AARP Has Wrong Information About Social Security Claiming

Unfortunately, the title of this post is not a myth.  What is a myth is AARP's statement in their 2016 Retirement Guide.  I bought one at the grocery store, out of curiosity.  In the section on Social Security it is flatly stated that the timing strategies are gone.  Wrong!  This misstatement will cause gullible retirees to miss out on thousands of dollars of benefits.

Here are the strategies still available:

1. If you were 651/2 or older by 10/29/2015, then you can

• Still file and suspend.  But you need to do it by April 29, 2016!
• File an application restricted to 1/2 of your spouse's full retirement age 66 benefit, if you're married, or previously married for 10 years, divorced for 2 yrs & former spouse is > age 62.

2.  If you were 62 or older by the end of 2015, then you can still file for spousal benefits at full retirement age if you are otherwise eligible.  In other words, the new laws extended this right for four more years.

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!

Congress Just Helped Save Social Security (not)

The sunny name of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 belies the fact that it unnecessarily guts important provisions that benefit both married and divorced spouses.  AARP estimates that only 1/10 of one percent of eligible Americans take advantage of these provisions.  But, even if every single eligible beneficiary maximized the use of timing strategies, the effect on the Social Security trust fund would amount to less than 1/2 of one percent.  Even if Social Security were part of the Federal budget (it isn't) or, even if the Social Security trust fund were in trouble (it isn't) this change will have insignificant budgetary benefits but devastating consequences for many couples and divorced spouses.  This amounts to senior abuse.

Before they approved this nonsensical bill, the Senate did soften it a bit with two amendments:

• It does not take effect until 5/1/2016*
• Certain provisions are grandfathered in for those age 62 or older.

I suspect, and hope, that before 5/1/2016* Congress will incur enough outrage that they will also fix the divorced spouse benefits and perhaps even all timing strategies.
Regardless, it is imperative that you:

1. Meet with me or call to see how this law- in its current form -could change your strategy
2. Contact your Congressional representatives & prevail upon them to fix this mistake:  http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/

Best Always,
Gary Duell

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!
*I must confess a previous version of this post had a typo in both of these dates.

Congress is Gutting Social Security Benefits!!

By now it seems to be common knowledge that Congress is intent on "fixing" the Social Security "loopholes" created by themselves with the obnoxiously titled "Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000" (what we really need is a bill titled "Congressional Freedom to Resign Act of 2016").
The "Bipartisan Kumbaya* Budget Act of 2015" aims to eliminate benefit timing strategies** for married couples.  The reasoning is essentially two-fold (1) It is primarily the "wealthy" who take advantage of these strategies.  Therefore eliminating them won't hurt the poor.  And (2) This needs to be done to protect the solvency of Social Security.  Here are my random thoughts about that reasoning:

• If regulations allowed Social Security employees to demonstrate timing options to new beneficiaries, more lower income folks would probably take advantage of them.  The issue isn't wealth as much as it is which people are able to get expert advice.
• I've ceased being amazed at how easily so-called business & public policy experts sidestep the revenue half of the Social Security equation.  If they were on the board of a private corporation and budget shortfalls loomed, they would be asking "How can we increase revenue?"
• Social Security is not part of the budget!  It is a separate insurance program funded separately by separate payments from workers.  Separate.  If they're seeking budget solutions, they should be looking at the budget.

The title of this post Congress is Gutting Social Security Benefits!! is a myth because the new provisions are more like a slap to the face of retirees than a genuine evisceration.  The key is, this law is not in effect for six months.  There is still time to appeal to your Senators and Representatives to truly enhance Social Security.

Your Constructive Comments are Welcome!

*Just kidding.  The term "Bipartisan" is an attempt to imply a nonexistent legislative hug fest.  Title VIII of the act will be magnanimously named the "Social Security Benefit Protection and Opportunity Enhancement Act of 2015".  I'm not making that up.  I'll go through the details of Title VIII in another post.
**Most notably, the rather terse Subtitle C, Sec. 831 "Closure of Unintended Loopholes".