Deanna Sauceda: It is Tuesday and time for Ask Deanna. This week’s questions comes from Sue Winder: “I’m 53 and my husband is 65. If something were to happen to him, would I be eligible to receive his Social Security? And then once I reach retirement age, do I get both benefits?

Phone Voice: Please try your call again later.

Deanna Sauceda: Well, that’s what I got on one of my calls to the most obvious place to find the answer – the 1-800 number for the Social Security Administration. And if I was more patient I probably would probably would have found the answer there eventually. I tried 2 more times and I got this:

Phone Voice: Okay, I’ll transfer you for agent service. Your estimated wait time is greater than 10 minutes.

Deanna Sauceda: So I went to the yellow pages and called Action Disability Representatives and talked with John Bishop.

John Bishop: The answer is probably. If he has earned enough credits by paying enough into Social Security for her to be eligible, she would get benefits from whichever account would pay higher (pay more money).

Deanna Sauceda: Alright. So Sue, you would get his SSA until you were eligible and then the Social Security Administration does an assessment and gives you the higher of the two, but not both.

And next week’s question has to do with a favorite subject around here: fishing. [...]

Tim Rosen: Today, the U.S. News & World report came out with their findings that Social Security is broke. And to most of you, that is no surprise. They’ve actually updated the numbers that, as of last year, they reported that Social Security is good through 2017, referring to the trust fund for Social Security. They’ve now changed that and updated it to 2016. What I’ve tried to do here at TimRosen.tv and Conservative Money Talk, is to take the news and interpret it and to share it with you in a way that you can either benefit from it or protect yourself from it. So what do we do with this news that most of you knew anyways that Social Security is broke? What do we do with that?

Well, one, if you’re already retired, you have priority here as far as your Social Security benefits go. You’re already drawing, you’re pretty much safe. For those of you that are still working and are hoping to get Social Security at some point, well, you’ve got a challenge there. Expect to see them increase the amount of Social Security that you pay into as a percentage of every pay check. Right now it’s 7.5%; you could expect that to go to 8.5% so they can make up for this deficit. You should also expect to see them draw out and extend the date, the age that you qualify for Social Security benefits.

Bottom line, what does it all mean? Don’t count on Social Security for your retirement. When it first came out it was designed to keep you from being destitute, from being hungry. And if you’re lucky enough to get some, maybe that’s what it will do. But my encouragement to you… what does it all mean? Pay yourself, build up your wealth. You can pay yourself monthly and nowadays, with online banking, ING and Direct Capital One, maybe your credit union has a savings that you can add to automatically every month. Out of sight, out of mind. You can make it happen. You can also invest in the market. There are great opportunities if you have time to be in the free markets right now and benefit over time to keep ahead of inflation and to have some resources from which to draw from to create your retirement income.

That’s today’s news.

Ron Paul: There has been a lot of talk in Washington recently about senior citizens, mostly about how various healthcare reform models would help or hurt them. But there is another critical issue that has quietly devastated seniors financially over the last few decades. It concerns how the cost of living is calculated. How does the administration justify not giving a cost of living increase to Social Security recipients this year?

According to the official Consumer Price Index calculation, life has gotten cheaper for the first time in decades. If the government can show statistically that the cost of living has gone down, not up, then they can make the case for not giving a cost of living increase to social security recipients. But does this match reality? Using older calculations of CPI, the cost of living has actually increased – by roughly 5 percent!

The CPI (Consumer Price Index) is a calculation based on the average price of a fixed basket of goods that was initially designed to help businesses adjust for inflation. The government eventually started using it to determine cost of living adjustments for entitlement programs. Couple that with politicians’ discovery that they could raid the social security trust fund to pay for new spending programs, and you have a perfect storm to deny seniors what they were promised, while hiding the true size of the deficit. For politicians, it is a win-win.

For seniors, it is a different story. Economist John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics has estimated that if the original methodology of CPI had not changed, Social Security checks would be nearly double what they are today. This represents a lot of money that politicians have been able to literally steal from seniors, to spend on their own wasteful programs. One example of how they do this is to substitute hamburger for steak, which lowers the average price of that basket of goods. But living on hamburger, or maybe dog food, instead of steak does not represent a constant standard of living. This renders the measurement virtually meaningless, even though politically it comes in very handy.

