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon Deezer podcast player icon Audible podcast player icon Youtube Music podcast player icon Spreaker podcast player icon Podcast Addict podcast player icon YouTube podcast player icon Castbox podcast player icon Podverse podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Podurama podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon Goodpods podcast player icon Fountain podcast player icon Podyssey podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon Castamatic podcast player icon
iHeartRadio podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Pandora podcast player icon Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon Deezer podcast player icon Audible podcast player icon Youtube Music podcast player icon Spreaker podcast player icon Podcast Addict podcast player icon YouTube podcast player icon Castbox podcast player icon Podverse podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Podurama podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon Goodpods podcast player icon Fountain podcast player icon Podyssey podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon Castamatic podcast player icon
Season 2

If you’ve wondered whether you should claim early “just in case,” or you’ve felt overwhelmed by shifting taxes, rules and headlines, you’re not alone. Bonita & guest Marcia Mantell—known for turning technical retirement concepts into tangible guidance—break down how recent Social Security changes can impact YOU. This conversation will help you ask better questions, verify your assumptions, and build a more confident plan around your benefits.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-good-questions--6441735/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

2
00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:04.040
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

3
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.000
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

4
00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:10.119
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

5
00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.519
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

6
00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:15.800
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

7
00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.600
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

8
00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.960
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

9
00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:25.480
W FOURCY Radio.

10
00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:33.920
Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

11
00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.759
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

12
00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.439
w four cy dot com. This week and every week,

13
00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:44.799
we will reach for a higher purpose in money and light,

14
00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:48.719
as well as a focus on health and wellment. Now,

15
00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.960
let's join your host, Banita Bell Anderson, as together we

16
00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:57.320
start with Asking Good Questions.

17
00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:07.120
Hey, welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast and I

18
00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:08.599
am so happy you're here today.

19
00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.920
This is so important, especially for.

20
00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:13.959
Those baby boomers out there and people who are getting

21
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:20.079
close to thinking about needing this topic that is social security.

22
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.799
And today I have someone with me who helps make

23
00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:29.560
social Security fun. Her name is Marcia Mantel, and I'd

24
00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:34.359
like to invite her to the podcast stage.

25
00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:41.599
Hello Benita, Hello, Well, she is a nationally known keynote speaker,

26
00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:44.120
an author, a retirement.

27
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:48.680
Planning guru, and a baby boomer like me, and her

28
00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:53.599
career has focused on helping people approach retirement with a

29
00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:54.319
clear head.

30
00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.920
When I met Marsha, she and I were like sistans.

31
00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.239
We're like on the same plane because I've also taught

32
00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:06.640
social security for years, so Marsha makes She has a

33
00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:11.039
real passion for making these details about social security and

34
00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:16.680
medicare understandable. And she has a real practical experience working

35
00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:21.639
directly with financial institutions as well, and right she has

36
00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.680
an approachable teaching style. She continues to make a difference

37
00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:32.479
for individuals facing these ohso important lifetime decisions. And we

38
00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.240
have got some stuff coming up this year that I

39
00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:39.599
knew I needed to do something special about that at

40
00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:40.639
the beginning of the year.

41
00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:43.400
So with that, is.

42
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:47.599
There anything you'd like to add to that little intro, Marsia, Well,

43
00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:48.000
it was.

44
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.039
So kind of you to give me those kudos. Thank you.

45
00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.360
The only other thing I'd mentioned is I'm married to

46
00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:58.479
this wonderful man Dan. We've been married for forty two years,

47
00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.960
and there's a possibility we could kill him today, Benita

48
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.919
as we talk about social security, and he knows that

49
00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:09.240
I do that from time to time. So yes, we'll

50
00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:12.280
be safe. But i'd like to even know about Dan. Well,

51
00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:13.319
we may.

52
00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:17.159
Be discussing some uncomfortable facts.

53
00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:19.960
We may, but people.

54
00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:22.879
Need to know and a lot of and I know

55
00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:23.680
you'd like.

56
00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:27.520
I have tried to convince people to wait until seventy

57
00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:28.639
Most people don't.

58
00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:30.039
They take social.

59
00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:33.520
Security right at the outset at age sixty two, and

60
00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:38.000
they lock in some real unfortunate penalties for themselves.

61
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.759
So now how I describe it too, it is a penalty. Yeah.

62
00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:47.360
So when people say, you know, social Security has changed,

63
00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:51.919
what are they usually reacting to. Are they talking about

64
00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:56.759
rules or are they talking about headlines or misinformation or

65
00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.039
maybe some real policy. I don't think there's been any

66
00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:01.280
real policy. Shit shit, You and I are on the

67
00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:04.000
same page as that too, that Congress is going to

68
00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:04.759
do something.

69
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.960
What do you think people are reacting to?

70
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.080
Yeah, they're really reacting to the headlines, and there has

71
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.439
been in twenty so we just turned to the new year.

72
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.720
We're in twenty twenty six, but twenty twenty five had

73
00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:26.160
some of the most belligerent, egregious, scary, yeah, terrible headlines

74
00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:31.040
about the demise of Social Security. Yeah, you know, things

75
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.600
started out really rough when the Doge team came in

76
00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:39.000
and started mucking around in the system, which created a

77
00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:43.639
tremendous amount of angst. So anyone in their early sixties

78
00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.639
was really concerned, Like, we finally got to almost the

79
00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.759
finish line, right, and it's like, oh my god, it's

80
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.639
going away. Oh my goodness, everything is being upended. My

81
00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:58.079
benefits are going to disappear just when I need to enter.

82
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.639
And the older folks were breaking out as well because

83
00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.079
they've already been receiving benefits for twenty twenty five, thirty years.

84
00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:07.560
What am I going to do when I don't have

85
00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.879
Social Security? It's not going anywhere.

86
00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:16.360
No, I mean, let's just we're Yeah, it's not right.

87
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.920
It's the elephant in the room, and it's so hard

88
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:25.639
to trust and just take it on faith that it's

89
00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:26.920
not going anywhere.

