Sept. 3, 2025

What Baby boomers need to know about Social Security & their Retirement Income

What Baby boomers need to know about Social Security & their Retirement Income

Join Bonita as we review 1) the 5 factors to consider when deciding when to apply for benefits; 2) Why you should always check your earnings record for accuracy; 3) How to coordinate benefits with your spouse; 4) How to minimize taxes on Social Security benefits; and 5) How to coordinate Social Security with your other sources of retirement income

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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w fourcy dot com. This week and every week, we

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will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

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let's join your hosts, Banita Bell Anderson, as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hello, this is Benita Bell Anderson and welcome to the

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Ask Good Questions podcast. Today we are part two of

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a three part series on social security, and today we

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are dealing with what baby boomers need to know about

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their retirement income. Those people that they've been retiring but

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there's a few more of them to retire, and there's

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a whole bunch of us out there. So first I

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have a little teaser for you before we get started.

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I'll invite there we go. Okay, here's my little teaser

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in life. Would you rather be early or would you

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rather be delayed? Would you rather pay a penalty or

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would you rather get a bonus? So I just want

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you to think about that and we'll return to those later. Right, So,

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this is what baby bloomers need to know. I am

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going to go through a bunch of things that have

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to do with this. This is such a huge important question.

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And let me just also tell you I have been

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teaching in person classes for many many years, community colleges, libraries,

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things like that. Now I'm doing it online with a podcast.

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Who would have known? But anyway, here we are. I

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want you to know what the problem is. People are

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hurting their retirements by making terrible, costly decisions about social security.

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People say, why don't they matters? Yes, it does matter,

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and I'm going to show you many many different ways

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why it matters. Okay. Also, I want you to know

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that I have a handout and I'm also offering you

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a PDF analysis, a report. You're going to email me

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and if you have questions or if you would like

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the report that would basically tell you the top like

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five different ways you could do so security. That is

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complementary a professional evaluation. If you'd like to have this,

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if you'd like to discuss this, there's a small charge

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for that. But the complementary analysis is yours for really

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figuring out what's the best way to do this. There

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are some things to know about sob security. You have

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a lot of you have not a lot, but do

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you have different options in how you can claim this?

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These decisions. If you're sixty five, there's a possibility I

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know some of you may say, no, I'm not going

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to live that long, but there's a possibility that you

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could be looking at the next thirty years that choice

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of what you do now could impact both spouses. And

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the system is not bankrupt. I'm going to talk to

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you about that is. It is also not a Ponzi

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scheme and the benefits likely helped the family member that

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you are aware of. Your friends also are not experts

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on this, so if you want to know Also another thing,

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little disclosure, I'm a financial advisor These are my opinions,

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but because I've been teaching this class for a long time,

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I do have opinions about what I see and what

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I've seen with clients. You're going to want to know

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the following. Is it going to be there for me?

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How much can I expect to receive? When should I apply?

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That's the big question. How can I maximize my benefits?

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And will so scurty be enough to live on in retirement? Yeah?

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So if something that really you know, your parents probably

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never asked how it was possible to maximize benefits, there's

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absolutely nothing wrong with using the soil security rules to

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your advantage. So today we're going to talk about ways

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you can maximize your Social Security benefits simply by knowing

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the rules right and making smart decisions. That's why I'm

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doing this. I want you to make smart decisions. And finally,

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you're wondering if SO security is going to be enough

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to live on in retirement, You probably already know the

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answer to that. Sole security represents about forty percent of

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the average retirees in total income, but by coordinating Social

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Security with the rest of your retirement income plan, you

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can pursue a comfortable worry free retirement. Okay, that's what

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I think you would probably agree with me that you

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want to know. So most people tend to minimize the

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value of so security if they believe that they're likely

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to get something back from the system at all. They

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think it will be a minimal payment and not enough

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to really count on. But social security is more valuable

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than many people realize. So there's there are many different

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ways that we're going to look at this today, and

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so if you worry, well, if it is going to

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be there for you. This has led to a lot

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of misunderstanding and irrational fears about the solvency of the

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social security system. So let's look at what the Social

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Security Trustees say. Every year they publish a comprehensive report

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showing the long range outlook for sole security. So it

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was designed as a pay as you go system, and

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payroll taxes from current workers goes through a trust fund

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and goes out to pay for current retirees. So right now,

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that trust fund holds about twelve two point seven trillion,

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which is invested in special issue treasury securities, and as

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baby boomers start retiring, those trust fund assets will gradually

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be drawn down. So over the next seventy five years.

