July 30, 2025

What Happened to Social Security’s WEP & GPO?A Wake-Up Call & a teaser on SS Claiming Strategies

What Happened to Social Security’s WEP & GPO?A Wake-Up Call & a teaser on SS Claiming Strategies
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Season 1

What happened to Social Security’s WEP and GPO? In this episode, we unpack the cancellation of the misunderstood Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)—and why recent developments matter for millions of public servants, teachers, and government retirees. Plus, get a teaser on smart Social Security claiming strategies that could impact your benefits for life.

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).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

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liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

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or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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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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Welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. Thank you so

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much for joining me today. My name is Benita Bell Anderson.

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I'm your host, and today I am kicking off with

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a kind of like an intro to a whole bunch

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of stuff about soil security. We have got a lot

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of things that have happened recently, and so today I'm

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giving you a little taste of some of the things

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that you need to be thinking about. And I also

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am offering a complimentary analysis PDF that is sent to you.

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So that's why my email is there on the screen.

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So let's get started. They'll bring up the slides. So

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I'd like to take just a couple of minutes to

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talk about something that's changed that maybe a whole lot

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of people haven't even paid attention to, and that is

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something called WEB, which stands for Windfall Provision and GPO

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stands for government pension offsets. That doesn't apply to everyone,

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but to those that it does apply to, you're going

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to want to listen up. So these are non social

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security covered jobs. These are jobs where if you look

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at your paste ub, there's SOB security and FIKA that

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is taken out of your pay stub and sent to

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SOID security. Well, in those jobs, you're not paying into

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soil security because the intention is that you're going to

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be getting a pension from your employer. So the fight

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of withholding that most people have seen is not there,

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and so you either don't get a so security statement

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or maybe you haven't ever paid attention to so security,

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or if you do, your earnings from a non covered

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soil security job would not even be showing up there.

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So here's an explanation of how your soile security benefits

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are going to be affected because things have recently changed. Okay,

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So if you are affected by working in a government job,

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or if you're a teacher. In a lot of cases,

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teacher is affected by this, you'll be glad to know

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that these two provisions have been repealed. Did you even

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know that under the Social Security Fairness Act? That Fairness

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Act was passed by Congress in December of twenty twenty four.

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Did we even I don't even know if I even

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remember hearing about it, and it was signed into law

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on January fifth, twenty twenty five. Yes, it was, And

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both of those provisions have been eliminated, and it's retroactive

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to January of twenty twenty four. Okay, so those benefit

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reductions because you worked for the government or you were

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a teacher, those reductions have been in place for decades

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as a cost cutting measure for sole security, but it's

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now canceled for what Congress deemed fairness reasons. There was

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a certain amount of controversy over this, and some people

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still think it's not fair for people who didn't fully

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pay into solid security to get full benefits. So rather

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than do the math that would have be required for

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complete fairness and surgically tweaking the provisions, Congress just simply

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canceled them. The cost is expected to run around one

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hundred and ninety five billion and cause the Trust Fund

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to exhaust about six months earlier than current projection. So

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we're going to be talking more about that. I'm going

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to be doing something on Social Security the first Wednesday

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of the next three months, So you're gonna we're gonna,

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i mean, hopefully this will all distill as we go along.

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So in any case, the debate is over and Social

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Security Fairness Act has become law. So if you are

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entitled to a benefit, excuse me, if you're entitled to

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a benefit, then you're going to want to listen up.

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So if you ever worked in a job that didn't

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collect sole security taxes, then this new law is going

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to be good news for you. It may affect you

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in one of two ways, or it's potential that it

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could affect you for both ways. First, if in addition

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to your non cover job, you worked long enough in

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a solid security cover job to qualify for soil security

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benefits on your own earnings record. Before the law was passed,

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you would have seen your benefit reduced by as much

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as like six hundred dollars due to the windfall Elimination

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Provision or WEB. That reduction is now eliminated retroactive to

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January twenty twenty four. Or maybe you qualify for a

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spousal or a survivor benefit as a result of being

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married to someone who receives soile security, retirement or disability benefits.