90
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:31.120
It's a gigantic law. I mean, this law has been

91
00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:34.519
around since nineteen thirty five. The laws just don't disappear

92
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.519
off the books, and Congress would have to act to

93
00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.480
shut it down, and we'd have no revenue going in

94
00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.639
because there'd be no workers in America.

95
00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:48.680
I mean, like all these things that just want armageddon, Marcia,

96
00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:49.439
it could.

97
00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.079
Be with that maybe, but we're not having armageddon either,

98
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:53.920
as you know.

99
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.079
So yes, well, last time I checked, I think I

100
00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.920
think I was fighting sixty six million people. There's at

101
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.399
least there's got to be more now, but at least

102
00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:07.439
sixty six million people on Social Security. So it's like

103
00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:11.160
there's a ton of people that are depending on this.

104
00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.439
And getting bigger than numbers every day. That is about

105
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.560
the right number. It's about six the fifty six million retirees,

106
00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:25.399
ten million on disability SSDI. So yeah, it is the underpinning,

107
00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.759
or except for the top point one percent, it is

108
00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:34.519
the underpinning of everyone's income and retirement. And without it,

109
00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:37.399
I mean, you'll either burn through your savings in a

110
00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:41.720
couple of years and be destitute, or you know, you're

111
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:43.560
not going to make it at all because you have

112
00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.160
no savings. Well, that's not what we do here in America.

113
00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.720
You know, the program was created to make sure our

114
00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:55.519
seniors are seniors who worked all those years, stayed above

115
00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:57.839
the poverty level. You're not going to be rich, you know,

116
00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:00.519
you're not getting rich on social Security, but you'll be

117
00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.199
able to eat and put a roof over it.

118
00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.000
And this is kind of like a foundation, it really,

119
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:07.360
but that's what I see. It's a foundation.

120
00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:12.360
And then people have their retirement, whatever they've saved for retirement,

121
00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:15.759
and then they might have a little pension so that yeah,

122
00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:16.920
or they might do some.

123
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:19.959
Part time work. I describe it as a layer cake.

124
00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:23.079
I do so love to eat cake. So the bottom

125
00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.399
layer of the layer cake is social Security, and then

126
00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:28.439
you might have a pension on top of that, and

127
00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:30.360
then you might have some four h one K four

128
00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.199
three B savings, you might work part time, you might

129
00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:36.160
have rental income, you know, so all the other layers

130
00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:39.120
come after. But if you don't have a strong foundation,

131
00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:42.319
we've all watched those cake making shows on TV. You know,

132
00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.279
the cake crumbles, So no different here, right, Well, what

133
00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:51.480
do you think the biggest pain points are for people that.

134
00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.519
Keep them up at night when they're thinking about when

135
00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:55.720
and how to claim?

136
00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:58.639
You know, they're hearing everybody.

137
00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.920
Say, oh, just take it at sixty two.

138
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:05.480
They do hear those pain points. Yeah, I find as

139
00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:08.199
I talked to a lot of financial advisors as well

140
00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:10.720
as consumers. The biggest pain point is they really are

141
00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:15.480
fearful that the program won't be here any longer, and

142
00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:18.240
so they don't understand the construction of the program. So

143
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:20.759
that's the first thing to know is this program is

144
00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.240
not funded by the federal government. This program is funded

145
00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:25.639
by you and me and all the workers. That's our

146
00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:30.000
fight at taxes pay. They sort of forward pay our

147
00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.960
obligation to our seniors, my mom and dad and all

148
00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.519
the older folks who are receiving Social Security and we're

149
00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:39.519
earning chits in the bank so that our kids come

150
00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.320
along and they pay in through FIKA, so that we'll

151
00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:46.720
get our share and our earned benefits. Where it's a

152
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:53.159
little scarier is the Social Securities Trustees report that came

153
00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.279
out last June. They did project and I don't know

154
00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:58.159
if you have the slide. I have a slide with

155
00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.279
a little grandfather on there. If we want to put

156
00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:04.759
that up. The trustees, who are really the smartest people

157
00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:09.559
about Social Security out there, are perfect. They did report

158
00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.039
that oh nope, the one you had with that rampam Nope,

159
00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:18.399
one more yep. That one. They did project that the

160
00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:23.039
Social Security Reserve account, the savings account of the extra

161
00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:26.840
money that's been banked in Social Security to pay for

162
00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.759
the boomers retirements. We're using that money to pay benefits,

163
00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.200
and that is starting to be used and will go dry.

164
00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:38.840
But we still have all these payroll taxes coming in.

165
00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:41.799
So where people are confused is they think the whole

166
00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:45.360
program is going to go away, and so they need

167
00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:48.000
to claim early. And this is what keeps them up

168
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.240
at night. They really are concerned and they think if

169
00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:54.200
they so long as they're already in, then no one

170
00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:59.799
can cut their benefits. Wrong. There's the fallacy. It doesn't

171
00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:03.080
matter whether you're already claiming, already been claiming for thirty years,

172
00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:06.320
or if you're you know, sixty and getting ready to

173
00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:09.879
move into retirement in a few years. If the savings

174
00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:14.320
account portion of the trust fund empties and goes to zero,

175
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:18.360
there is no more extra money to pay the benefit.

176
00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.440
So it's only payroll taxes They pay in about seventy

177
00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:27.840
seven percent of the income needs for retirees, so everybody

178
00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:30.720
gets a cut and there is no grandfathering. I hear that.

179
00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.799
Even my dad talked about that at Christmas. He said, oh,

180
00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.679
I'm fine with Social Security. I'm grandfathered in. I said, no, Dad,

181
00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.399
you are a grandfather, but you're not grandfathered into anything.

182
00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:43.519
Because that's been a pain question.

183
00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:46.360
Yeah, I thought, well, maybe I'm okay, but my fifty

184
00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:47.360
year old kids won't be.

185
00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:53.519
No. No, it's everybody, every person. So you know Congress

186
00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:59.919
knows this. They tend to wait until the very last second,

187
00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:04.399
until the crisis is literally at the door, and then

188
00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.960
all of a sudden, we'll have amendments, we'll have changes,

189
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.039
we'll have improvements, and all will be well with the

190
00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:15.120
world again. But yeah, it's all yeah, it's almost at

191
00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:15.480
the door.