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They're basically saying that there's enough assets to pay one

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hundred percent of promise benefits until twenty thirty four. At

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that point, if nothing is done, and that's the operative word,

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if nothing is done to reform the system, then income

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will be sufficient to cover only eighty one percent of

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promise benefits. So what would it take to really restore solvency.

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There's a couple of things. I have taught this for years.

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Maximum earning subject to soci Security taxes at one hundred

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and seventy six one hundred. I think they need to

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dramatically increase that so that more people continue paying into

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Social Security for a longer time, or just eliminated together.

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I also think, and I've said this for years as well,

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I think that it's possible that the normal retirement age

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could rise from sixty seven to seventy. It's also possible

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that they might lower benefits for future retirees, that is possible,

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or they might do something with the formula and reduce

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the cost of living adjustments on that. So those are

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all things that could happen. But really the bottom line

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for you, if you're sixty five to seventy right now,

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your benefits are not likely to be affected by soil

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security reform. However, are kids. I've got kids in their forties.

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Let's let I'm telling them you need to Yes, so

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security will be there, but you need to have your

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own retirement savings as well. So what is a better

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way to think about sold security? Really? What do you

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think it is? Inflation protected income? You paid the premium

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in every paycheck, so it'd be smart about how and

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when to collect, right, Okay, that's insight number one. So

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if your monthly income is two thousand today and you

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live twenty or thirty more years, you look at this,

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that's significant. Five hundred and eighty three almost a million

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dollars in benefits. That's that's a big deal. I want

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you to really think about that. So how and when

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you take it is important. And because it offers an

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annual inflation adjustment a benefit in ten years that was

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two thousand and now could go to twenty four thirty eight,

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But in thirty years it would be thirty six hundred

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from two thousand. So that's assuming a two percent annual

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cost of living increase. I always say, especially for the

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higher earning wayjourner delay taking your sold security because if

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you die before your spouse, you want her to have

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the maximum benefit that she can have, and you want

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that larger. You want the cost of living to be

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calculated on a larger amount. Okay, So how much can

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you expect to receive your benefit depends on how much

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you earned over your working career. Like for me, my

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first husband was in the military. We were overseas in

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Germany with the US Air Force in the nineteen years.

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There's if I look at my history, there was a

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whole bunch of years where I was having babies and

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we were overseas and I wasn't earning a wage. But

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if you've been consistently working, you're going to have a

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fairly decent benefit. And the age at which you apply

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for benefits is important to really realize. So I'm not

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going to go into the math. But so security benefits

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are calculated, are talied up in index for inflation, and

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the highest thirty five years of earnings are averaged. Okay,

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and then there's something called bend points, and that benefit

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is increased each year by the cost of living increases. Okay.

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So I'm not going to spend too much time on

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this formula. But I'm just telling you there is a

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formula about how this is calculated. So the longer you

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put into the system and the longer you wait, you're

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going to benefit. And there's a break even point. Like

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if you started at sixty two, not only are you

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going to get penalized and have a much lower benefit,

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but you're you're gonna see that like between usually between

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seventy eight to eighty two. If you would have waited,

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you're going to be receiving much more in those later years.

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So you may say, well, that's good to know, but

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I shouldn't. Why shouldn't I just claim at sixty two?

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I can't make that much difference, Right, Well, your monthly

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benefit here's number two insight. Your monthly benefit will be

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reduced if you claim early. That's just period, end of story.

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It may also be reduced for taxes and Medicare premiums. Right,

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and benefits could be withheld if you're working. I'm going

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to tell you. I'll tell you several times, don't work

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and take those security at the same time, don't don't

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don't do it. So when should I apply for benefits?

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Number time? Number one would always be wait to do

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benefits until your full retirement age. Your health status has

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something to do with it. You're a life expectancy, your

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need for income, whether or not you plan to work,

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and survivor needs. Those are all huge factors. And yes,

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I've had people say, you can't tell me when I'm

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going to die. No, I can't. I get that. But

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if if you have a reasonable idea of what your

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health status is, if you have a reasonable idea of

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what your family history is for life expectancy, think about it.