I have introduced legislation to keep politicians in Washington from ever raiding the Social Security trust fund again. HR 219 The Social Security Preservation Act would assure that all monies collected by the Social Security Trust Fund would only be used in payments to beneficiaries, or be placed in interest bearing certificates of deposit. This would at least stop the bleeding of the fund, and take away some incentive to tease and torture the numbers in order to give seniors the minimal amount. This would also cut off a source of funding for government growth, so it is not likely to get easy support from many politicians.

It is bad enough that Washington imposes high payroll taxes on American workers. The least Congress could do is use the tax dollars for their stated purpose. Instead, seniors will have a harder and harder time trying to survive on a fixed income in an economy based on variables and deception. For them, it is too late to start over. Today’s young people will be forced to pay into the system for years to come. The first step towards solving the impending crisis facing Social Security is to stop politicians from raiding the trust fund and to significantly cut federal government spending.

Reporter: This morning on today’s Fountain of Youth: Maximizing Social Security Payouts. More than 52 million Americans who draw Social Security will not see a cost of living increase next year. But according to US News and World Report’ Fall Money Issue, there are ways to pump up your benefits. Sharon Epperson is the MSNBC’s personal finance correspondence. Sharon, good morning.

Sharon Epperson: Good morning.

Reporter: First, before we get to the ways to pump up your benefits, let’s talk about why no cost of living increase this year.

Sharon: No cost of living increases because it’s tied to consumer prices and consumer prices have been going down. This is the first time that there’s not going to be a cost of living increase since 1975. But President Obama is trying to urge Congress to have a $250 one-time fee paid to retirees.

Reporter: To compensate for that.

Sharon: To compensate for that, but there’s a lot of debate.

Reporter: But that may or may not pass.

Sharon: It may or may not pass.

Reporter: Okay, so let’s talk about what we need to do, then we’ll know what we need to do in terms of pumping up our benefits. You talk about delay claiming benefits and we’ve got a graphics here to tell you why it’s so important.

Sharon: Well, a lot of people maybe thinking, “I’m really strapped right now. I want to get the money as soon as I can.” But keep in mind if you delay your benefits, you can get a lot more money. If you take it at age 62, you will get 25 percent less money in your monthly check than if you wait until full retirement age at 66. So that will be $750, let’s say, for one payout example versus $1,000. You wait until age 70, for each year that you wait up until age 70, you’ll get an 8 percent increase. You can get as much as $1,320 on this example.

Reporter: And hand in glove with that is if you want to pump up your benefits, you should be working longer, right?

Sharon: That’s right. You should be working longer because what the Social Security Administration counts is your 35 highest paying years, so where you earn the most money. So if you are in your 60s and you’re making more money than you ever made before, you want to continue working.

Reporter: Okay, now, also there is a way to take spousal benefits and keep working. What is that about?

Sharon: Well, there are two ways that you can get benefits if you’re a couple. One is you can get a spousal benefit. That’s 50 percent of your spouse’s benefit or you can get your own benefit. You can’t get both, but you can get one or the other and you probably want to take whichever is higher.

Reporter: Okay, and couples can maximize just simply doing what?

Sharon: Well, they can maximize it by taking a look at what their retirement age is. Hopefully, they’re going to wait until full retirement age, but the reality is some couples may not be able to do this. So if you’re the lower-earning spouse, you want to take it early, but wait for the person who is making more money to take their benefit after retirement age, if possible.

Reporter: So then one or the other should be delaying retirement, right?

Sharon: If possible.

Reporter: Depending on who is making the most?

Sharon: If possible.

Reporter: Okay, also, life expectancy is a major factor. What’s your best advice on how we should factor that in?

Sharon: Well, everyone is going to say, “Wait a minute. I don’t know if I’m going to live until 70. I really want to take this money now.” It really depends on your genetics, on your parents’ life expectancy per se, and your health.

Reporter: You’re going to make a guess.

Sharon: You have to make a guess, but a good way to make an educated guess is to go to Livingto100.com, a very good calculator to help you figure out what your life expectancy is going to be.

Reporter: Well, Sharon Epperson trying to help us in our waning years.

Sharon: That’s right.

Reporter: Thank you so much.

Law Does Not Provide for a Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment for 2010

With consumer prices down over the past year, monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 57 million Americans will not automatically increase in 2010.  This will be the first year without an automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) since they went into effect in 1975.