192
00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:19.279
And I know that the Terms report has usually said

193
00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.519
if Congress would act sooner rather than later, then it

194
00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:25.279
wouldn't be such so painful.

195
00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:30.080
But they won't. It's not how the game works in Washington.

196
00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.000
So we all just have to get comfortable with that,

197
00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:36.799
even though it is uncomfortable. So I say, that's the

198
00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:41.320
most distressing pain point for folks. The other one I

199
00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:43.600
run into a lot and we can go to the

200
00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:51.240
taxation slide. This is about, yes, that one all the timeline. Okay,

201
00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:55.799
this is the situation with Social Security benefits. Once you

202
00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:59.279
start receiving them, you are outraged that you are being

203
00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:04.440
tax on your benefits. Well, yes you are, not everyone,

204
00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:08.039
but lots of people are being taxed. And there's some

205
00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.960
history to it. I mean, it's just not willy nilly

206
00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:16.559
that Congress decided to do this. We saw this bankruptcy

207
00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:21.080
issue back in the early nineteen eighties and Congress had

208
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:25.039
to fix the reserve account, fix the funding, make sure

209
00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:28.279
that the baby boomers were going to have benefits. So

210
00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:32.759
in nineteen eighty three, after the Reserve Account drained down

211
00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:36.600
to zero, because we've already seen this movie, Congress stepped

212
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.360
in with the nineteen eighty three amendments as an important year.

213
00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.279
That's the year day they let it go to zero.

214
00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.360
They did, Yeah, it was depleted. So they put in

215
00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:51.559
a one year borrowing arrangement between the trust funds, which

216
00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.039
is the only way. We can't just put money into

217
00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.879
the kitty. The law does not allow that. The only

218
00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.799
money allowed into Social Securities Trust Fund are all taxes,

219
00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.960
interest on the Reserve Fund and now as of nineteen

220
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.440
eighty three, taxation of benefits. So this was a strategy.

221
00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:12.480
Back in the Reagan administration, they said, look, we've got

222
00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:16.039
to build up the coffers here, and so they did

223
00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:21.519
things like they extended our full retirement age from sixty

224
00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:25.480
five now to sixty seven with all those little incremental steps.

225
00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:27.559
And I'm pretty sure that's going to go to seventy.

226
00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:29.200
Don't you think it's going to go to seventy.

227
00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:34.600
No, there's no way, no way, And because it will

228
00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:39.399
completely undermine any what called them the real workers, the

229
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:41.879
workers who slung a hammer and who are in the

230
00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.279
service sector on their feet, you know, ten hours a day.

231
00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:49.200
These folks can barely make it to sixty two. So

232
00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.200
if we extend the full retirement age all the way

233
00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:54.600
to seventy, that's fine for us people who sit on

234
00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:57.200
our butts all day. It is not fine for the

235
00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.519
other half of workers in America who are on their

236
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.519
feet all day. So they would have instead of a

237
00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:07.519
thirty percent penalty, they would have a forty forty five percent.

238
00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:12.039
It can't happen, you know, it's just and it doesn't

239
00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.519
do much to shore up this the savings account or

240
00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.679
the funding of the program. Interestingly, it does very little.

241
00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.120
What's going to make a change is if we do

242
00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.360
things like have higher income people pay on a larger

243
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:30.320
portion of their income. That's the single biggest driver of

244
00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.279
the change, So you know, there are things that can

245
00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.600
be done and increase the payroll tax for everybody a

246
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:39.679
little bit. I mean, we can do smaller things across

247
00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:45.279
multiple solutions. Let's say that one, right, So back in

248
00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:47.600
nineteen eighty three, Yep, all of a sudden, there's going

249
00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:53.840
to be a benefit taxation, a taxation on benefits up

250
00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.960
to fifty percent of your benefits, not a fifty percent tax.

251
00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:02.200
That's what people get the compute, right, If you get

252
00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:04.799
ten thousand dollars a year, five thousand of.

253
00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:09.519
That would come into you in farm of your taxable income.

254
00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.000
Exactly, and then you just pay your ordinary tax rate

255
00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:17.159
on that five thousand dollars. But you see the numbers here.

256
00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:20.320
So what Congress said in the law was, well, who,

257
00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:24.879
we only want to charge the higher income folks in retirement.

258
00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:28.759
Back in nineteen eighty three, high income was twenty five

259
00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:32.200
thousand dollars for an individual and thirty two thousand for

260
00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:36.480
a couple, a married filing jointly couple. Well that's not

261
00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:41.080
high income today, but those are still the limits. What

262
00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.039
Congress did not do was we call it index for inflation.

263
00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:47.600
They did not say every year we're going to increase

264
00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:51.159
those thresholds. So what's happened is more and more and

265
00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:54.399
more recipients of people who have their four oh one

266
00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:58.120
ks and Social Security they get stuff paying this tax.

267
00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:03.360
And then in nineteen ninety three, since this worked pretty

268
00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:08.440
well for Social Security, we also yeah, so for the

269
00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:13.279
even wealthier people, higher income people, let's add another layer

270
00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:16.039
of tax. Up to eighty five percent of their dollars

271
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.879
would be taxed as income. So it's these two laws,

272
00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:25.360
and these two amendments to Social Security made taxation a thing,

273
00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:31.240
and everybody hates it, but it keeps the program more

274
00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.720
solvent than it would be otherwise. So I wanted to

275
00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.600
make sure that we knew that piece, because now we

276
00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:42.639
can go to the other slide. Okay, because this year

277
00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:47.639
twenty twenty five, when Congress passed HR one, you know,

278
00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:51.480
the new Budget Bill, there was a provision in there

279
00:16:51.559 --> 00:17:00.519
that addressed deductions for seniors, for those sixty five and older. Fortunately,

280
00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:06.640
the administration positioned it as a elimination of ten marks

281
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:13.039
on your social scurity. Not true, not true, completely unrelated

282
00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:16.759
to Social Security, but very good news for lots of seniors. So,

283
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.960
you know, anyone who turned sixty five in twenty twenty five,

284
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:26.640
or is older than that. If you have modest to

285
00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:31.559
medium income, you're going to get an additional six thousand

286
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.960
dollars deduction on your taxes. You do not have to

287
00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.839
be taking Social Security. This has nothing one hand has

288
00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:41.799
nothing to do with the other. In this case, it's

289
00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:46.400
just a bonus deduction. If you're sixty five and older

290
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.000
and it's available for four years, you can be only

291
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:55.079
four years. Only four right now. You know, you can

292
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.000
use the standard deduction or itemize, doesn't matter how you

293
00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:02.640
want to file. And the key was though it phases out.