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If you're still working, don't touch this. Wait until you're done,

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wait until seventy two to start taking it. Will so

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security be enough to live in retirement? Probably not? Maybe,

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like I said, maybe forty percent. Right, So here's what

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that fra. If you've seen that term, it means full

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retirement age. Most of you listening to this are probably

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nineteen sixty and later. Your full retirement age is probably

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age sixty seven, and so if you apply for early benefits,

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it can be reduced. Right, if your full retirement age

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is sixty seven and you apply at sixty two, it's

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going to be reduced thirty percent. And that's permanent. You're

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never gonna make it up. And so let me show

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you what that means. If you apply after full retirement age,

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you get something called delayed credits. So it's eight percent

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of year. And so if you look at the last column,

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it could be an extra twenty four percent eight percent

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a year times three years, So you're going to have

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an extra twenty four percent in your monthly benefit. If

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you wait until age seventy plus, you're going to have

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a higher cost of living increase, right, because you're dealing

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with a higher number. So make sure that you go

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out to your to Social Security dot gov. Make sure

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that you go in and look at your account. If

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you do, email me for the complimentary analysis. I'm going

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to need your your estimated benefits from your Social Security account. Okay,

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So why here's another reason why bigger checks now mean

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bigger checks later. So if you started benefits with the COLA,

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so like if you started at age sixty seven and

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it was thirty three hundred a month, now at age seven,

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and you waited and you wait until seventy, that's like

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another thousand dollars. So bigger checks are going to come

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because of having a little bit of patience in starting.

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And I know I'm going fast, but there's a lot

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of information to cover it a little bit of time.

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Here's more. If you if you have a benefit age

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seventy and it was forty three fifty nine, if you

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claim at seventy and you do happen to live to

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one hundred, that could be seventy eight hundred a month.

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That's a big deal. Even if you live to be

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eighty five, that's fifty eight sixty six month. I mean,

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what I'm saying is this is not small potatoes. This

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is a big commitment on the on the US government's part.

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So how do you maximize your benefits? You need to

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get educated, you need to examine your earnings record from

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your You've gone in, You've gone and found your Social

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Security statement. You're gonna go in and you're gonna look

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and you're gonna make sure it's accurate. Is there any

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missing years? Can you improve it by working longer, applied

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for Social Security at the optimal time? What are your

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income needs, what's your life expectancy, what's your spouse's life expectancy? Right?

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Those are all things. Taxation of benefits. Have we heard

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just a little bit of stuff going on with that

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just recently, Well, there was a tax bill that passed

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on July fourth. Let's take an example of it doesn't

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eliminate taxes on Social Security. It just seems like that.

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It's a it's a deduction. So the married couple both

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age sixty five under the one hundred and fifty thousand

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income limit, they're now going to have a maximum total

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standard deduction of forty six thousand, seven hundred. That's for

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twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, and twenty eight. It's

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not forever. It's a base standard deduction of thirty one

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00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:14.720
to five plus a senior extra deduction of thirty two hundred,

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plus a new bonus deduction of six thousand each or

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twelve thousand. That's how you get to forty six seven

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00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:26.359
and so it doesn't eliminate taxes on Social Security. It's

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just a deduction off of your total income that is figured. Okay,

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00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:39.279
please please please keep working. Understand the annual earnings test.

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If you are working before your full retirement age, one

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dollar out of every two that you'll earn over twenty

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three thy four hundred and twenty twenty five is going

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to be deducted. So wait until the full retirement age

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or later to apply for benefits. Okay, and just as

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a reminder, most married filing jointly couples have an income

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of over forty four thousand and forty four thousand, most

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likely eighty five percent of your soci security benefit is

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going to be figured for taxation, right, so just realize

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that that it's going to be still factored into how

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much total income you have. So waste to minimize taxes

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is reduce other income, anticipate required distributions, possibly convert traditional

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iras to ross delay it, reduce the number of years

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the benefits are subject to tax, Reduce your expenses, pay

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down debt, adopt a simpler lifestyle, and continue to manch

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it manage. You're going to always be managing taxes through retirement. Right.

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So the other funny thing is that, well, yeah, you

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did get a two point five percent increase in sold

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security this year, but Part B premiums went up five

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point nine percent. So if you're receiving soil security and

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our sixty five or older and rolled in Medicare, your

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Part B premiums are deducted from your check. If you

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00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:17.519
wait to do your soil security, you're going to be

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paying your Medicare premium out of your checking account. Okay,

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when to apply. If you apply early, your benefit starts

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lower and it stays lower for life. Cola's magnified the

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impact of early or delayed claiming. The longer you live,

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the more beneficial it is to delay benefits. And yes,

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we do not know how long you're going to live,

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but it's possibly the most lovely thing you can do

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for a spouse. If you feel like you might live

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as long as your spouse, your benefit may be taxed

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and reduced to cover your Medicare premiums. Don't let the

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earnings test discourage you from working. You know, it's just

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like maybe work a little bit longer, and delaying benefits

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may give surviving spouses more income. That's a that's a fact.