“Social Security is doing its job helping Americans maintain their standard of living,” Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security said.  “Last year when consumer prices spiked, largely as a result of higher gas prices, beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent COLA, the largest increase since 1982.  This year, in light of the human need, we need to support President Obama’s call for us to make another $250 recovery payment for 57 million Americans.”

The Social Security Act provides that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year if there is an increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year to the third quarter of the current year.  This year there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009.  In addition, because there was no increase in the CPI-W this year, under the law the starting point for determinations regarding a possible 2011 COLA will remain the third quarter of 2008.

Some other changes that would normally take effect in January 2010 based on the increase in average wages also will not take effect, even though average wages did increase.  Since there is no COLA, the statute prohibits an increase in the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax as well as the retirement earnings test exempt amounts.  These amounts will remain unchanged in 2010.  The attached fact sheet provides more information on 2010 Social Security changes.

Information about Medicare changes for 2010, when available, will be found at www.Medicare.gov.  The Department of Health and Human Services has not yet announced if there will be any Medicare premium changes for 2010.  Should there be an increase in the Medicare Part B premium, the law contains a “hold harmless” provision that protects about 93 percent of Social Security beneficiaries from paying a higher Part B premium, in order to avoid reducing their net Social Security benefit.  Those not protected include higher income beneficiaries subject to an income-adjusted Part B premium and beneficiaries newly entitled to Part B in 2010.  On September 24th, the House passed legislation by 406-18 that would, on a fully paid-for basis, prevent abnormally large premium increases.  The President is calling on the Senate to enact this legislation before it becomes too late for the Social Security Administration to update its computer systems to implement this needed change.

For additional information about the 2010 COLA, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.

What is your experience? Are your costs of living going up? Should COLA be redefined so that it is more consistent with reality?

Mr. Shepard Smith: For many, many years, some would argue when it’s politically expedient to do so, critics on both sides of the aisle have claimed that Social Security was going to go completely bankrupt. I mean, bankrupt, it’s over, unless the entire system is drastically overhauled. We’ve all heard it.

Well, today, there’s a preview of things to come again. For the first time since the 1970s, the Federal government will not be giving seniors a cost of living increase (COLA). The amount on the checks will instead stay the same, but as healthcare costs rise, what this basically amounts to is a smaller Social Security check for seniors. I mean, if you look at it, that’s what it is.

Complicating matters, millions of babyboomers are now preparing to become senior citizens and it’s the babyboomers that we’ve known all about for decades and all of a sudden, it’s a crisis. With us now is financial consultant and money manager, Rodney Anderson. Rodney, it’s great to see you. Thank you.

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Thanks, Shep.

Mr. Shepard Smith: It’s not as if we didn’t know that babyboomers were about to get older, they are. We’ve known it for decades that it was coming. I mean, please don’t tell me this is the end of Social Security because we all know better. Every time they say it, they just find more money for it and make it work. Otherwise, they’d get voted out of office, right?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, the decision to freeze Social Security is like putting a band aid on a compound fracture. We’re seeing where seniors are having their benefits cut and their cost of healthcare go up. We’re seeing them where they’re having their investments, which are the 401ks or IRAs just plummet down but not only that, we’re seeing their investments such as their CDs and their savings rates go down and this is where they lived off of. But many of these seniors through healthcare are having to finance their debt, debt that they’ve never had to finance before and that is being taken on by credit cards and then we have the banks raising everybody’s credit card rates and it’s killing the seniors and that’s why more and more are going into bankruptcy right now.

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, it’s killing everybody to bankruptcy. And quite frankly it’s killing the seniors, but I don’t know… I don’t know how that leads us to say that this is the beginning of the end of Social Security because I’m not going to listen to it for a long time anyway because I’ve been hearing it for so many decades and it never happens. I mean, why would it happen this time?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, in 2016, we don’t have enough money going into Social Security to fund it. But in the year 2037…

Mr. Shepard Smith: Yeah, well, in the previous administration, it was a different year, then in the administration before that, it was different year. It doesn’t matter if you have an R or a D after your name. They say this every few years, here it comes, and then we fund it. I mean, what’s different? Help me.

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, what’s different this time is truly because this healthcare crisis is going out of control that they have two major crises in front of them; one of them is healthcare. We’re hearing about it every day every minute of the day. The next one is Social Security. They keep wanting to print money, but pretty soon, Shep, the money is not going to be printed anymore.