294
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.680
The only people who will get the six thousand dollars

295
00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.599
full bonus are those single filers who have income under

296
00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.960
seventy five thousand dollars right and married filing jointly if

297
00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:16.319
their income is under one hundred and fifty thousand. Now,

298
00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.400
this is going to cover a lot of seniors. Don't

299
00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.319
get me wrong. It's great, but there's a phase out,

300
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.240
so it isn't for every senior. It has nothing to

301
00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:27.960
do with whether you're claiming Social Security or not. But

302
00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:31.400
I'm happy to see that there's an additional, you know,

303
00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:38.160
bonus deduction for our oldest Americans. It's good news, just

304
00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.000
unrelated to Social Security. Yeah.

305
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:46.599
So, so just to make clear, are these changes that

306
00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:52.000
impact people already receiving benefits different than people who haven't

307
00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:52.599
claimed yet.

308
00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:55.599
Maybe they're getting ready to claim in a couple of months.

309
00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.720
That there's there's it doesn't matter. It's an age for

310
00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.759
this particular bonus deduction. It's an age driver. So if

311
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:10.680
you turned sixty five in twenty twenty five, anytime, anytime,

312
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:16.359
any time, anytime, yep, then you are eligible for consideration,

313
00:19:16.519 --> 00:19:18.319
is the way I put it. So you're in the

314
00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.000
right age. I loved the language. Thank you.

315
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:23.920
Yes, yes, I mean you.

316
00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.599
Do meet the the age requirement, but you might not

317
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.640
meet the income requirement, especially if you're still working.

318
00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:32.519
It's like read the fine print, Martian.

319
00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:36.160
That's exactly it. Yes, so you might get some you

320
00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.200
might get three thousand dollars, you know, bonus money, bonus

321
00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:40.759
right up to.

322
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.359
So you could so like maybe maybe it'll be one

323
00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.599
or you know. Yeah, so okay, So that's also important

324
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:48.400
to understand.

325
00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.039
Yes, and the tax forms I've seen the the twenty

326
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:58.720
twenty five ten it is relatively it was a draft

327
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.519
form of the tax return of the tax form. You know,

328
00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:06.599
if you use turbo tax or quicken tax or tax actor,

329
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.359
you know something online, this will be built in, you'll

330
00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.960
answer some questions and if you are doing it a

331
00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.160
long form on paper, I think it's pretty clear how

332
00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:21.079
this works. But it's a completely new section or on

333
00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.960
a different schedule for where you're going to get the

334
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:29.799
calculation of your personal deduction for seniors and how much

335
00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:30.240
you'll get.

336
00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:36.440
Okay, so let's okay. So now, so I that this

337
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:39.160
was something that I really wanted to make sure we

338
00:20:39.160 --> 00:20:44.319
we we covered. If you have any questions, there's going

339
00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:45.839
to be in you know where to get a hold

340
00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.400
of me, and there's going to be an information sheet

341
00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:52.920
about Marsha. So uh but yes, if you have a CPA,

342
00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.240
they should be apt to speed on this now. And

343
00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:00.599
if you're using one of the tax online texts programs,

344
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.240
and that should be helpful. Let's go back now to

345
00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:14.839
claiming strategies. Let's let's take those slides down. Thank you,

346
00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:22.000
And so what's your plain English explanation of the trade

347
00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:28.799
off between claiming early claiming at full retirement age and

348
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:31.359
claiming at age and delaying to age seventy?

349
00:21:32.279 --> 00:21:35.400
So I always start with claiming at full retirement age.

350
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.839
So your full retirement age benefit is your anchor. That's

351
00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:42.880
where all the calculations for how much money you're going

352
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:47.200
to get from your work history, that's where it all sits.

353
00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:51.599
That's your anchor. So if you wait until full retirement.

354
00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:54.119
Age, which was between like sixty six and six months

355
00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:57.200
now and sixty seven or for most people who haven't

356
00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:02.440
yet claimed, your full retirement age is your optimal benefit.

357
00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:07.880
That is your best calculated benefit. It's the target you're

358
00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:13.400
aiming for. If you decide to claim before full retirement age,

359
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.799
it is a penalty. That's exactly the word I use it. Yeah,

360
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:21.640
penalizing yourself. It is a penalty because you cannot recover

361
00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:25.359
the hit to your income. And if you claim at

362
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:28.799
sixty two but full retirement age of sixty seven, that

363
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:33.039
is a thirty percent penalty. Yeah, Like where are you

364
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.000
going to make that money up?

365
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.440
And the thing that blows me away is that it

366
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:40.400
makes such a difference when you get into your seventies

367
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:43.759
and get into your eighties and it's like, oh my gosh.

368
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:47.720
I always try to, you know, impress on people, figure

369
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:53.039
out some other way. You'll sometimes no, sometimes you cannot write.

370
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:56.359
There's no getting around just going ahead.

371
00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:59.599
And taking it. But if there's some way to keep.

372
00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:02.440
On working a little bit longer, doing something so that

373
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:03.480
you wait.

374
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:08.920
Yes, it is so important because you do get old.

375
00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:11.000
You know, if we're all lucky, we're going to age

376
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:14.119
to be a ripe old age in retirement. You know,

377
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.400
my parents are in their mid eighties. My in laws

378
00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:18.759
just died in the last year. My mother in law

379
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:20.720
was one hundred and a half, my father in law

380
00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:24.279
was one hundred and two. We live a long time now,

381
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.079
you know, so you really need that long view. And

382
00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:30.960
where's the money going to come from when you're eighty

383
00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.000
six and ninety and ninety five?

