It’s 2017: What You Thought You Knew About Social Security…

Well, it's nice and dandy if you can continue working past 62, but the difference from collecting at 62 or at 66 was a difference of $ 70 monthly. Not much of an incentive for me when you have responsibilities of aging parents....or have been layed off and can't find work....

There seems to be very little education to teach people about Social Security and the calculation of the highest 35 years of earnings. Women are hit the hardest typically when they stay home to raise children. They may be able to do so with their husbands making excellent money but their Social Security account remains stagnet during their non working years.If these women were better educated in the need to add to their Social Security accounts, they might return to work earlier. Even worse, if they stayed home with children then divorce down the road, they will have less working years to add to their SS account and may never reach the 35 years working mark thus receiving a small SS check. Young people never think about SS because it is something OLD people receive and they think getting old is so far down the road. All the information is out there for anyone to educate themselves. Not sure how to get the word out to educate younger people.

Ditto Louise. ....
before I got layed off at 58 I did some major retirement planning research. I wanted to be sure that my hubs and I wouldn't be struggling in retirement. Amazon has a lot of books that you can read on social security and retirement planning . I subscribed to their unlimited kindle plan and you can read all of them for less than $10 per month. I counsel now my friends with all information that I have aquired!! It's very important that you plan for your retirement so you can make the right decisions. Alot of people think that the social security office will provide all of the information that they need but that's not true.

I agree the education for Soc. Sec. is very poor & to say the least VERY confusing. You're lucky if you read a lot & can get two same answers. It would be great if the Soc. Sec. Office actually offered a class to help people with info & to answer questions. We are lucky in our area that our Council of Aging offers a class several times a year & the lady is willing to meet one on one with you on a scheduled date. They were knowledgeable, I never felt rushed etc. I have told my friends about it & they also found it very helpful.

Mary11 you and I share the same age when layed off! It was pretty devastating for me as I had previously lost the greatest job of my career at age 51 and working there 18 years. Then lost the second best job at age 58 after 4 years. I read an article that I have attached in regard to 'sneaky' ways employers get rid of people. My situation is number 2 on this list. They layed off 4 of us, all in our mid to late 50's then threw in a token part time 20 year old. Furthermore, the 4 of us just happend to work for the same company where I lost my job of 18 years. The company owner had done work for this company and things didn't work out as he had hoped so he had a 'grudge' against them. My opinion is that he had two ulterior motives and one was he wanted to hire a Ph.D and by eliminating all of us he had the money to spend on this individual (which I found out very shortly after we were layed off they hired this person) and he had a grudge against that company we used to work for and by getting rid of us, he felt vindicated. The owner struggles with finances so he does a juggling act to find ways to get what he wants.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/older-workers-get-rid-of-them_n_4213955.html

Thanks Louise interesting article. I was number 2 too! I worked for a large corporation and alot of downsizing was going on the last 2 yrs before they layed me off. So I was suspecting I was going to be next after they eliminated many of my job duties and put me in the sales dept. I had never worked in sales so not meeting their quotas did me in....I was not unhappy to go and needed to be home full-time to take care of my mother anyway.

With my old company I also knew one man who was subjected to isolation #8 on the list. In the beginning he was considered a golden boy. This man ALSO worked for the company I worked at for 18 years. He was in his early 50's too. When I first started working there he was a manager and headed up many areas and was involved in everything. I don't know what happened to him but suddenly he was no longer in charge of anything. He didn't go to meetings and I really have no idea what he did all day but he was not involved in day to day business. His office was in a spot where no one even passed by often. It took a long while but he finally left the company. While I worked there I saw a lot of people fired and a lot of people hired! Glad I no longer work there. It took a long time to feel that way because I loved my job and my boss was a young genius. But the owner of the company was a pretty evil guy.

Per Louise's comment, I am also amazed at how many people take the first opportunity to claim their Social Security benefit, without any thought or preparation. There are some good reasons to take it at 62, but a lot more to wait. People owe themselves (and their surviving spouses) at least some careful deliberation on the pros and cons. The SSA.gov site has a ton of good info and tools to help.