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There are three possible solutions and situations here. One you

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are currently married and your own soil security benefit if

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you even qualify for one, is less than half of

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your spouse's benefit. Two, you were married over ten years

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and are currently divorced and your own sole security benefit

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is less than half of your former spouse's benefit. Or three,

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your spouse died during your marriage or after your marriage,

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or after your divorce if you were married for ten

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years or more, and you qualify for a survivor benefit

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based on your deceased spouse's or ex spouse's work record

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before the law was passed. You might have been eligible

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for a spousal or a survivor benefit, but it would

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have been reduced by two thirds of your pension amount

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under the Government Pension Offset or GPO. So in many

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cases this would have reduced the benefit to nothing. You

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wouldn't have had anything. Now you can receive the full

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benefit without regard for your pension. So it's a little

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bit crazy, isn't it. So it's been instructed to remove.

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So what's interesting about SOB security is they've been instructed

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to remove all WEB and GPO reductions retroactive to January

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twenty twenty five. If you've seen that and maybe you

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had what in the world is going on there. It's

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supposed to be automatic, but I wouldn't trust it. I

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would if if you are becoming aware of this, I

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would go check. You may need to take some action.

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It should be automatic, but you know we're talking about

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the government here, so if it was reduced, then their

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automatic systems will refigure your benefit, pay you retroactive benefits

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remember January twenty twenty four, and pay you a higher

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amount going forward. So this could have a huge impact.

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If this is If this is your situation, There's nothing

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for you to do here except wait and watch for

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a letter. If you've received a letter. Good. If you

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haven't received a letter and you know you apply, watch

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and wait for the money to hit your with your bank.

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So you you know, I always double check whenever it

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comes to anything with the government. So first you go

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to SSA dot gov, log into your account and take

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a look and see if there's anything that you can

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learn by getting into your account. Make sure your address

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and your direct deposit information is correct, and keep an

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eye on this and be prepared to follow up. Okay.

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Most important, if you have never applied for spousal or

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survivor benefits because you thought you weren't eligible, right due

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to the pension offset, you will need to proactively file

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and application. Right, You're going to have to go after it.

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They're not going to be going, oh, we need to

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pay here. No, you're gonna have to go after it.

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We should talk first, though. And what I'm saying is,

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because I'm doing this Social Security series, I'm offering you

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a it's an analysis. You'll see a little bit more

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about this in this presentation, but you will see that

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there are several different things that if you have been

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affected by this. This analysis will give you all the

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different options and ways that you could go. The way

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you're going to be able to do that is I

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thought the easiest thing to do was just have you

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email me. So just email me and then I will

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talk to you about how we get you your analysis.

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So there's certain rules around spousal benefits, about survivor benefits

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and if you're under full retirement age and working forget

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about all of this and wait, I'm going to keep

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telling you in a lot of different ways, don't take

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SOLI security before your full retirement age. Keep on working,

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and don't get sucked into thinking that you need to

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take it early. You do not need to take it early.

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We can help you understand the rules and avoid the mistakes,

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which is the biggest thing that I see, and take

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the appropriate actions, okay, so that you're not spending time

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on hold with Social Security and can maximize your benefits.

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That's what I'm all about, is helping you maximize your benefits.

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So the repeal of the WEP and the GPO may

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serve as a reminder to all of us though to

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check our SOL security and get a claiming analysis done.

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If we're close to claiming age, so I welcome your

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questions about that. All right, So we're going to go

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into these things that I've been talking about. We're going

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to have a little discussion today about claiming strategies. So

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this is a you know, it's really relatively short presentation,

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but this is super important. This is all about your

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retirement money and how you're going to set yourself up financially.

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So make sure that you pay attention and write down

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the things that you need to ask me, and then

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you can email me and we can talk further about

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your own specific situation. So here's basic rule number one.

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The first and most important thing to understand is that

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monthly benefits rise with claiming age. In other words, the

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longer you wait to file for Social Security, the higher

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your benefit. Okay, it just as that's just math. I'm

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just telling you wait. So to illustrate this, we need

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to cover just a little bit of background so that

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I make sure you're with me. So the first thing

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is some a couple of definitions. Primary insurance amount is PIA.

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You're gonna hear me talk about PIA. That is your

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base monthly benefit. It's calculated actually at age sixty two.

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They take your highest thirty five years of working. Now,

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like in my case my first husband, we were in

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the military. We were in Germany for four years. Loved it,

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but I didn't work and we had little kids, and

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during those years while we had babies, I have a

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lot of zeros on my earnings record. So it's based

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on your highest thirty five years of earnings, and it's

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the amount you will receive if you file for Social

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Security at your full retirement age, which I'll talk about

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next right, So during this presentation we're not going to

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talk about how PIA is calculated, but it's important to

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know that it's based on your earnings record, and if

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you earned the Social Security maximum every year for thirty

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five years, you would qualify for the maximum PIA or

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primary insurance amount, which is did you know there's a

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number four twenty dollars and ninety cents for those turning

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sixty two in twenty twenty five. If you worked less

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than thirty five years, or if you had several low

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earning years, you may still have an opportunity to increase

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your Social Security benefit by working longer. Yes, working longer

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than earning more. But our focus here is on what

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age you're going to claim, all right, so let's keep going,

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all right. This is another really important definition full retirement age.

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It's not necessarily the age you plan to retire, it's

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the age at which you can claim full unreduced solid

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security benefits. This used to be sixty five for everyone,

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but now a higher age is being phased in as

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a result of the nineteen eighty three amendments, and for

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everyone born between forty three and fifty four it's sixty six.

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But then you can see fifty five is sixty six,

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and two months fifty six and sixty six and four,

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and anyone nineteen sixty and later is sixty seven. I

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think this is one of those things that as they

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talk about how to lock in so security for the

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long term, I think there's a potential for this full

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retiminage to be going to seventy. But that's another that's

224
00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:08.440
another podcast in a couple of months. So full retime

225
00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:12.639
and age is probably for you going to be sixty

226
00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:19.159
seven right now. So we saw that the maximum earner

227
00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:22.720
who turned sixty two and twenty twenty five could have

228
00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:27.080
a PIA of four twenty dollars and ninety cents. That's

229
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:29.639
the amount that he or she would receive if they

230
00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:34.720
filed for Social Security at their full retirement age. So

231
00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:40.120
any time you filed before your full retirement age, it's

232
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.600
going to be reduced. Your benefit will be less than

233
00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:49.080
the PIA. And this is called an actuarial reduction. And

234
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:54.000
if you wait, if you say, oh, Bonnie's really telling

235
00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:57.559
me to do something smart here, you're going to get

236
00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:03.279
delayed credits. Okay, The important thing to understand about reductions

237
00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:05.880
and credits is that they have been carefully worked out

238
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:11.680
by Sole Security actuaries. They they know that some people

239
00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:13.640
are going to live a long time. They know that

240
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.720
some people are going to die prematurely. It doesn't matter

241
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.279
to them when people file and how much of a

242
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:25.160
reduction or a credit they get. They don't care. But

243
00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:29.839
it's very important for you because the age you file

244
00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:37.640
determines your permanent monthly benefit. It's not going to if

245
00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:39.839
you live longer than average, or if there's even a

246
00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:43.799
chance you might live longer than average, You're going to

247
00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:47.839
be better off filing later and collecting a higher benefit

248
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.839
for life, even if it means waiting a few more

249
00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:57.119
years for your checks to start, right. So, I can't

250
00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:02.480
emphasize this enough. So remember that I said that your

251
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.480
primary insurance amount is the benefits you're going to receive

252
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:10.079
at full retirement age. So what happens if you go, oh,

253
00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:12.839
she's full of it. If you apply for you know,

254
00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:18.039
at sixty two, it's going to be reduced and you're

255
00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:20.319
going to receive a percentage. So if your full retirement

256
00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:23.240
age is sixty six and you apply at sixty two,

257
00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.119
you're going to receive seventy five percent of what the

258
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.160
amount would have been at your full retirement age. And

259
00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:31.759
you can see if your full retirement age is sixty seven,

260
00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:35.279
it would have been seventy percent. So you can see

261
00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.480
the differences and how much of a percentage of that

262
00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:42.319
amount you get. But that is going to be locked in.

263
00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:46.039
You can stop it and get the money and send

264
00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.880
the money back to them, but that's only the first year.

265
00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:53.440
Once it's gone past a full year of them paying you,

266
00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:57.440
you are locked in for life. Okay, well, what if

267
00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:03.559
you wait, right, so, you're gonna earn what they call

268
00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.839
delayed credits eight percent of year. So if you're full

269
00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:10.279
retirement age is sixty seven, then you can see if

270
00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:13.880
you wait until seventy, you're gonna get twenty four percent

271
00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.559
more than the full retire and age amount of that,

272
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.079
you know, whatever it is at your age sixty seven.

273
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:28.680
So it's it's going to if you even think you

274
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:32.559
have any kind of a chance of living into your

275
00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.559
eighties or into your nineties, then it makes all kinds

276
00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:38.799
of sense to wait until age seventy to get it.

277
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:44.160
So cost of living this is not this is just math.