Mr. Shepard Smith: And so because we’re not printing anymore money, Social Security is going to go away?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: No, Social Security will not go away, but what seniors will see is they’ll see no cost of living adjustment and what they’ll see is those paychecks, those monthly checks go down.

Mr. Shepard Smith: So…

Mr. Rodney Anderson: It may not go away, but it’s just going to be like Medicare where the benefits are cut every year.

Mr. Shepard Smith: So are you saying that an overhaul of the healthcare system is urgent and must happen to keep Social Security from falling apart? We’ve got the cost down?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: I think it’s a must happen… yeah, it’s a must happen. We have to get the costs down because seniors are being hurt from every side right now.

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, it sounds like the President agrees with you on this, right? He’s the one who said we got to get the costs down. We’ve got to overhaul. We’ve got to overhaul the whole healthcare system and we’ve got to have a government option in there, that is what he used to say. Is that your sense that that would help save Social Security?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, yeah, I think it will help Social Security in a lot of ways, Shep. But here’s what’s going to happen. I talked to my mom on my way here and mom knows best and mom says, “People can’t even or buying food right now, instead of buying medicine. It is a problem and right in my own family, because the fact of the matter is none of us or we’re all living older and that’s going to bankrupt Social Security.”

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, I’m not well. We’ve known this was coming. This is not brand new information. We’ve known babyboomers were going to get older. We’ve known it forever. Now, all of a sudden, it’s a crisis. Well, yeah, it is. Babyboomers, they’re getting older. We got to do something about it. The President says he has a plan and the Republican say it’s a bad plan and we’ll see what happens. Rodney Anderson, let’s hope something happens. It’s good to see you. Thank you.

Social Security Representative: The benefit information will change, but you won’t really see it. The interesting thing that some of our clients don’t understand is that Social Security disability is calculated, you know, the amount, is how much an individual would get at full retirement.

So if you get disability, say you’re 55 and you go on disability, then when you get to be 62 and you start thinking about a retirement benefit, the retirement benefit is your full retirement reduced. Well, you went and switched over to your retirement benefit. So our client doesn’t have to do anything while they are on disability. What we do is that when they get to be full retirement age, then we change the disability wording on their record to say retirement, because nothing works than sending somebody a disability update package and they’re 70.

Senior Citizen: Right.

Social Security Representative: You know, that’s why we take that information off. We correct our records because we keep track of our clients based on what we need to do for them and if they’re past full retirement age, we never need to update their disability information.

Senior Citizen: Okay.

Social Security Representative: This is a good time with that last question about retirement age because we’re really encouraging individuals to take advantage of the fact that we have improved our computer access that individuals can go to our website, not only plan for retirement for the future, you know, to see what amount they’d have, to see what happens to their amount if they decide to work more or if they work with amounts reduced as they get older.

What you can do is when you get ready for retirement? You can then actually make decisions to do the paperwork right there on the computer. You don’t have to go into an office. You don’t have to talk to somebody on the phone. This whole situation that we’ve done in the past was that we were the guardians of the benefit amount and really we’re the secretaries. We were just typing in the information, helping people get through the process and now we’ve laid the process out for you.

You’ve got your number. You can just go right into Social Security website. You can apply. You can tell us what bank you want the money to go to. You can tell us your information about military service, who you’ve been working for, how you’re going to be retiring, how you’re going to cut back on your amount, so that you’d be eligible if you want early retirement.

We don’t even ask all those same questions if you want your benefit with full retirement, because there is no reduction that you have to do in your work to start your benefit once you get to be of full retirement age. But the best thing for people to do, so that they can make those long-term plans is do the planning and then actually do the application right on the website because it’s your time and it’s your money. Why come into a Social Security office or have to go through all this with us because, you know, if you can ask for a mortgage on the computer and act of getting your retirement.

You know, we’re trying to make it simpler and I’ve got some good news for you in the future. Hopefully this next time we get together, we’ll talk about how our website is going to be much more convenient. We’re going to make it easier to use and it’s right now, it’s been cleaned up a bit so as to make it easier to follow, easier to use things, but we’re going to make the computer programs a little easier to work with.

Senior Citizen: Okay, we’ll see some of our $4 guess.

Social Security Representative: You know, that’s a big thing that I talked to our clients about is that when gas prices go up, people decide to cut back on, you know, extra, miscellaneous travel, and save a trip. That’s the one thing that I recommend to people is that if you can do a lot of these things on our website, why not do it?