384
00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:38.039
You know, what do you think is that a likely

385
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:43.240
scenario of what's the situation when claiming early before you know,

386
00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:44.680
claiming early makes sense?

387
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.359
Do you think it's when you're sick, when you know now,

388
00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:50.640
when you think you're going to be sick someday, when

389
00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:53.920
you actually have a cancer diagnosis, when you have a

390
00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.960
really serious chronic illness and are not expected to live

391
00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:03.960
very long enirement. Then yeah, but here's what's not Oh,

392
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.319
I should claim early because I could die early. You know,

393
00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.799
my mom is still alive. But those people who, oh,

394
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.519
my parents died early. My father, you know, died of

395
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:16.200
a heart attack. My mother had this thing or that thing,

396
00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:18.559
and they died early. So it's likely I'm going to

397
00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:21.160
die early, so I better claim Now that is not

398
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:25.880
a good strategy because perfect example in my family, it's

399
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.480
my mother. Her father died very young, early fifties, her

400
00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.640
mom died in her early seventies. My mother's eighty six,

401
00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.759
on her way to one hundred. Yeah, you know, so

402
00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.319
rather than thinking about what the last generation did in

403
00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.960
their era of less medical advancements, less medical knowledge, less

404
00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:49.039
you know, clean access to clean water and clean air

405
00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:55.039
and such, better food, now think about the possibility that

406
00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:59.119
you will go another thirty years. Yeah. It's like, oh,

407
00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:02.599
and most people do know someone who's well into their

408
00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:06.440
nineties in their family, so just when they make that connection,

409
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:12.000
it's like, oh right, Aunt Sally is ninety nine. Yeah yeah,

410
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:15.960
so yeah, Lee way out there. And that helps you

411
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:20.400
see the impact of the decisions, because then you get

412
00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:23.759
bonus money. If you can wait up until seventy, you

413
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:25.880
don't have to go all the way till seventy, you know,

414
00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.759
start at your anchor again, your full retirement aage amount,

415
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:33.119
and then even one year delivers an additional eight percent

416
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:34.599
in their income.

417
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:37.240
Right, Well, what do you think?

418
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:37.480
You know?

419
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:40.720
So what we're talking about is like there's what we

420
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:46.799
call break even points where somebody starts early, they and when?

421
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.880
When is it that those two lines where they started

422
00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:55.680
early and they waited until they are their full retirement age?

423
00:25:56.200 --> 00:26:00.599
What are the most overlooked break even consideration that people

424
00:26:00.680 --> 00:26:05.039
should run before choosing to start date? So I don't

425
00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:08.759
most people I know don't think about, Oh, it's going

426
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.279
to be you know, like if I would have waited,

427
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:13.960
I'm going to have more money starting with like.

428
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:15.960
When I'm seventy eight or something like that.

429
00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:20.839
Yep, it's I call eighty. Everybody's math is slightly different,

430
00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:24.240
but it always comes out to about age eighty. And

431
00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:27.440
you ask the question, are the odds good that I

432
00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:30.200
will live till eighty? Well that's where if you already

433
00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:35.400
have a cancer diagnosis that's not so curable, your odds

434
00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:37.559
are not good that you're going to live till eighty.

435
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:40.440
So you would be one of those candidates who would

436
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.599
claim a right right, but if you don't have that,

437
00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:49.960
you can probably wait. Well, because let beyond eighty.

438
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:54.519
Yeah, I want to bring this up too, like how

439
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.240
should listeners think about Social Security as longevity insurance.

440
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.440
That's another idea.

441
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:06.000
Let's talk about think of this as longevity insurance rather

442
00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:07.480
than just a monthly paycheck.

443
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:13.440
I completely agree. And it's insurance for when you can

444
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.319
no longer work, when no one will hire you any longer,

445
00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:20.400
or when you're just fed up, when you're old. You know,

446
00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:23.279
it's okay to be old. I think it's so interesting.

447
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.039
I just saw my mother this morning and I said,

448
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:30.359
you know, we Americans do not treat our older people. Well,

449
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:34.559
I think it's so awesome. If you get to live

450
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:39.279
till ninety or ninety five, like you talk about bonus years. Wow,

451
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:42.240
And I'm sure it's heck not going to be working then,

452
00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:46.960
you know. So it is insurance for those years that

453
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:50.599
you're still going to be here and make the best

454
00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:55.079
of these years from seventy to ninety five or longer. Yeah,

455
00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:57.079
must really enjoy it.

456
00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:03.440
Let's talk a little bit about CUP and what claiming

457
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.599
mistakes do you see most often with married couples who

458
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:09.759
are trying to coordinate benefits.

459
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:14.599
Oh, there are so many. The number one thing that

460
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.519
I see is that this will be a little more technical,

461
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:25.160
but that the spouse that the lower earner spouse, who's

462
00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.640
going to get a spousal top up so she'll get

463
00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:30.279
I'm gonna say she so if I'm the lower earner

464
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.960
spouse and dance the higher earner. It's the stereotype, and

465
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.960
it's usually the way you can follow along in the

466
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.079
scenario and then just for your personal situation, all right,

467
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:44.559
So if she's the lower earner, they the couple, usually

468
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.799
both of them think that she can claim. We think,

469
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:52.839
how does it go. She can claim her benefit early

470
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.759
which is true her, and claim her spousal benefit at

471
00:28:56.759 --> 00:29:01.480
the same time she cannot. She can claim the spousal

472
00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:04.640
portion that she's going to get, the extra bonus money

473
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.319
that she'll get, the top up money that she'll get

474
00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:12.039
until he claims. So then it's a scramble because oh well,

475
00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:14.319
then he the higher earner, says, oh, then I need

476
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.119
to claim so that she can get a spousal top up. No,

477
00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:22.759
she can claim her own portion of her own benefit

478
00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:26.079
that she earned on her own work record. Wait until

479
00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:30.319
you're seventy. She'll get the spousal top up and he

480
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:35.680
gets the maximum that right, then protect her if he

481
00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:37.799
dies first.