Agreed we should educate ourselves and the earlier the better. What seemed so far off in my 40s seemed to suddenly loom on the horizon in my 60s!
BTW, it is "laid off" (not "layed off"). ;-)

Each person has their own reasons to take SS early or later. For me in 7 years time I had lost two jobs, had been on unemployment twice and lost my Mother after an 8 month fight with cancer. By the time all that was behind me I was 60 years old still trying to find a job. The two jobs I previously held paid a salary of between $46,000-$58,000. I knew those jobs were not going to fall in my lap but as hard as I tried to find almost anything at any pay, there was nothing. I do admit I was offered a customer service job rather than the job I applied for at one place and turned that down. So, I waited till age 62 1/2 to collect SS. Our financial advisor told us to list all our monthly bills, credit card balances and so forth. Add it up to see what kind of money is outgoing. We had no outstanding credit balances. Just normal bills. We don't go out to dinner many times a year or spend money on entertainment. So with our SS, one small pension and withdrawal from IRA's we pretty much maintain our previous lifestyle as when we worked. We have analyzed certain bills and when we could, we cut back. We saved a lot of money by changing car/house insurance company. We had 3 vehicles and sold one. We are trying to sell things we don't need or have duplicates of. We have donated a lot to Vietnam Veteran org. and Goodwill. Hub retired at 63 and couldn't be happier.

Whatever you choose please be sure to vote for the candidates or political party that supports fully funding Social Security and Medicare. Most Americans rely on this well thought out program!

"Get What's Yours,The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, Revised and Updated" by Kotlikoff, Moeller and Solman is the best resource I've seen on social security. It explains the lingo, some general guidelines, the gotchas to avoid, along with lots of real life examples. Be sure and get the Revised and Updated version that was revised in 2016 to include the recent changes to social security.

This is all well and good, however - those of us who are vested in SS BUT also have a state teacher's retirement pension are getting screwed! I will be 64 this year but am being told that it is called "double dipping" to get my SS and my teacher's retirement. Both of which I have paid into. So they are going to cut my SS because it is less, and maybe I will get some and maybe not. I worked, I paid into the system, I should get what is owed to me. WHY is it teachers, firemen and police who always get the rotten deal? Yet state workers and legislators who pay into SS and their state retirement can collect both? How is this fair? Esp to those of us WHO do not make much money in a long career anyway (I have taught for 41 years and barely make $67,000) - compared to business and so forth. The same with firemen and police. If anyone has an answer for this I would love to know what it is. We have been trying to get this changed so that those of us who paid into the system will get our fair share.

Dianne, are you saying that in your teaching job of 41 years, you have paid into social security (fed oasdi)? Or is your vesting in social security from a different job?
"If you paid Social Security tax on 30 years of substantial earnings you are not affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)". (from the social security website: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep-chart.html)

Sometimes older workers are forced to take lower paying jobs which only lowers their average when the final Social Security benefit is computed. I think that must be taken into consideration as well.

I am 63( almost)! and I have had to take lower paying jobs and now my current job is being phased out. I am looking for other opportunities as well as working my business--(the only reason for me taking any job is for health insurance) or else my business would be full time.

Jennifer,
Your SS is based on your 35 highest earning years and not the last ones held before filing. Non-working years are counted as 0’s. So some low earning years can't hurt you, and you are better than having some zeros in the computation. See https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf

Diane
As a retired teacher, I receive both SS and a pension. My SS is not lower based on the pension income.
Many government employees ( firefighters and police) do not contribute to SS.

Hi Flo:

I am aware of how the computation is made for SS Benefits. However even if there is a 35 year average--of course I would make more (now than I did as a student) still if I make less which I do than a few years ago--my benefit will be smaller than if I could have continued with the larger benefit. My job was phased out five years ago after 12.5 years with the same medical practice business. the business was sold to Johns Hopkins. The newer job I had to take paid $12,000 less per year and I left October 1, 2012 from the higher paying job. If I am forced to sustain a lower paying job for very long then I will have a lower benefit. I do not have any zeros in my profile I have worked my whole adult life..

Thanks for your help.
Jennifer

My wife worked for the State for about 6 years as an RN and did not pay into SS.This reduced her substantial earning years down to 29 resulting in a $30.00 decrease in her monthly SS check. Not a lot but she was only short by one year.

From Louise (moved to this Blog): Does anyone know of a calculator to determine Social Security benefits when a person has worked less than 35 years?
I know zero's have to be added into the calculation for unworked years during the 35 year period.

Editor's Comment: There are plenty of SS calculators to choose from, including from socialsecurity.gov
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/anypia/index.html The Quick Calculator there is pretty good. It will allow you to correct their earning assumptions to put in the zeros you mention you have (use the "See the Earnings We Used" link to do that).
Here is how they calculate your benefit https://www.ssa.gov/oact/COLA/Benefits.html