Mary Beth Franklin

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#238 Social Security Questions Answered

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Since her last appearance on the show, I have been saving your Social Security questions for nationally recognized SS expert, Mary Beth Franklin. Mary Beth is a contributing editor at Investment News and writes regularly about the latest research and thought leadership on retirement income planning. You can follow her on Twitter here and download her book, “Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits” here.

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Thank goodness for Mary Beth, because it is so difficult to wade through the SS system’s 2,800 rules! The part of the program was devoted to the strategies around claiming SS benefits on the record of an ex-spouse.

The basic rule is that you must have been married for at least 10 years before you got divorced and you must be currently single, which also could include being widowed from a subsequent spouse. We fielded a lot of questions about making the claim retroactively, but Mary Beth notes that you must be at or beyond full retirement age (FRA), the maximum retroactive benefit is six months.

There were a lot of questions about whether an ex can claim as early as 62. The answer is yes, with a caveat. You can claim on your ex, but other SS rules apply, so you would have to claim a reduced benefit on your own record and then if ½ of your ex’s benefit is greater than your own, you can collect the difference.

Here’s an example: Jack (67) and Jill (62) were married for 20 years and then divorced. Jill would be entitled to $1,000 per month, if she were to wait until her FRA, but instead, she claims at 62, which reduces her monthly benefit to $750—remember, if you claim early, the reduction is permanent! Let’s assume that Jack has claimed his $2500/month benefit at his FRA. If Jill had waited until her own FRA, she would have been entitled to half of his benefit, which would be $1250/month. BUT, because she is claiming at 62, her share of his benefit is also reduced, so she would only be entitled to $875/month. From the perspective of SS, Jill would be entitled to two benefits at age 62: her $750 + $125 from her ex-husband, for a total of $875.

Mary Beth also covered survivor benefits; how to execute a Social Security “Do-Over”; some of the rules around SSDI; the two rules that may limit your Social Security benefits: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO); and of course, Mary Beth’s GOLDEN RULE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY!

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.

  • Download the podcast on iTunes
  • Download the podcast on feedburner
  • Download this week's show (MP3)

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