482
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:40.799
You know, I yeah, I gotta tell you, one of

483
00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:42.920
the things that I in all of the classes that

484
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:47.039
I've taught is telling the guys in the room that

485
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:52.960
the most loving thing they can do is wait. Wait,

486
00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:57.680
because because typically if her benefit is smaller than his,

487
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:02.079
then it only it makes sense to have his be

488
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:04.440
as large as it could possibly be.

489
00:30:05.160 --> 00:30:07.920
Yes, And you know, if there are a couple of

490
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.559
scenarios I've run where just the way the couple their

491
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:16.200
age difference, their income gap difference, where it didn't quite

492
00:30:16.279 --> 00:30:19.160
work that way, but almost. I mean it's eighty five

493
00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:22.680
percent of the time it works out that way. And

494
00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:28.480
when another piece that everyone makes a mistake, everyone, not

495
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:32.640
just married couples. They don't realize that the number you

496
00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.839
see on your statement. People are pretty good about looking

497
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.200
at their statements now. The number they see that they

498
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.160
think is their benefit amount is not the amount that's

499
00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:45.039
going to land in their checking account because Medicare Part

500
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:51.000
B premiums are automatically pulled from the Social Security cash flow.

501
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:55.839
Pretty significent amount.

502
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:58.799
Yes, almost ten percent year over year, Yeah, up to

503
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:03.119
two two nine per person per month, and that's only

504
00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:06.200
going to continue to go up. And Part B premiums

505
00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:11.400
rise much more rapidly than general inflation. So you're going

506
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:14.559
to get bigger and bigger Part B premiums, So you

507
00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:20.200
want as big a starting point as possible. And if

508
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:24.759
you're the surviving spouse and your higher earner, the higher

509
00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:28.240
earner died first and left you with a smaller benefit

510
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.759
than there should have been, and your Part B premiums

511
00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:34.920
are so big, you're getting into a real cash flow

512
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:38.519
crunch here. Well, and then and then not only is

513
00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:42.359
the Part B premium taken out, but you also should probably.

514
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:44.559
Be taking taxes out.

515
00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:49.039
You're saying, so you've got, oh, look at this bigger amount,

516
00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:51.720
and then you know you've got to take Medicare premiums out,

517
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.799
and you really should take taxes out.

518
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:55.839
And that's going to cut it down.

519
00:31:56.680 --> 00:32:00.000
It really does. And I think the other really surprised

520
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:03.880
part For married couples, they I don't know where these

521
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:08.400
misconceptions start, but they think that if the higher earner dies,

522
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:11.160
that she's going to get keep her benefit and get

523
00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:14.279
half of his, or some of them think you just

524
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:18.200
keep both benefits. Oh no, no, I mean this is

525
00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:22.599
one person, one benefit. It's the one that's higher, which

526
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:26.039
benefit is higher, and the other one goes that's right,

527
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:30.599
and that cuts household income by one third to one

528
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:36.599
half depending on their amounts they're receiving each individual. So

529
00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:39.880
that's a shock to the system when you didn't and

530
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:43.000
it's immediate, I mean there is. I will say social

531
00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:46.839
Security operations, they are really efficient. As soon as they

532
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:51.000
go death notice goes to Social Security. Bam, his account

533
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:54.160
is shut off, hers is shut off, and she starts

534
00:32:54.200 --> 00:32:56.119
getting the very next month.

535
00:32:56.759 --> 00:33:00.920
Let's talk about another fun subject, Marcia. Let's talk about

536
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:05.920
working while you're claiming before full retirement age. How does

537
00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:09.480
that complicate the decision and what trap should people avoid?

538
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.839
Yeah, that sinks the anchor. You know, going back to

539
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:18.559
your your full retirement age benefit is your anchor amount

540
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:25.000
if you claim at any point before that age, so

541
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:29.200
sixty seven for me. Then and you're still working and

542
00:33:29.319 --> 00:33:32.519
you make more than hobby money, it's about twenty four

543
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:35.720
thousand dollars. You make more than twenty four thousand dollars

544
00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:39.720
in a year, you will not get all of your

545
00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:43.559
Social Security benefit. It's already been reduced because you're claiming early,

546
00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:47.039
and now you're not going to get it. Eating yourself

547
00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:50.440
on the head with a hammer, yeah, or hitting a

548
00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:55.960
brick wall, right right, Yeah, that's true. Yeah, and people

549
00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:59.920
are again so frustrated because it is funny when you

550
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:03.279
talked to individuals and they come to you like, I

551
00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:07.200
have got a strategy that's going to work. Oh my,

552
00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:10.760
what might you think you're going to be doing? And

553
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.440
it's always this one like I'm gonna, you know, claim

554
00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:16.800
at sixty two or sixty three. Usually it's a man

555
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:19.440
who has come up with this. Much as I love

556
00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:22.920
the men, this is not a strategy, and I'm going

557
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.159
to keep working and I'm going to claim, but I'm

558
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:30.159
investing that money. Excellent. How much do you earn, sir, well,

559
00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:33.079
two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year. How

560
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:35.119
much do you think you're going to get from Social Security?

561
00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:38.719
I'm okay with the with the you know penalty, like, yeah,

562
00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:42.800
you're getting nothing. So there's that. Yeah, And I mean, look,

563
00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:47.519
I know these rules are complex and convoluted, but no,

564
00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:51.400
people think they can double dip when we know double

565
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.280
dipping is not a thing. It's no, no, you know,

566
00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:57.039
it's it's hard to explain that, but I try to,

567
00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:59.280
you know, have a little bit of humor. It's like, oh,

568
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:01.400
did you hear that from your uncle Charlie or your

569
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:05.719
neighbor across the fence, right right, you know, because it's

570
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:08.800
just it's just not this is not how the world works.

571
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:12.840
So let's I want to, you know, have a little

572
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:14.199
comment here about Medicare.

