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Over 9 in 10 Americans are affected by the Social Security system, and
there are over 34 million retired persons receiving benefits. The
importance of Social Security cannot be overstated.
For one-in-five retirees, Social Security is their only source of
income. For one-in-three retirees, Social Security is 90% of their
retirement income. For two-in-three retirees, Social Security is more
than 50% of their retirement income. What you don't know about the
system can hurt you.
Here are some basic facts about Social Security. Knowing them can lead to a more secure retirement.
Social Security benefits are based on your past earnings
First a summary of the earnings you had throughout your career is
calculated. This measure is called the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings
(AIME). Your wages for prior years are typically indexed, meaning they
are adjusted to reflect inflation over the course of your career. For
example, if Peggy earned $20,653 in 1990 this figure would be reflected
as $43,531 in her calculation today. The higher your AIME is, the larger
your benefit.
Second, a benefit formula is applied to the AIME to determine your
Primary Insurance Amount (PIA). In 2014 you receive 90% of the first
$816 in AIME, and 32% of AIME between $816 and $4,917, and finally 15%
of AIME over $4,917.
Third, an adjustment may be made to the amount you are entitled to
depending on the age at which you start benefits, the Social Security
earnings test, or other factors.
Fourth, benefits for dependents and survivors are based on the worker's
PIA. For example, a spouse may get a spousal benefit of 50 % of the
worker's PIA, and a widow might get 100% of the worker's PIA generated
benefit.
Let's take a closer look at what this means to you:
1. Benefits are skewed in favor of lower-paid individuals
For one thing, retirement benefits are calculated limiting a person's
salary to the taxable wage base for the year. For example, Kevin will
earn $175,000 in 2014. However, the wage base is $117,000 so the
retirement part of the Social Security system only recognizes (and
taxes) $117,000 of his income. More important, as we saw, the PIA
formula used to calculate benefits is weighted so Social Security
replaces a higher percentage of the income of people who earned less
when working. An individual who made about $20,000 (and comparable
amounts in previous years) will get about $12,000 a year from Social
Security, which would replace about 60% of income. A worker who has
always earned the around the maximum taxable amount would get benefits
that replace about 25% of prior earnings.
Bottom line: Affluent individuals need to save more outside the system
to make up for the fact that the Social Security replacement ratio is
less likely to meet their spending needs in retirement.
2. The SSA uses 35 years of earnings to calculate your monthly benefit
If you continue to work, it doesn't only mean extra salary for living
expenses and more opportunity to save for retirement, but it may also
mean a bump in your Social Security monthly payments. In many cases
continued work will increase your benefit because you may be replacing a
year when you earn a higher salary for a year with a lower salary (even
though earlier year salaries are indexed to reflect inflation, they
still may be lower than salaries you earn at the end of your career). If
you don't yet have 35 years of earnings, the SSA plugs in a zero when
calculating benefits. You will materially increase your Social Security
benefit any time you can eliminate a "zero year" and replace it with a
year with earnings.
Bottom line: Extending your career can help to increase your monthly check from Social Security.
3. The earnings test only applies to those younger than full retirement age
In 2014 anyone who is under full retirement age and has already claimed
Social Security benefits will lose one dollar in Social Security for
every two dollars they earn over $15,480. The earnings test only counts
W-2 or 1099 self employment earnings, and it doesn't count pension,
interest, Social Security, or dividend income. It is important to
realize that the earnings test doesn't apply to earnings after your full
retirement age. For example, Patty could earn $100,000 from consulting
part time and it wouldn't affect her Social Security payments because
she is age 67 and her full retirement age is 66.
Bottom line: Working as an employee or independent contractor after your
full retirement age will only help to increase your retirement security
and won't affect your Social Security check.
4. The earnings test lowers benefits in the current year, but doesn’t take them away
Many people are unaware that when the earnings test applies, the Social
Security benefit is recalculated so that larger payments are given in
future years. The best way to think about the earnings test is that it
is a forced suspension of benefits that will lead to larger benefits at a
later time. So you recoup in later years the benefits you “lost.” If
you need the money and/or enjoy working, it doesn't make any sense to
cut your earnings short to avoid being subject to the earnings test.
