social security

4 Reasons to Start Your Social Security Early

Most retirees ponder this question: “When should I start taking my Social Security benefits … at age 62? At full retirement age? Somewhere in between?” The conventional response to this question is “Wait as long as you can.” After all, those whose full retirement age is 66 will face a 25% lifetime reduction by starting [...]

Continue Reading →

Social Security Strategies For Married Couples

Married couples: Social Security is complicated and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Is either of you (or both of you) close to retirement age? Are you wondering if you should start earlier or later? Before you decide, make sure you understand these two aspects of Social Security: “spousal benefit” and “surviving spouse benefit”. Let’s [...]

Continue Reading →

Social Security Strategies Part Two: Maximize Your Benefits

In Part One of this two part series we discussed the following basics of Social Security: how it works, what is a spousal benefit, how does survivor’s benefit work and some things you should think about when considering whether to start receiving your social security benefit early. In this post, I want to give you [...]

Continue Reading →

Social Security Strategies Part One: Understand the Basics

Social Security is a little like the Internal Revenue Service. If you try to understand every detail you will get so caught up in the minutia that you could get overwhelmed. On the other hand, if you can simply grasp the Social Security basics you are well on your way to having a grip on [...]

Continue Reading →

Are You Ready For Retirement?

photo credit: Alex E. Proimos I am almost 62 years old. Am I ready to quit working and retire? Will Social Security take care of me? Because Social Security income is intended to supplement other retirement income, it alone is not enough to take care of you. If you have no other income source, I [...]

Continue Reading →