573
00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:17.440
So what do you think the most common confusion you

574
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:25.719
see between social Security claiming and Medicare enrollment timing? There

575
00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:28.840
seems to be you know, people get that all messed

576
00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:29.440
up too.

577
00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:32.480
They do, and there are a lot of areas where

578
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.960
one can get tripped up. Here. Let me first say

579
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:42.440
that there is no way in America today anyone age

580
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:45.119
sixty five and older can have any month of an

581
00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:48.199
insurance gap. You've got to have your health insurance in place.

582
00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:52.599
So understanding these rules and these the knitting together of

583
00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:56.519
the Social Security laws, they bring in Medicare. The Medicare

584
00:35:56.559 --> 00:36:00.599
Act is part of the Social Security Act, same law together.

585
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:03.239
So what people don't know? What was it? You said?

586
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.159
Thirty seven hundred pages.

587
00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:10.360
Yeah, isn't that fun? And that's not an afurrowl on

588
00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:13.599
you know, that's from a couple of years ago. So yeah,

589
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:16.280
it's probably up over forty five hundred pages now, this law.

590
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:22.400
But it's massive and it is easy to make a mistake.

591
00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:24.880
So the biggest mistake I see is the people who

592
00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:28.360
claim early. They may still be working, or they're covered

593
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:32.159
on their spouse's health insurance at work, they all of

594
00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:35.840
a sudden, unbeknownst to them, two months before they turn

595
00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:40.039
sixty five, they get a packet that says, welcome to Medicare. Right,

596
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.679
I didn't sign up for Medicare. It's like, why, yes,

597
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:49.360
you did. When you claim early, you have automatically also

598
00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:54.639
triggered Medicare to start when you reach age sixty five.

599
00:36:55.400 --> 00:37:00.280
It's an automatic thing. It's a gift. But that then

600
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.119
unravels a lot of piece parts or you have to

601
00:37:03.159 --> 00:37:06.480
take action. You could only delay Part B, so now

602
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:09.719
you have to keep your Part A, but it's a

603
00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:13.960
premium free part of Medicare, so you're not paying for it.

604
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:19.239
But that in turn can prevent you from contributing to

605
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:23.199
a health savings account any longer. So there's a whole

606
00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:24.920
ripple effect here, right.

607
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:28.360
I actually saw something the other day Marsha that I

608
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:30.840
thought was really funny. There was an article that came

609
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:34.079
from SOB Security that talked about they've done all these

610
00:37:34.199 --> 00:37:37.880
analysis of how long people wait on the phone when

611
00:37:37.880 --> 00:37:43.320
they're calling SOB Security and the time has gone dramatically down,

612
00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:46.159
they're really really proud of that. Well that's great, but

613
00:37:46.840 --> 00:37:50.039
that you know, And another thing I'll say about calling

614
00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:52.639
SOB Security and trying to make sure you're doing all

615
00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:55.719
these things right if you're not talking to somebody like us,

616
00:37:56.519 --> 00:37:59.719
is that.

617
00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:01.920
That you have to know what those dates are for you.

618
00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:06.719
And a lot of times when you call SOB Security,

619
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:11.000
and I won't say maybe this has gotten better, but

620
00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:14.880
sometimes when you would call one person and the reason

621
00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:17.920
I love the name of my podcast, ask good questions

622
00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:21.559
because if you had asked one question of one person

623
00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:24.039
who gets on the phone with you, sometimes you might

624
00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:26.920
get a different answer from somebody else who then you

625
00:38:27.039 --> 00:38:30.079
call back and you know, so, yeah, so.

626
00:38:30.039 --> 00:38:32.679
This is this is like we're talking about your whole life.

627
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:35.679
So you've got to get it right, you really do.

628
00:38:36.039 --> 00:38:39.440
And I mean, and I'm also somewhat forgiving of Social

629
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:44.039
Securities agents because this stuff is so complicated and they

630
00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:46.199
have to do way more than the retirement side. I mean,

631
00:38:46.199 --> 00:38:48.800
they're dealing with disability on one call and then they

632
00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:51.559
turn and it's a retirement call, and then it's you know,

633
00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:56.599
a surviving child situation right with all of the map. So,

634
00:38:57.079 --> 00:38:59.000
and it's like the IRS. You know, if you call

635
00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:02.159
one eight hundred IRS, you're also going to get multiple

636
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:05.920
answers to the same question. So we all as consumers

637
00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:08.960
have to be a little bit more, a little tighter

638
00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:12.239
with the language we use. We have to use more

639
00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:14.679
technical language, which is hard. That meant you had to

640
00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:17.119
do your research ahead of time. But the other thing

641
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.239
I'll say, I saw that same article about Social Security saying, well,

642
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:24.119
our phone volumes, I mean they are just snapping right along. Yeah,

643
00:39:24.199 --> 00:39:28.599
you know why they didn't mention this. But after you're

644
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:32.559
on hold for not very long, they immediately dump you

645
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:37.360
into an auto system that says press one if you

646
00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:41.519
want us to call you back. So you're not actually

647
00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:45.000
sitting on the phone because you can't anymore. You get

648
00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:47.920
moved into the queue. They will in fact call you back,

649
00:39:48.119 --> 00:39:49.840
but it might be four hours later.

650
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:54.480
Yeah, so I remember what you were going to ask them, right,

651
00:39:54.719 --> 00:39:57.679
write down your questions, you know, have your statement with you.

652
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:02.239
Have your You need to know things like how big

653
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:04.960
is your employer? And I know that sounds stupid, but

654
00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:08.559
if you work for a huge company, you know it's like, well,

655
00:40:08.599 --> 00:40:11.840
I work for GM or Xerox or whatever. It's a

656
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:16.119
huge company. You're fine. It's the people whose husbands usually

657
00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:22.320
are working for a small local company. It's like, does

658
00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:26.320
the company have twenty or more employees? And they're not

659
00:40:26.519 --> 00:40:31.679
actually sure. Well, that is the huge difference between whether

660
00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:35.239
you've got to get into Medicare Parts A and B

661
00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:39.119
before turning sixty five right to integrate with your sixty

662
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:42.760
fifth birthday month, or can you delay part B. It's

663
00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:45.639
all on the size of the employer. So some things

664
00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:48.079
that we don't think of, you know, if you're working

665
00:40:48.119 --> 00:40:50.519
for a big company as a big deal. When you're

666
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:53.599
working on the smaller end, it's a huge deal. Yeah,

667
00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:55.880
So these are things.