278
00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:51.920
So the age at which you claim Social Security determines

279
00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:57.400
your permanent monthly benefit. However, in any year there's inflation,

280
00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:01.680
your benefit gets a cost of living adjustment. So the

281
00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:05.400
twenty twenty five you know adjustment was two point five

282
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.680
percent two point five percent. This has gone up and

283
00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:14.400
down through the years. Historically they use two point four

284
00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.240
percent to do their calculations for like the next seventy

285
00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.799
five years. Now, the cola is applied to the benefit

286
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.400
to the amount. The higher the benefit, the higher the

287
00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:32.240
cola will be. It's just math, and it applies the

288
00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:35.920
benefits you haven't claimed yet. So once your PIA is

289
00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.240
calculated at age sixty two, it's going to rise each

290
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:41.599
year with the cost of living adjustment. Even if you

291
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.000
delay claiming till age seventy, so you're gonna you're not

292
00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.079
going to lose your your cost of living increases. The

293
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:55.839
upshot is that between delayed credits and cost of living adjustments,

294
00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:02.480
the advantage to delaying claiming is greater than most people

295
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:08.519
have any idea about. This is why it's so important.

296
00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:25.720
So yeah, all right, we're going to go into some

297
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:31.160
of the key things to remember. If you apply early,

298
00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:37.720
your benefits are lower. It stays lower for life cola.

299
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:40.119
Adding the cola every year to a higher amount, it

300
00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:43.319
just gives you a bigger check. It's just math, and

301
00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:47.279
it magnifies the impact of earlier delayed claiming, and the

302
00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:51.200
longer you live, the greater the impact of that is

303
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:57.200
going to be. Now, this decision not only impacts you,

304
00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.279
but like if you're a guy and you know you

305
00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:02.680
may not live as long as your wife and she

306
00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.400
has a lower benefit than you, you, making a decision

307
00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:10.480
to wait until seventy to take yours means that her

308
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:17.799
survivor benefits is going to be dramatically increased. You're gonna

309
00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:21.559
delay the benefits may give your surviving spouse more income.

310
00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:25.400
It is the bottom line, So you have to take

311
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.559
all these things into account your whole status, your life expectancy,

312
00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:36.839
your income needs, your overall retirement plans. All of those

313
00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:39.119
things are things that you need to You just need

314
00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:44.400
to think about it. So here's the thing you're gonna

315
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:49.920
you're gonna call. You're gonna call them, or the best

316
00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:54.400
idea is just to go online and ask if that

317
00:22:54.640 --> 00:23:00.720
is something that if you need some how you can

318
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.680
you can call them. But it's pretty intuitive how to

319
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.839
go online and set up your account and take a

320
00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:13.839
look at it. So please do that. So basic rule

321
00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:20.079
number two is your spouse may be able to get

322
00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:25.119
a benefit based on your earnings record. Before we discuss

323
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.559
the spousal rules, I'd like to make a few quick

324
00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:35.680
clarifications back in nineteen thirty nine, holy cow, not very

325
00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:41.279
far until it's twenty thirty nine, But in nineteen thirty nine,

326
00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:46.880
spousal benefits were originally created to give non working lives

327
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:52.039
a small benefit based on their husband's work record. But

328
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:55.920
Social Security is a general neutral program, so husbands may

329
00:23:55.960 --> 00:24:00.559
be able to claim spousal benefits too. And now that's sex.

330
00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:06.960
Marriage is legal in all states. Either spouse, regardless of gender,

331
00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:10.319
may be able to claim a spouse benefit okay, So

332
00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:13.279
that's important for you to know. More important in the

333
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.759
stage of two income families is that spousal benefits may

334
00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:22.279
be paid even if both spouses work right, So that's

335
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.279
something else to be aware of. So here are the

336
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:31.759
rules for spouse of benefits. It equals fifty percent of

337
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:36.480
the workers PIA if the spouse applies for it at

338
00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:40.920
full retirement age. Okay, So the lowerarning spouse can't get

339
00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:46.119
it unless the higher earning spouse has applied the primary work,

340
00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:49.799
meaning that the primary worker must have filed for benefits.

341
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.920
That's just a rule, okay. So in order for Jill

342
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.000
to claim a spousal benefit based on Jack's work record,

343
00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:01.519
Jack must have filed for a own Social Security benefit.

344
00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.160
That rule comes into play when we talk about claiming strategies,

345
00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:11.400
and it can trip you up if you are not careful.

