A reader recently asked the following question about claiming missed Social Security payments: “I am trying to help a friend who is a senior living in Florida.  He is 90 years old and worked at a job paying about 23,000 per year until last year.  He never filed for Social Security.  Can he get back […]

The advantages to claiming survivor benefits versus your own benefits can be confusing. We recently received the following question from a reader on just this topic. “I am turning 66 and have been receiving survivor’s benefits from my late wife since age 60. Do I need to register for my own benefits and then suspend […]

We received the following question on the Social Securyt earnings test last week: “I turned 65 on July 8 of 2017. Retired from my job and applied for social security benefits since I was no longer working and earning income. They told me the amount of earnings up to the point I retired and applied […]

We received the following question regarding trhe Social Security spousal benefit recently from one of our podcast listeners… “What is the best claiming strategy to receive the maximum amount of Social Security for my wife?  I am 7 years older than my wife I want to delay taking my Social Security until I am 70. […]

We received the following question from a reader this week regarding a Social Security payment made to someone who is deceased: “My mother recently passed away and I am handling her affairs.  I have heard conflicting information about what happens to her final Social Security payment.  She passed away on October 16th.  Social Security deposited […]

What are the options for Social Security filing strategies when spouses have a large age difference? Limited Choices There are more limited choices in this case, but still a few things to consider.  A question came in as: “My husband turns 66 in a few months, and I am 51 today.  I am having trouble […]

For those people needing assistance managing their finances while receiving Social Security benefits the SSA has a program where another person is designated a Representative Payee to assist the beneficiary.  It is estimated more than 8 million people receiving SS benefits need help managing their money.  Today I will run through the basics of how […]

We had the following question on Social Security survivor benefits come in this past week from a blog reader… “My mother is 69 years old and was married to my dad for 27 years before they got divorced.  My mother subsequently married another man, who died a couple years ago.  She is receiving widow’s benefits […]

Strangely enough, there are rules that determine who qualifies as a spouse for purposes of qualifying for Social Security Spousal Benefits.  One would think it is as easy as “being married”, but that’s not quite enough. Let me describe the situation as described in the Social Security Program Operations Manual System (POMS). Legal or Deemed […]

The following question came in from a blog reader: “I am confused by Social Security retroactive benefits.  I went in recently to file for SS and I was not offered any sort of retroactive benefit.  However, when my neighbor filed for his SS he was given 6 months of retroactive benefits.  Why did he get […]