668
00:40:55.840 --> 00:40:58.599
Like Marshall, I've just decided that I think that all

669
00:40:58.599 --> 00:41:00.679
we're going to do is agitate people today.

670
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:06.800
But I don't think I think we're empowering them with information, because.

671
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:08.119
Yes, we're empowered.

672
00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:11.320
I know the kinds of questions and really write them down.

673
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:13.360
Yeah, that's that's the thing.

674
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:17.519
And I'll tell you. The Social Security website is really

675
00:41:17.559 --> 00:41:20.360
good about telling you when you're getting ready to enroll,

676
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:23.320
like this is the stuff we might ask you about.

677
00:41:24.039 --> 00:41:27.360
They tell you it's right there. Now do we do

678
00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:29.639
it home before we pick up the call a phone? No,

679
00:41:29.800 --> 00:41:32.880
we don't, So I think that's what we could leave.

680
00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:38.440
People would always call back. Yeah, so we knew that this.

681
00:41:38.599 --> 00:41:42.000
Was going to go really fast, and we knew that that.

682
00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:44.159
You know, there's there's a lot more that we could

683
00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:44.559
talk about.

684
00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:45.880
We'll have to do it another time.

685
00:41:46.360 --> 00:41:50.360
I would like to have a just women talk about

686
00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:52.800
that subject because there's a lot we can say there.

687
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:58.119
But today if a listener had I mean, people are

688
00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:00.199
starting to think about getting their text and stuff for

689
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:03.800
twenty twenty five. What could they do this week that

690
00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:07.760
they could get more confident? Like maybe three steps that

691
00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:12.440
you would recommend that they do documents together, Questions to ask,

692
00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:15.400
decisions to postpone until they have the facts.

693
00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:23.159
Maybe maybe I would also do things like I had

694
00:42:23.159 --> 00:42:26.119
a really good OH pulled down before you even get

695
00:42:26.119 --> 00:42:29.920
started on assembling your documents. Download or go to your

696
00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:32.639
local library or senior center and get a copy of

697
00:42:32.679 --> 00:42:35.760
the ten forty SR. If you're a senior. SR stands

698
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:38.400
for Senior. It's the ten forty but in bigger font

699
00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:42.719
so we can actually read the darn thing tax recharge.

700
00:42:42.760 --> 00:42:46.440
Just the ten forty so that you can look at

701
00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:49.079
it when it's empty to see what is going to

702
00:42:49.199 --> 00:42:53.199
count as income to the front page. And then start

703
00:42:53.239 --> 00:42:57.920
to understand the deductions, because the standard deductions are bigger

704
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:01.079
every year. If you are over sixty five over or

705
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:03.840
if you're blind, you get even more of a deduction.

706
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:08.960
And then play around with that six thousand dollars bonus deduction.

707
00:43:09.159 --> 00:43:11.559
You know will you be eligible for some or all

708
00:43:11.599 --> 00:43:14.800
of it? So that's step one. Get the ten forty

709
00:43:14.800 --> 00:43:17.679
and look at it. Step two, I agree with you.

710
00:43:17.760 --> 00:43:21.159
Start to gather your documents. I actually have a spreadsheet.

711
00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:23.480
You know, we only do this TEX stuff once a year,

712
00:43:24.039 --> 00:43:27.639
so I have a spreadsheet where I know what's the

713
00:43:27.679 --> 00:43:30.079
first thing to come in, the W twos, then the

714
00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:32.880
ten ninety nine I iNTS, the ten ninety nine DIBs,

715
00:43:33.079 --> 00:43:37.559
you know, all this of your charitable contribution receipts. Dump

716
00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:39.320
it all in a shoe box. I mean, just to

717
00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:42.159
have Laura have a single place or a folder that

718
00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:45.320
you are just gathering this stuff as it's coming in.

719
00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:48.119
So that's the second thing is gather the documents. And

720
00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:52.239
the third thing is I would pull down your latest

721
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:56.559
so if you're not yet claiming social Security after January

722
00:43:56.639 --> 00:44:00.239
thirty first, when the W twos have been submitted about

723
00:44:00.280 --> 00:44:03.920
two weeks later, so February fifteenth, go into your mind

724
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:08.519
social Security account and download and look at your latest

725
00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.800
social Security statement and take a look at it. Did

726
00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:15.079
they get the income right coming in from twenty twenty five?

727
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:19.320
You know, is anything looking unusual so that you could

728
00:44:19.360 --> 00:44:21.679
take an action if you need to? So those are

729
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:23.559
the That's where I would start for tax season.

730
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:28.360
Awesome, Well, we have got to say goodbye for today.

731
00:44:29.239 --> 00:44:30.280
This one's so fast.

732
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:35.880
You're right, So, Marcia, thank you so much.

733
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:38.559
There will be I've got a little place where I

734
00:44:38.599 --> 00:44:42.119
put information from my guests and so on my website.

735
00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:45.079
You'll be able to go and check out information about

736
00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:50.639
Marcia and her company. And so with that, I just

737
00:44:50.800 --> 00:44:52.800
like to say thank you so much for joining the

738
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:56.159
Ask Good Questions podcast today and we'll see you next time.

739
00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:03.039
Today episode is over. But we did Ask Good Questions again,

740
00:45:03.159 --> 00:45:06.800
didn't You don't miss out as we broadcast live every

741
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:10.760
Wednesday six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio

742
00:45:10.920 --> 00:45:14.840
at w fourcy dot com. Joined Benina Bellam, We're saying

743
00:45:14.920 --> 00:45:19.639
next week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement,

744
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:24.239
behavioral finance issues, health and wellness, and more. Until then,

745
00:45:24.719 --> 00:45:31.199
remember to ask good questions.