346
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.680
A spouse must be at least sixty two to file

347
00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:19.480
for a spousal benefit, but don't do it. This is

348
00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:23.119
another rule. But if the spouse claims the spousal benefit

349
00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:27.720
at age sixty two, the benefit is reduced and it

350
00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:32.720
stays permanently reduced, as we'll see in a moment. So

351
00:25:32.839 --> 00:25:36.960
the other thing is that spousal benefits don't earn delayed

352
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.839
credits like we were talking about. The most spouse can

353
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:45.559
ever get is fifty percent of the other spouse's primary

354
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:50.599
insurance amount. Does that make sense? And finally, you can

355
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.160
only get a spousal benefit if it's greater than the

356
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.079
benefit available on your own record. I'm going to show

357
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:00.960
you a couple of examples of how that works. Your

358
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:06.000
your spouse's PIA has to be more than fifty percent

359
00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.920
higher than your own. Now, let's talk about how these

360
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:17.640
benefits are calculated. Okay, So the spouse's benefit is fifty

361
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.720
percent of the worker's PA right if she applies for

362
00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:26.400
an editor full retirement age. So if Jack's PIA is

363
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:31.480
two thousand and Jill's PIA is eight hundred, and if

364
00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:35.960
she applies for Social Security at her full retirement age,

365
00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:41.440
her benefit will equal fifty percent of Jack's or one thousand.

366
00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:47.039
So what you will see is you'll see it say

367
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:50.400
eight hundred dollars for Jill, and it'll say a two

368
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:57.680
hundred dollars spouse will add on from Jack's record. So

369
00:26:57.720 --> 00:26:59.920
the end result is that she will have a thousand

370
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:12.440
dollar benefit. So what if the lower earning spouse's benefit

371
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:17.000
is higher than that, Well, if it's more than half,

372
00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:19.759
like in this case of Jackson's two thousand, but hers

373
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:24.039
is fifteen hundred, well then that means she's going to

374
00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:26.359
be paid her own benefit and she's not going to

375
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:31.000
receive a spousal benefit. Okay, she'd be paid her own

376
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:45.160
benefit instead. So what if? So what if they when

377
00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.079
the lower earning spouse's PI is more than fifty percent,

378
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:54.079
both spouses delay to age seventy, that can maximize the

379
00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:58.519
benefits of both of them. And you know, somebody's going

380
00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:01.559
to die along the way. You don't know who's going

381
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:06.599
to go first, but maximizing lifetime benefits over you know,

382
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:11.519
over the long term is going to benefit for sure

383
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:21.480
the survivor. So here's here's another example. So this software

384
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.200
that I've told you about that that gives you an

385
00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:34.440
analysis identify several claiming strategies. So if they both claim early,

386
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:38.680
if they just not listening to me and they both

387
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:43.759
claim as soon as possible at age sixty two, they're

388
00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:46.440
they're not going to get the benefit that they could

389
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:51.039
out of this whole thing, what should they do? So

390
00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:55.440
you can see that it may be a little bit

391
00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:00.440
too small, But I'll just tell you that this is

392
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.359
a This is a page from that software that I

393
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:09.000
use that analyzes when you should do things. The first

394
00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:13.240
scenario is both claim early and it gives you a

395
00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:17.200
lifetime benefit. Then the next one is both claim at

396
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:21.119
full retirement age. Then the next way of looking at

397
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:25.119
it is John claims later and she claims early. And

398
00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.759
then the next one is John claims later and she

399
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:31.480
claims that her full retirement age. And then the last

400
00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:35.920
one is the maximum lifetime benefit where if you look,

401
00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:38.599
if you could see the lifetime benefit on number one

402
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:42.720
and the lifetime benefit of under five, there's a million

403
00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:50.200
dollar difference in between when they claim and what it's

404
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:53.759
going to mean. And this little graph from the from

405
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:59.160
the software shows you how much more you receive at

406
00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.440
doing each one of these. But again, no one's it's

407
00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:09.440
your life, you get to decide. But having this take

408
00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:12.240
a look at this is just good business sense for

409
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:17.359
your own personal financial situation. And also that bottom is

410
00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:21.440
called the break even and you can see where it's

411
00:30:21.559 --> 00:30:24.559
usually between age seventy eight and eighty two, where the

412
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:27.119
purple lying at the bottom goes to being the top.