Senior Citizen: Right.

Social Security Representative: Do it at home or I will just add a senior fare and every other person I talked to said, “Oh, I don’t have my own computer at home.”

I say, “Well, but you’ve got kids. You’ve got, you know, your daughter or your son and they’ve got a computer at their house. Our computers are open on the weekends.” You can come to our website and do so many things; change your address, get a replacement Medicare card. You can look up the pamphlets and you can print a pamphlet right from our website. So a lot of this is there on our website. You can save the trip. You know, try it. That’s the biggest thing to do. Just try it and see how you like working on our website and it might be convenient that you’re going to enjoy it and continue dealing with us that way.

Senior Citizen: Okay.

Though accurate estimates are difficult to make at this moment, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) envisions that only after 2012 will there be any cost-of-living adjustments and that those adjustments will be as small as 2% per year, until 2019.

The increases in cost-of-living are annually adjusted according to the consumer price index. This index measures the prices paid by an urban consumer for goods and services. Since 1975, every year brought cost-of-living increases: as high as 14.3% in 1980 and as low as 1.3 percent in 1986 and 1998.

Though we cannot expect impressive cost-of-living increases in 2010 and in the following years according to the CBO, Social Security beneficiaries will receive a onetime payment in May due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act issued this year. The amount of money each Social Security recipient will receive as a stimulus check or deposit is $250.

That’s a credit, and this year it’s a $1,050 that gets you one credit. During the year you can get as much as 4 credits for 4 quarters; you have to have 10 years worth of credits… 10 times four is 40 credits. So, that’s how most people have heard, you know, how do you get insured for Social Security retirement, is that you have to have that 40 credits over your lifetime and once you have that, then you have minimum protection.

I like to throw the word “minimum” in there because your benefit is based on how much you earn, not the fact that you have at least the 10 years.

So, then we go in and we look at how much you have earned over your life time to come up with the calculation of how much your benefit will be. So, you can be covered for something, but your benefit is based on how much you have made over your whole lifetime.

Whether your official retirement age is 65 or 66, which will depend on when you were born, it is better to wait for that time rather then request your payments at a younger age. The reason is simple: if you decide not to defer your payments, you may end up paying the money back.

This is because anyone who is still earning a wage that is not directly related to an investment income from a healthy portfolio may not qualify for full Social Security as an untaxed income. This is also dependent upon the limitations placed annually on income levels. For example, this year the limit is $14,160. Every time you go over that amount by $2, you will lose $1 off of your checks. This adds up quickly, especially since most who are still working will receive much more then that.

This rule only applies for those who are not yet at their retirement age. Once you hit that point, you will be able to earn any level of income, and still receive full benefits from your Social Security fund. So don’t worry about losing the funds in the meantime, they will still be there. Deferring your checks is a positive move, not a negative one, and as long as you don’t wait too far past your retirement age, you should be just fine.

Consider saving benefits for age 65 – 70. You might be glad that you did.

The goal of the program is to reduce the wait time for approval for the most vulnerable members of society from months down to days. The current list of disabilities and illness which are covered by the program consists of 25 cancers and 25 diseases. The list is not all inclusive and is expected to grow overtime. For example the SSA has been conducting hearings on stroke and other brain injuries, indicating they are considering this area for inclusion in the Compassionate Allowances initiative.

It appears that Compassionate Allowances is being developed as a replacement for or enhancement of the Quick Disability Determination program (QDD). The QDD was originally created to make the approval process faster for disabled people using readily available information about the applicant and computer generated models about their disability.

List of Conditions (current as of 3/11/2009)

Acute Leukemia
Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Alexander Disease (ALX) – Neonatal and Infantile
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Astrocytoma – Grade III and IV
Bladder Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Bone Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Breast Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Canavan Disease (CD)
Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) – Blast Phase
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) – Adult
Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Tumor)
Esophageal Cancer
Farber’s Disease (FD) – Infantile
Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA)
Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A – Adult
Gallbladder Cancer
Gaucher Disease (GD) – Type 2
Glioblastoma Multiforme (Brain Tumor)
Head and Neck Cancers – with distant metastasis or inoperable or uresectable
Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD)
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
Kidney Cancer – inoperable or unresectable
Krabbe Disease (KD) – Infantile
Large Intestine Cancer – with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS)
Liver Cancer
Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL)
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) – Late Infantile
Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) – Type A
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) – Type II
Ovarian Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Pancreatic Cancer
Peritoneal Mesothelioma
Pleural Mesothelioma
Pompe Disease – Infantile
Rett (RTT) Syndrome
Salivary Tumors
Sandhoff Disease
Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus)
Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small Intestine Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – Types 0 And 1
Stomach Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Thyroid Cancer
Ureter Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent

At 62 years of age you are able to apply for the benefit, and you report down to the Social Security office, show your identification, your birth certificate and proof of age, and then you can apply and receive a check shortly thereafter, and that check will be automatically placed in your bank account on a monthly basis for the rest of your life. You can maximize your check even more if you defer applying at 62 and rather apply at 65, 66 or older. The older you are, the more your check will be. This is financial advisor Patrick Munro talking about how to maximize your Social Security Benefits.

Watch the video here.

If you are able to defer applying for Social Security at age 62, each year you defer the amount that you will receive on your check goes up in value. At 65 in other words, you would receive a longer period of time would pay a larger amount of money for your check. However, with that being said with financial situations, most Americans are not well prepared at that particular age, and they do in fact apply for Social Security and they receive their check. It’s a burden on the government and on the taxpayer; something that we are still working on an active basis. This is Patrick Munro talking about how to receive Social Security.

Watch the video here.

People with disabilities are one of the groups that need Social Security the most. Many of them are poor. But it has become quite difficult for these individuals to get Social Security benefits. To qualify for benefits, those with a disability must first obtain proof of their disability as well as proof that they are unable to work. Many people with disabilities who apply for Social Security benefits are at the poverty level and cannot afford to support themselves without government assistance. However, if Social Security overpays them, they are asked to repay that money. If they are unable to do so, an overpayment begins to accrue.

If you are unable to pay back this overpayment, the money owed will continue to add up until you are asked to repay a lump sum. A lot of disabled people are denied Social Security benefits, because they are too able-bodied. If you can walk, you may run into this problem. At the same time, you may be unable to work, because no one is willing to hire you. Even still, you may not qualify for benefits.

On the same token, the middle class suffers as well. A lot of people in the middle class need Social Security benefits, but are denied for one reason or another. If you are unable to work, you probably need money. If Social Security says your spouse makes too much money, you may be disqualified from receiving benefits. In some cases, you may not be eligible for benefits at all, if you are married.

It is quite easy for some people to receive benefits. Welfare mothers with several children generally do not have a hard time qualifying for benefits and may begin receiving them right away. However, for disabled people to receive benefits, they must wait months, even as much as years, for Social Security to approve their claim. And even then they may be disqualified for one reason or another.

What if you receive Social Security benefits but also decide to work to earn some extra money? You will be asked to report your earnings information to the SS administration. As a result, Social Security will reduce your benefits amount, because you are making money from a source outside of the organization. The more you work, the less you get.

Some people say that every US citizen should get all the money they need. It costs the government almost nothing to print new money, and they have been doing it for their own needs for many decades, so why should this essential ingredient of everyday life be denied to average citizens for the most spurious and bureaucratic of reasons?

When you work, you are required to pay the SS Administration a certain amount of tax. After taking its cut to fund its operation, the administration forward the money to other people who no longer work. Research proves that post-retirement is supported by Social Security at a maximum rate. Social Security income is the most applicable and practical way to lead your life after retirement.

Traditionally speaking, the advice given to citizens is that they can reap benefits from the agency as soon as they turn 62. But contemporary financial planners say that, by delaying to start receiving benefits from age 62 to 66, there will be a rise of 8.25% in payments. Doesn’t that sound good? The longer you wait, the more you get. Also, the amount you will receive depends on how much you have contributed to the system in the past. If you have any doubt, you can check your expected Social Security income with the Social Security Benefits Calculator.

To receive benefits you should apply either by sending in a form or by applying online. Call center assistance is also given to people with queries. Important details like date of birth, Social Security number, previous income, and planned age of retirement should be submitted along with the application.

The benefits that you will receive as Social Security income are monthly benefits, survivor’s and disability benefits etc. The SS Agency is looking out for you to make sure you have a secured and happy life after retirement.

Definitions

Social Security income
Social Security is based on a sliding scale depending on your income, how long you work and at what age you retire. Social Security benefits automatically increases each year based on increases in the Consumer Price Index. Including a spouse increases your Social Security benefits by 1.5 times your individual estimated benefit. Please note that this calculator assumes that only one of the spouses work. Benefits could be different if your spouse worked and earned a benefit higher than one half of your benefit. If you are a married couple, and both spouses work, you may need to run the calculation twice – once for each spouse and their respective income. This calculator provides only an estimate of your benefits.

