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Well, the wait is over for the 2018 announcement on the cost of living adjustment (COLA) to Social Security.  Less than one hour ago (as I write this) the SSA released the 2018 COLA numbers.  I have summarized the key changes below.  For all the details you can refer to the 2018 SSA COLA facts […]

This week we received a question about our past blog post entitled When is a Quarter not a Quarter?.  In that post I discussed a little known issue with earning “quarters or coverage” for becoming fully insured in the Social Security system.  Generally, becoming fully insured unlocks the vast majority of SS benefits and is […]

Today we have a question from a reader about a past blog post.  Back in May, 2017 I posted an article describing exactly how the Delayed Retirement Credits are applied to your SS retirement benefit when you have delayed filing past your full retirement age. After reading that article, a reader sent me the following […]

The good news this year is it appears that there will be a relatively large (compared to recent years) Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) coming for 2018 Social Security benefits.  These COLAs are based on inflation as measured by something called the CPI-W inflation measure, which is expected to come in around 1.8% this year.  […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced earlier this month that they will be mailing replacement ID cards to Medicare beneficiaries starting next year. While not directly related to Social Security, this announcement does affect the protection of your Social Security number (SSN).  In the past, your SSN was printed on the front […]

Student loan debt is usually thought of as a younger person’s issue, but a new report suggests that older Americans are also facing the challenge of paying back federal student loans. Several months ago the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the effects of student loan debt on Social Security recipients.  The […]

We received an interesting email question this week that covers a couple confusing elements of the Social Security family maximum and the child in care benefit, and I felt it was perfect to answer via this blog so others could benefit.  The question is: “I’ll be 62 in September and my spouse will be 56 […]

Should you file your Social Security application at age 62? Age 67? Age 70? You need to fully consider all the ramifications surrounding the timing of claiming your benefit. For the most part you get one attempt to do it right and the wrong decision may very well cause you to leave money “on the […]

We received the following question recently regarding the 10-year rule and divorced spouse benefits: “My Mother is 62 and wants to file for Social Security benefits.  She was mostly a stay at home mom so her own benefit is quite small.  She is divorced, but I know that as long as she was married at […]

The benefit estimate generated by the Social Security Administration can be confusing for many people, especially younger workers.  What assumptions does the SSA make to generate that estimate? We recently had a question from a reader who asked about this. His question reads: What are the projections and assumptions used by the Social Security Administration […]