413
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:33.279
You know, it's way more beneficial to have waited if

414
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:40.039
you have any chance of living a longer life. So

415
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:44.720
here's here again, is that you can see the first

416
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:50.640
full year income for a surviving spouse if they both

417
00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:54.359
claimed early, that first full year income would be fifty

418
00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:59.480
three if they waited the maximum lifetime if they waited,

419
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:05.640
it's another forty thousand dollars a year. So if you're

420
00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:09.240
not thinking about these things, you should be because these

421
00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:13.240
things matter, and it matters, and it's especially going to

422
00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:17.680
matter if you die first and your surviving spouse is

423
00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:22.160
going to receive the larger benefit, her own smaller benefits

424
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:25.559
going to go away. But when we're talking about how

425
00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:28.799
does she go on? And I've done this many times

426
00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:31.960
with clients gone through, you know what is it going

427
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:37.839
to mean financially? So here's another one. Now this is

428
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:46.039
Mike and Mary. This is another example. So in scenario one,

429
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:49.960
they both claim. Mike's PIA is thirty six hers is

430
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:56.880
eight hundred. What should they do? Well when he claims

431
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:04.799
his benefit. You can see that it should be kind

432
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:10.640
of a no brainer that they would wait. But you

433
00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:15.240
can see at a glance that scenarios two and three

434
00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:20.200
pay the most in lifetime benefits. Mary's claiming at sixty

435
00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:23.440
two versus sixty seven doesn't make very much of a

436
00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:26.640
difference in the long run, so she might want to

437
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:29.279
go ahead and get her benefit started early at sixty two.

438
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:32.400
So sometimes it makes sense, but you need to look

439
00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:36.200
at them numbers in order to know. When Mike claims

440
00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:40.240
at seventy, she can add on her spousal benefit. And

441
00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:42.200
you can see that it does not make sense for

442
00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:45.599
Mike to claim his benefit early, even though it means

443
00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:48.599
Mary must wait a few years for her spousal benefit.

444
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:53.279
And of course, by maximizing his benefit, Mike is providing

445
00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:59.559
Mary with more survivor income in case he dies first. Right,

446
00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:07.160
So this is just another way of looking at it

447
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:13.440
and seeing how much more by waiting they would receive. Okay,

448
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:17.920
let's go into basic rule number three. A divorced person

449
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:20.880
may be able to receive spousal benefits based on an

450
00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:25.039
expouse's work record. Did you know that? Did you know?

451
00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:29.960
Do you know? I mean, there's a lot of feelings

452
00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:32.480
that come up. I have seen it in the classes

453
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.079
I've done with someone who's married to a second wife

454
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:39.799
and finding out that an expouse could get benefits, people

455
00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:42.160
think you know your benefit is going to be reduced. No,

456
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:47.279
it's not. But the rules for divorces are similar to

457
00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:52.559
the ones for married couples. There's just a few adjistional restrictions.

458
00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:55.680
So one is the marriage had to last at least

459
00:33:55.680 --> 00:34:01.839
ten years. The person receiving the spouse benefit is currently

460
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:05.559
needs to be unmarried, the ex spouse has to be

461
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:10.239
at least sixty two, and if the divorce was more

462
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:14.480
than two years ago, the ex spouse doesn't need to

463
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:18.559
have filed for benefits. Now remember you, Oh no, you

464
00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:22.360
all of these different ways of doing it. You're still

465
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:24.880
gonna want to wait because I can show you how

466
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:28.679
how the the numbers work out. But those are the

467
00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:36.280
rules for the spouse benefits, okay. Also, another funny thing

468
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:39.039
about this is that more than one expouse can receive

469
00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:43.079
benefits on the same workers record. You might have a

470
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:45.760
guy that's been married two or three times, well he

471
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:50.039
could have, but there's potential for more than one expouse

472
00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:56.079
to receive on you know, something on his record. What

473
00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:58.920
you need to remember before you get upset is that

474
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:02.519
benefits page one X spouse don't affect those paid to

475
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:09.440
the worker. The current spouse or other expouses so you

476
00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:12.840
have to show a divorce degree. Okay, you have to

477
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:15.320
show a divorce degree in order to apply for this,

478
00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:24.480
and those benefits stop if you get remarried. Okay. So

479
00:35:24.519 --> 00:35:32.840
here's number four. Now, this is where things start to

480
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:38.559
get a little bit less basic survivor benefits. Will try

481
00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:40.960
not to get too lost in the weeds today, but

482
00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.320
survivor benefits is essential, and there are a few things

483
00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:49.639
you should absolutely know because this might apply to you

484
00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:58.440
in the future. No, so eligibility for survivor benefits. In

