Claiming Social Security benefits is often talked about in formulas, as if it’s always straightforward. Nonmathematical factors—and feelings—should be given their due weight, it turns out. More in this week’s chat.
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We have written from time to time about the role of Social Security retirement benefits in your plans and planning. I have new perspectives on the process, based on my new status: I’m a Social Security recipient!
I’ve got two interesting and useful lessons from my process so far.
First, in my separate discussions with two Social Security Administration employees, a piece of misinformation emerged. A written summary of a telephone appointment contained a major error, one that would have had negative consequences if left uncorrected.
Second, working through the actual numbers, the arithmetic favoring one start date versus another was not nearly as compelling as I expected. Claiming benefits is often talked about in formulas, as if it’s always straightforward. Nonmathematical factors—and feelings—should therefore be given due weight, it turns out.
Because of the first lesson, I feel even more committed to join each of you as you go through the actual application process. The information is murky, humans can make errors, we can lose pivotal details in the mix… But I would love to try to help make sure the process comes out as you would like it to.
The second lesson underlines something we’ve always believed: your situation, your feelings, your preferences and vision for your cash flow needs absolutely must be part of the equation. Nobody knows the date going on their death certificate, so there is no way to “prove” in advance the “best” time to claim Social Security.
What will work out best for you in your real life? That’s the question.
Social Security is a significant fraction of retirement income for most people, so taking some time to examine and explore options well ahead of time makes sense. We’re here for that. If you are within a few years of retirement, keep watching this space: we will keep discussing what options are available in more detail and how we might approach the choices.
Clients, if you are ready to talk about your retirement plans and planning, please email us or call.
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We’re taking a swig of some big news, fresh from the Social Security Administration.
They’ve announced that the COLA—the Cost-of-Living Adjustment—for 2022 will be 5.9%. Payments for January 2022 will be increased by that amount.
Who doesn’t like getting a raise? But let’s think about how we earned this one.
Our cost of living has been rising. Inflation is running at levels we have not seen in decades. And the laws governing Social Security benefits call for annual adjustments to help offset the rise in the cost of living. In other words, our expenses have been rising for some time, and this “raise” will help us get back some of the purchasing power we have lost.
Inflation has other ramifications, too. Sometimes we assume that financial things with stable values are safe. Savings accounts or certificates of deposit, bonds, and other fixed-income investments generally do offer more stability than long-term equity investments such as common stock.
But perhaps the news from the Social Security Administration is a chance to remember that our cash on-hand pretty much always buys less this year than it did last year—because of the cost of living. If we make 1% interest while prices rise 5%, we are going backward in purchasing power over time.
When there was little inflation, our cash cushions did not cost us a lot. We love the sensation of having the money we need, readily at hand. Funds for emergencies or opportunities are always good to have.
But the purchasing power of excess cash laying around is melting away, day by day. It might pay to consider whether more should be committed to long-term investments.
Clients, if you would like to talk about your cash cushion or anything else, please email us or call.
Investing includes risks, including fluctuating prices and loss of principal.
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Social Security is a key piece of the retirement puzzle for most people. The benefits can be worth a substantial amount of money, Each one of us must make decisions about our participation.
We advocate getting facts specific to your situation before making up your mind about what to do. There is a lot of information floating around, not all of it accurate. If you do a Google search on the term “social security” you find more than six billion references.
But there is only one Social Security Administration, and its official websites may be a good place to begin. The reality may be more complicated than indicated by articles in the media.
Recently a client wondered about whether to defer retirement benefits to age 70. Supposedly the benefit of waiting past Full Retirement Age would be an 8% increase per year, calculated to the month. But when they looked at their online benefit statement at SSA.GOV, the benefit of waiting to age 70 benefit was 17% greater than indicated by the 8% formula.
How could this be?
Social Security retirement benefits are based on your best 35 years of earnings, indexed for inflation. Working beyond Full Retirement Age would replace a low wage year from earlier in life with higher current earnings, for this client. So there were two factors working in favor of deferral, not just one.
Pin down the specific facts for your situation before making up your mind. Clients, if you would like help with this or to talk about anything else, please email us or call.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
This is an individual example and is not representative of any specific investment. Your results may vary.
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