Bottom line: Go ahead and keep earning money. You won't be losing out in the long run because of the earnings test.
5. You may be eligible for three different types of benefits (but not at the same time)
As a general rule, if you worked and paid Social Security taxes for
more than 10 years you will be eligible for the “worker's benefit.” If
you are married, you may also be eligible for a “spousal benefit.”
Finally, if your spouse dies you may be eligible for a “survivor
benefit.” The possibility of receiving three types of benefits leads to
some serious planning implications and claiming strategies. Strategies
such as the "claim and suspend" or "claim now, claim more later" are
available. Also couples should be planning to maximize any potential
survivor benefit. In any case, it makes good sense to see a planner to
determine the best claiming strategy for your given situation.
Bottom line: The choice of a Social Security claiming age is complex
because of the three potential benefits, and you will probably benefit
from professional help.
6. Benefits are adjusted for inflation whether or not you start your benefit
A cost of living adjustment (COLA) is applied to your Social Security
benefit from age 63 on. The COLA applies even if you haven't begun to
receive benefits. There are a variety of reasons to delay claiming
benefits based on receiving increased retirement credits of up to 7% or 8
% for each year you delay. (One caveat: Social Security benefits don't
receive increased retirement credits after age 70 so the only reason to
delay claiming benefits past age 70 is because you are still working and
can increase your PIA by knocking out low earning or "zero years"— an
unlikely scenario.) Your planner will point out that not only do you
receive larger monthly checks, but you may also be helping to provide a
larger monthly check to your spouse after you die. However, some
mistakenly believe that they will forfeit COLAs if they wait to claim.
Bottom line: Choosing to delay your claiming age to receive larger
Social Security payments won't mean that you are forfeiting COLAs.
7. A divorced spouse qualifies for spousal or survivor benefits if marriage lasts 10 years or more
The following conditions must be met:
-
You must be currently unmarried
-
You must be at least age 62 for spousal benefits or age 60 for survivor benefits.
-
The ex-spouse needs to be entitled to Social Security retirement (age 62) or disability benefits (
even if he hasn't filed for benefits
)
-
You must be divorced for two years to get spousal benefits (however, if
the ex is already claiming Social Security, once the divorced spouse
reaches her full retirement age the two-year requirement is waived).
If you qualify for benefits based on more than one ex-spouse or deceased
spouse's records, you can claim benefits based on the ex-spouse's
record that provides the greatest benefit. Your claiming of benefits
does not affect the amount your former spouse is entitled to get. In
many cases it may be prudent to take a spousal benefit based on your
former spouse's earnings record while you grow your own benefit.
Bottom line: Just because you’re divorced, doesn't mean you lose out. You still may be entitled to Social Security spousal or survivor benefits based on your ex's Social Security record.
8. You can monitor your Social Security account online
From 1999 to 2011 the Social Security Administration mailed Social
Security Statements to anyone who was 25 or older. In May of 2012 they
stopped these automatic mailings and went online to save money. They
will resume mailings every five years (ages 25, 30, 35, etc.) starting
in September. However, the online statement that’s created by you in the
“my Social Security”
section of their website might be your best option to track retirement.
One benefit of the online Social Security Statement is that it can
determine whether your earnings are accurately posted each year.
Assessing this is crucial because the Social Security benefit is based
on the amount you earn each year of your career. If there’s an error in
posting your annual earnings, the amount of benefits you receive may be
compromised. Regardless of whether your statement is online or not, the
statement contains an estimate of the monthly retirement benefit you
will receive at age 62, full retirement age, and age 70. Keep an eye on
it and factor it into your planning.
Bottom Line: Tracking what Social Security will provide will enable you to better prepare for retirement.
Social Security benefits act as a buffer against inflation risk,
longevity risk, and other retirement risks. They represent about 40% of
the income for the elderly. It’s not unusual for a couple to receive
around $1 million from Social Security retirement benefits over the
course of their lifetime. Understanding the system and the ways to
maximize benefits under it is arguably the most important consideration
in retirement income planning and planning for a secure retirement.(http://www.marketwatch.com)
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