485
00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:03.199
order for us surviving spouse to receive survivor benefits, the

486
00:36:03.320 --> 00:36:08.239
marriage must have lasted at least nine months, except in

487
00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:13.119
the case of an accident, Okay. To start the benefits,

488
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:17.840
the survivor must be at least sixty. Now there's going

489
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:23.440
to be reductions, or fifty if they're disabled. However, if

490
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:28.039
the widow or widower applies before full retirement age, that

491
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:32.280
benefit again is going to be reduced. As it is

492
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:37.199
for regular retirement benefits. Some of the same principles that

493
00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:41.159
go into deciding when to apply for regular retirement benefits

494
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:46.320
also apply to survivor benefits. Okay, So if you remarry

495
00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:50.679
before age sixty, you will not be able to receive

496
00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:56.360
a survivor benefit based on your previous spouse's earnings record

497
00:36:57.400 --> 00:37:04.000
unless you're remarriage ends. We've seen cases where a survivor

498
00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:09.760
is contemplating getting married in their late fifties. In those cases,

499
00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:13.760
we recommend a long engagement in order not to lose

500
00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:17.239
the survivor benefits from the first spouse, and if you

501
00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:20.320
remarry after age sixty, you will still be able to

502
00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:26.760
get those survivor benefits. Interesting, huh. Divorced spouse survivor benefits

503
00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:30.440
are available if the marriage lasted at least ten years.

504
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:38.480
A little story here. As we saw with Johnny Carson,

505
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:43.840
two of his ex wives could claim divorced spouse survivor

506
00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:48.960
benefits after his death because those marriages lasted more than

507
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:54.119
ten years. Survivor benefits are worth twice as much as

508
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:58.599
spousal benefits. Did you know that one hundred percent of

509
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:09.000
the workers PI instead. Okay, So if both spouses are

510
00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:15.599
receiving benefits and one spouse dies, the surviving spouse is

511
00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:22.800
going to switch to the higher benefit. So this is

512
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:28.760
something that you need to understand. If Joe's benefit is

513
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.599
two thousand and Julie's benefit is twelve hundred, and he dies,

514
00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:37.639
her twelve hundred dollars is going to go away, and

515
00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:43.280
she'll receive his two thousand benefit. So here's another thing

516
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:47.800
about this. If Joe had maximized his benefit by claiming

517
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:55.519
at seventy, this would have maximized Julie's survivor benefit. So

518
00:38:57.079 --> 00:39:00.800
that's why I emphasize this so much. The agent which

519
00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:05.599
the deceased spouse originally claimed has a huge bearing on

520
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:12.559
what happens with their survivor. All right, It's just I've

521
00:39:12.599 --> 00:39:14.920
always said it's the most loving thing you can do,

522
00:39:15.960 --> 00:39:23.400
So it's not that much different for widows. If let's

523
00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:27.039
say your spouse died either before or after starting Social

524
00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:30.599
Security benefits, or maybe you were married over ten years,

525
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:34.119
divorced and your ex spouse has died, there may be

526
00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:36.960
something you can do to coordinate your survivor benefits with

527
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:42.280
your own retirement benefit. In this case, you can sequence

528
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:46.599
your benefits to maximize advantage maximum advantage. You can start

529
00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:49.119
with one benefit and switch to the other one, which

530
00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:51.960
is kind of a lot of times people will not know.

531
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:57.480
The rule here is to always, always, always take the

532
00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:03.960
higher benefit. Last, Okay, we'll quickly look at an example,

533
00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:09.960
why does age sixty PA as eight hundred, decee heasband

534
00:40:10.039 --> 00:40:13.599
PA is thirty two hundred, So she could start her

535
00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:19.400
own benefit at sixty two and then at age and

536
00:40:19.519 --> 00:40:23.320
then and then start and switch to the survivor benefit

537
00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:27.559
at her full retirement age. So I'm not going to

538
00:40:27.639 --> 00:40:30.400
do anything more than just say this is possible to

539
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:33.079
take a look at in this analysis that we do.

540
00:40:34.280 --> 00:40:38.159
And so here's the big thing. If you claim benefice

541
00:40:38.199 --> 00:40:41.400
before full retirement age and work, your benefice will be withheld.