The calculations use the 2008 FICA income limit of $102,000 with an annual maximum Social Security benefit of $26,220 per year for a single person and 1.5 times this amount for a married couple. To receive the maximum benefit would require earning the maximum FICA salary for nearly your entire career. You would also need to begin receiving benefits at your full retirement age of 66 or 67 (depending on your birthdate). Your actual benefit may be lower or higher depending on your work history and the complete compensation rules used by Social Security.

Current age
Your current age.

Age of retirement
Age you desire to retire.

Household income
Your total household income. If you are married, this should include your spouse’s income.

Expected salary increase
Annual percent increase you expect in your household income.

Expected rate of inflation
What you expect for the average long-term inflation rate. A common measure of inflation in the U.S. is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has a long-term average of 3.1% annually, from 1925 through 2007. The CPI for 2007 was 2.4%, as reported by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve.

Are you married?
Check this box if you are married. Married couples have a higher maximum Social Security benefit than single wage earners.

Information and interactive calculators are made available to you as self-help tools for your independent use and are not intended to provide investment advice. We cannot and do not guarantee their applicability or accuracy in regards to your individual circumstances. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding all personal finance issues.

There would be a period of time that goes by while your claim is being considered by the Social Security Administration office, and at that time they will render a verdict as to how much money you’ll be getting back benefits. If you’re uncertain as to your representation, you can retain council or a legal lawyer who will represent you in your Social Security matter with the Social Security Administration. This is Patrick Munro, financial advisor, talking about how to collect back benefits from Social Security.”

Watch the video here.

There are ways to avoid this if you use appropriate investments such as annuities and things of that nature, and working with a financial advisor that knows how to read a tax return is always of great benefit to you. Many senior Americans do not want to be taxed on their Social Security benefit and like Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “It’s not intended as a tax resource.” This is Patrick Munro talking about the taxes on Social Security benefits.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGdhjKZt8tA

My friend used to live here with hubby and I and he’s retired and he gets Social Security benefits. He had a letter in the mail that said, “Dear Mr. So and So, we regret to inform that we can no longer continue to send you your Social Security benefits because we do not have a correct address for you.”

And at that point I kind of wondered how the letter got to him since the letter had his address on it and got to him. Yeah, the Social Security Administration wrote him a letter addressed to him at his address which said they didn’t have an address for him.

Watch the video here.

Boston College Center’s director for external relations Andrew Eschruth believes that a lot of retirees may not be able to continue with the lifestyle that they’re used to because according to the guideline that they’re using, for someone to be able to live at ease after retiring, they would need at least 65 to 85% of their pre-retirement income.

Back when George W. Bush was still President, he recommended the idea that a share of the Social Security be placed in a private investment of some sort. However, it became a big issue that came under so much scrutiny that his administration decided to let this suggestion go. Now that a new President has taken over, it’s up to him to come up with a solution on how to organize this “mess” concerning Social Security.

In view of the fact that this may happen, the Boston College Center proposes future retirees to consider other option to bridge the gap of their income need once they’ve stopped working. They suggest something that is fixed and binding and would ensure them a good life by receiving the proper amount they need to maintain their standard of living. One such resolution that they’ve been contemplating on is an “exploratory idea” where the obligatory involvement of an employer to pay their workers is required.

It seems that retiring nowadays is a hard thing to do especially since one might face more financial problems due to inadequate resources. It’s good to know that some people have the initiative to try and deliberate upon an answer that will greatly affect a lot of people in the coming years.

Statements are provided in two fashions. You can receive an automatic yearly mailed statement. These are sent to anyone working, or anyone who used to work and is aged 25 years and older. If you need a statement at a separate time or before you qualify for an automatic mailing, you can receive one at any time as long as you are currently working.

You are strongly advised to keep your Social Security Statement in a very safe place with other essential paperwork because you can use it in numerous ways. This statement can help you when taking care of your financial planning. This is because the statement provides benefit estimates that are essential to planning your future. Once you combine your Social Security benefits, savings, investments and even pension, you can begin planning for a solid financial future.

