File and Suspend

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#258 Valentine's Day with Dynamic Duo of CFPs

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Sameer Somal, CFA, CFP and Marguerita ("Rita") Cheng, CFP are the future of the financial planning profession...they bring smarts and passion to the table! Thankfully, Rita is the Social Security Queen, so she helped answer a number of your most pressing SS questions.

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Rita notes that the best time to call Social Security is in the middle of the month, mid-week and mid-day. She also reminds those who are still eligible for SS File and Suspend that your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is when "claiming magic happens!"

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer in the World...and yes, I owe Mark a bottle of scotch for correctly selecting the Broncos as Super Bowl Champions. Here's how to contact us:

  • Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 
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#254 Talking Bout My Generation, File and Suspend

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Cam Marston, a leading expert on the difference among generations in the workplace, joins the show to help us become better co-workers, bosses and employees. Marston’s books, articles, columns, and blog describe and analyze the major generations of our time: Matures (born before 1946), Baby Boomers, (born 1946-64), Generation X (born 1965-79), and Millennials (born 1980-2000).  He explains the basic characteristics  of each generation and their differences, some of which may surprise you.

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We also answered some questions on the soon-to-defunct Social Security claiming strategy, file and suspend. Here's a great synopsis from Money Magazine.

How can you determine the correct amount to save for a specific goal? Easy--just use EBRI's Choose To Save Ballpark Estimate...

And if you are worried about your savings habits, one way to cut to the core is to create a financial plan--it will open your eyes as to how your spending patterns today may be robbing you of the ability of achieving your long term goals.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer in the World. Here's how to contact us:

  • Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 
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#230 Celebrating Social Security’s 80th Birthday

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Nationally recognized expert in Social Security Mary Beth Franklin joins the show to celebrate the 80th birthday of Social Security. Mary Beth is a contributing editor at InvestmentNews and writes regularly about the latest research and thought leadership on retirement income planning. You can follow her on Twitter here.

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Mary Beth reviewed the roots of Social Security – did you know that one of its main purposes was to get old workers out of the workforce in order to make way for younger ones?

You may have heard people say, “Social Security is broke,” which is just wrong. The SS Trust Fund, which carried surpluses for many years, is going to be depleted by 2034, unless government takes action. At that time, there would be enough workers to pay for about 75 percent of promised benefits. If the country wants to maintain the current system, Mary Beth says that there will probably be a combination of three fixes, which will be phased in over a long period of time:

  1. Increase SS Full Retirement Age
  2. Increase SS wage base: Workers and employers each pay 7.65% up to $118,500 (FICA tax) to fund SS. Mary Beth said that when the system was created, the wage base was supposed to represent 90 percent of wages. Due to changes in incomes at the top, that’s not the case. In order to get back to 90 percent, the wage base would have to rise to approximately $250K.
  3. Decrease or income test benefits

Mary Beth also outlined some of her favorite SS strategies and highlighted the common SS mistakes that many Americans can avoid.

Our callers also had SS on their minds: John retired last year and has not yet claimed SS, Mike works part time and wonder when he should claim SS.

Robert asked about the Acorns app, which invests spare change from everyday transactions (bug thumbs up!) and Sarah wonders how to protect her savings and investment accounts against hackers.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer in the World. Here's how to contact us:

  • Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 
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#200 The Social Security Special

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What better way to celebrate our 200th show -- and the first program of 2015 -- then to have Social Security expert Bill Meyer as our guest! Bill is the founder and Managing Principal of the terrific SS resource, SocialSecuritySolutions.com.

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Bill discusses the Social Security system, how to improve it and then dives into the various strategies available to retirees. With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, you can't miss this show!

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. Check out Mark's first-producing credit for this CBS Evening News segment that aired recently. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

  • Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE