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Social security offers valuable benefits and it is important not to lose the opportunity to obtain them. But given the complexity of assessing your social security benefits, it's not surprising that some people make mistakes. Some mistakes are more serious than others and you do not want to do anything that you could easily have avoided.
With this in mind, you will find here four key mistakes that people always make with their social security benefits. By taking them into account in your decision making, you will be able to make smarter choices rather than falling into the traps that have trapped so many of your retired colleagues.
Source of the image: Getty Images.
1. Try to use strategies that do not work anymore
A problem with the Internet is that old resources rarely disappear. This means that you can get a lot of information on how to manage your social security ten years ago, without necessarily knowing if it is still smart or if it is not working at all.
The best example is the file suspension strategy, which allowed a worker to claim benefits and suspend them immediately. This opened the door for a spouse and other family members to claim benefits from the worker's earnings record, while allowing the pension benefit to increase until the worker withdraws. suspension and begins to receive payments. However, a change in the law has resulted in the suspension of records for those who did not act before the May 2016 deadline. Anyone reviewing old articles dealing with the strategy should understand that the strategy is no longer available. .
2. Do not claim even after waiting will not do any good
There is a compromise with the demand for social security. File early, and your monthly payments will be smaller. Wait, and you can receive larger payments. But this is not true forever because there is a limit to the size of your social security benefits waiting to claim them.
What is confusing is that this date is actually different depending on the type of benefits you want to claim. For your own retirement benefits based on your work history, deferred retirement credits are available until the age of 70. Beyond your 70th birthday, your monthly payment is no longer possible.
If you are only looking for spousal benefits, a different date applies. No deferred retirement credit applies to spousal benefits. Therefore, if you wait beyond the retirement age, usually between 66 and 67, you risk losing money. It's true that you might not be allowed claim spousal benefits at the age of full retirement if your spouse has not yet applied for retirement benefits. But if you can Claim them when you reach retirement age, then do not wait for spousal benefits anymore, it simply does not make sense.
3. Do not coordinate all your benefits
When things get really complicated, it's when you benefit from both under your own professional background and in the work history of a spouse. With spousal benefits, you can not simply claim them without also claiming pension benefits to which you are entitled. This forces you to wait if this will help you to get more benefits on your own work record due to delayed retirement credits.
On the other hand, survivor benefits due to your spouse's death involve even more planning. This is because you can claim retirement benefits or survivor benefits separately, rather than having to claim them at the same time. Sometimes it makes sense to claim survivor benefits first while allowing your retirement to increase, while in other cases it makes more sense to claim your own retirement benefits. It is only by coordinating the two that you can maximize what you will get throughout your social security life.
4. Divorce before the beginning of the ten-year rule
Finally, if you are considering a divorce, it is essential to consider how social security protects former spouses. The social security rules state that if you have been married for at least 10 years before divorcing, you can apply for Social Security benefits on the other spouse's work record.
Admittedly, divorce is not necessarily the best time to plan for retirement. But if you divorce after nine years and eleven months, you will not be able to enjoy the benefits you would receive if you stay up to ten years and a day. Given the hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, it is important to pay attention to these rules in order to allow the social security system to bring financial gain to all concerned.
Social security is complex enough that you are not always perfect, but the four mistakes above are easy enough to avoid. Just by knowing about them, you'll be in a better position to find smarter alternatives to get the most out of your Social Security benefits.
The social security bonus of $ 16,728 that most retirees neglect completely
If you are like most Americans, you are a few (or more) years behind your retirement savings. However, a handful of little-known "social security secrets" could help increase your retirement income. For example: an easy ride could bring you as much as $ 16,728 more … every year! Once you have learned how to maximize your social security benefits, we believe we can retire confidently with the peace of mind we seek. Just click here to find out how to learn more about these strategies.
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