542
00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:45.480
Don't do it. I'm not I'm running out of time here,

543
00:40:45.599 --> 00:40:49.079
but we call this the earnings test. I am going

544
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:52.039
to talk about it again in one of the other

545
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:55.559
SoC Security workshops that are coming up the first Wednesday

546
00:40:55.559 --> 00:41:01.199
of the next three months. But us remember that if

547
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:04.119
you apply for Social Security and you're working and it's

548
00:41:04.159 --> 00:41:08.920
before your full retimement age, one dollar of every two

549
00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:11.800
dollars yearn over twenty three four hundred is going to

550
00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:21.119
be withheld. Okay, and then the year if you're self employed,

551
00:41:21.159 --> 00:41:26.360
you're gonna you're really getting My example with self employment

552
00:41:26.440 --> 00:41:28.519
is a lot of times people that are like artists

553
00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:32.280
or something like that, they just don't pay into Sold Security,

554
00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:36.400
but your benefits may be subject to tax Let me

555
00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:43.119
just tell you again, because of the recent the big, big,

556
00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:46.519
beautiful bill that was in the past July fourth of

557
00:41:46.599 --> 00:41:52.960
twenty twenty five, it is not doing away with taxes.

558
00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:56.199
Your Social Security benefits are still going to be calculated

559
00:41:56.639 --> 00:42:04.599
for taxation. However, the the deduction has gone up dramatically,

560
00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:08.000
and so I'm not going to say anything more than

561
00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:11.599
usually for most of you, you're going to be having

562
00:42:12.039 --> 00:42:15.679
tax calculated on probably eighty five percent of your Social

563
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:21.440
Security benefit that you receive. More on this in other

564
00:42:21.800 --> 00:42:26.840
in the other workshops coming up. Okay, so here's another

565
00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:33.639
way to minimize taxes is to uh wait, to take

566
00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:39.880
IRA distributions, possibly if you can do some conversions of

567
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:44.800
traditional iras to ross and you're you know, bottom line, though,

568
00:42:44.840 --> 00:42:47.719
you're going to continue to manage taxes throughout retirement. That's

569
00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:52.960
just a given. It's always going to be that way.

570
00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:56.800
So here's the big questions that I see all the time.

571
00:42:57.480 --> 00:43:01.039
When should I apply? What if I want to keep working,

572
00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:05.960
What if I've already applied, How much will my benefit be?

573
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:11.159
How can I coordinate spousal benefits? What's the best long

574
00:43:11.239 --> 00:43:16.440
term strategy for my situation and what do I do next? Well,

575
00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:22.039
you're going to email me and we're going to talk

576
00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:25.679
about that and how to get that how to get

577
00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:30.280
that analysis for you. This is a super important thing

578
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:33.239
you are if you are going into so if you're

579
00:43:33.239 --> 00:43:37.840
going into retirement and social security and your own IRA

580
00:43:38.039 --> 00:43:41.079
money or pension money is part of the whole plan.

581
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:44.039
You need to know how everything is going to work together.

582
00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:49.320
So you My goal for you is for you to

583
00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:53.719
maximize your retirement income and we can help with that.

584
00:43:55.320 --> 00:43:57.440
So thank you so much for joining us on the

585
00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:02.000
Ask Good Questions podcast. I am doing a Savvy Social

586
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:06.519
Security podcast series that's going to continue on the first

587
00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:10.079
Wednesday of the next three months. August sixth is going

588
00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:14.320
to be What's new especially with those taxes on social Security.

589
00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:17.599
September third is going to be what baby Boomers need

590
00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:22.880
to know about their retirement and social security, and October

591
00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:27.880
first will be Savvy Social Security Planning for Women. You

592
00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:36.400
can find all recorded episodes at https poland slash slash

593
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:42.519
www dot YouTube dot com at Bonita Bell Dash Anderson

594
00:44:42.679 --> 00:44:46.599
with an Sen That is where you can find all

595
00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:50.880
of these episodes on my channel. Thank you so much

596
00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:54.519
for joining me today. I hope this hasn't become clear

597
00:44:54.559 --> 00:44:58.039
as mud, but if it is, you can get that

598
00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:01.360
analysis and we can help you. Thanks for joining the

599
00:45:01.559 --> 00:45:03.199
Ask Good Questions Podcast.

600
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:09.960
Today's episode is over, but we did Ask Good Questions again,

601
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:14.280
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday,

602
00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:18.079
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

603
00:45:18.280 --> 00:45:22.079
W fourcy dot com. Joined Venina Bellm. We're saying next

604
00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:27.320
week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral

605
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:30.000
finance issues, health and wellness.

606
00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:30.159
And more.

607
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:34.519
Until then, remember to ask good questions.