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You may say, I'm not going to live long, so

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why shouldn't I just claim my benefit while I can? Right, Well,

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here's insight number three. For couples, you should always maximize

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hire earnings benefit to protect the surviving spouse. The spouse

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of benefit is basically fifty percent of the higher earnings benefit.

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00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.920
So if you if you have a a if the

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00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:50.319
wife is a lower benefit than half of her spouses,

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she's going to get what they call a spousal add on,

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So the primary worker has to file for benefits. The

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00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.000
spouse has to be at least sixty two for reduced

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benefit or full retirement age for full benefit. There's no

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delayed credits on spouse of benefits, so coordinate your spouse

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of benefits. And basically I'm just because of time, I'm

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just going to tell you that this analysis that I

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do will show you when it makes sense for a

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lower earning spouse to start taking or to get a

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spouse of benefit, and how to maximize the lifetime benefits

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for both of the spouses. So there's actually thousands of

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ways that this can turn out, and so with the

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help of the computer, it's fantastic to be able to

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look at basically, here's the five best ways for us

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to take it. And then you look at what your

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life is doing. And this is going to generate income

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for the rest of your life. So you need to

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pay attention to what is the best thing to do.

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So make sure that you take advantage of that. Email

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me to inquire about getting the complimentary PDF. So if

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you're widowed or divorced, that also can impact your claiming strategies.

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You may be elable survivor benefits. You may not know

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that divorced spouse benefits. There are divorce spouse benefits that

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can increase your monthly check. I've seen it happen, and

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00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:34.759
it depends on the age at which the deceased spouse

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originally claimed. And so those are things that the age

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at which you claim makes a difference on how this happens.

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00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.440
I'll just tell you that, you know, I'm quickly going

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through these survivor benefits, but i just want you to

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know that if a spouse dies while both are receiving

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00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:00.759
the benefit, the widow or widower will will switch to

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the higher benefit. Each person only receives one benefit. Okay,

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00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.759
so just realize that I have somebody. I've got a

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client whose husband is going to be passing away, probably

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in the next few days. Her benefit is like eight

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hundred a month, his is like two thousand. Her benefit

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will go away. She will start receiving his two thousand

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00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:26.599
a month. Okay. The couple must have been married at

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least nine months at the day of death. The survivor

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must be at least sixty. The survivor benefit isn't available

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if they're remarried before age sixty and the divorce bouse

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survivor benefits are available if the marriage lasted at least

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ten years. Okay, so these it's the same basically the

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same rule for divorce and widow is basically the same

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source of things. So this really is more complicated than

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and usually people realize. So with that, I want to

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ask you again, do you want to be early or

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what should rather be delayed? Would you rather pay a

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penalty or would you rather get a bonus? I think

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you know my status on this, and I want you

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to not hurt your retirements by making terrible, costly decisions

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about Social Security. And here's the four things it's offers.

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Inflation protected income, your monthly benefit will be reduced. If

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00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:41.079
you claim early, maximize the higher earnings benefit for the

359
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.920
surviving spouse and widowed or divorce you may be eligible

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00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:51.359
for benefits. Okay. So you need to know what is

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00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.079
going to be the best thing for you to do,

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and so I'm here to help you with that. So

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00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:02.480
consider social Security. You're you're putting this together with your iras.

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This is something we've done for a gazillion years, so

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we're very adept at this and so security personnel. They can't.

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They all they do is just look you up and

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say here's the numbers. They can't help you with projecting

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future benefits. They can't help you with looking at the

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whole scenario. So the questions you might have are when

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should I apply? What if I want to keep working?

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What if I've already applied? How much will my benefits be?

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How can I coordinate spousal benefits? What's the best long

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term strategy? What do I do next? Well, that's up

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to you. But so security is too important for guesswork.

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Let us help you protect your nest egg, maximize your

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00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:58.640
income and retirement. Email me and we can move forward

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00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:02.200
with giving you some more information about this process. Thank

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00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.480
you so much for joining me today for this quick

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look at what baby boomers need to know for maximizing

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their income in retirement with so security benefits. Thank you

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00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:20.160
so much for joining me on the Ask Good Questions podcast.

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Today's episode is over, but we did Ask Good Questions again,

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00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:30.799
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every

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00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:34.759
Wednesday six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio

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00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:39.400
at W fourcy dot com. Joined Nina bellend'erson next week

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00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:45.400
for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues,

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health and wellness, and more. Until then, remember to ask

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good questions.