Another reason your Social Security Statement is critical is because it can help you verify that you have reported all earnings correctly. In addition, it helps you ensure that the Social Security Administration has an accurate record of essential information about you, such as your name and date of birth. If there is a mistake on such pertinent information, you may experience a delay when attempting to receive the Social Security benefits. Once you notice a mistake, contact the Social Security Administration and request it to be adjusted to ensure that this does not cause any delay.

Lastly, your statement provides information about protection you earn with Social Security. It shows how you are building protection, just in case you should become disabled or die even before you reach the retirement age.

Most of the specific requirements for eligibility to receive Social Security benefits greatly vary based on the type of benefits you are looking into, the age of the person that is seeking these benefits, and if you are attempting to claim benefits as a dependant or a survivor. If you are looking to claim as a dependant or survivor, then another factor to help determine eligibility is the age of the worker that you are claiming off of.

The general requirement that holds true for all Social Security programs (not including the Supplemental Security Income or SSI) is that the person who worked to earn the Social Security benefits and whose earnings are being claimed upon must have worked in what is known as “covered employment” for a sufficient number of years to be eligible. This means they earned enough of what is known in the Social Security system as “work credits.” In the most common situations, this is referring to at least ten years of eligible work.

To start claiming your Social Security retirement benefits you must be between the ages of 62 and 70.

In the past the Social Security Administration considered the age of retirement to be 65. At this age you would be able to begin accepting retirement benefits from Social Security. The amount of these benefits was determined on the basis that the majority of workers would chose to stop working a full time job and want to start claiming their retirement benefits at the age of 65.

In recent times, however, people have been living longer, healthier lives. This makes the Social Security Administration feel that the age for retirement is changing because people are choosing to persue active work at and through the age of 65. On this basis, they determined that the policy should adjust the age that you are able to claim full retirement benefits. They did that by raising the age that you can claim full retirement benefits at to age 67. Note well that this change only applies to anyone born after the year 1960. If you were born before 1938 then you can still fully retire at age 65. The SSA is attempting to gradually increase this age from 65 to 67 by rolling it out over many years based on the year you were born in.

The Social Security Administration tells that the calculations to determine how much you are entitled to are, and I quote, “complicated.” And we trust these people with our money…why? They say that the amount of your benefits are determined by an elaborate formula based entirely on the raw mean (average) of the yearly earnings that you reported from the time you began working.

Just in case this is not difficult enough to understand, the SSA claims that they calculate your average earnings on a different scale based on your age. If you turn 62, or should you have become disabled on or before 12/31/1978, then the Social Security Administration averages the dollar value of your previous earnings, and then bases the value of the monthly benefits that you are awarded on this amount.

Now, should you reach age 62 or become disabled any time after 1/1/1979, then the SSA divides your earnings up into two specific categories. These categories are determined by the year you earned your wages that you are looking to claim on. The first category includes all wages that you earned before 1951. These wages are credited with the true dollar value up to a certain amount per year. The second category includes all wages earned from the year 1951 on. These years have annual limits placed on earning credits – regardless of how much you have acquired during this time.

There is a very simple answer to this very common question. The short answer is – yes, you absolutely can. In fact, this is very common. If you are past the retirement age and chose to still work you are able to do so without forfeiting any Social Security benefits. There is no limit to the amount money you can earn when working past retirement either.

Now, on the contrary, if you seek to collect your Social Security benefits prior to the age of full retirement as determined by the Social Security Administration, then you will lose $1 of your benefits for every $2 that you earn during a set yearly period. This limit applies solely to any income that you earn while working. It does not count passive earnings from investments, pension plans or savings accounts. Even if you have a source of rental income, this will not count toward the penalty. These sources of income will not affect the amount of Social Security benefits you receive. Be sure to keep this in mind before attempting to claim Social Security before you have reached the age of full retirement.

The basic answer to this question is yes, but there are certain conditions that need to be met for this to be true. You qualify for your former spouses’ benefits if both your and your former spouse are age 62 or older. For the opportunity to claim, you and your spouse must have been married for at least ten years. In addition, you must have been divorced for at least two years in most cases. This rule does not apply if your former spouse was eligible for, and claiming retirement benefits from before you were divorced. If this was not the case, you will be eligible to claim their benefits once your former spouse reaches the age of full retirement and is eligible to start collecting their retirement benefits. Note, that they do not have to actually claim their benefits for you to be eligible, as long as they qualify to start collecting then you are eligible to start collecting your spousal benefits.

If you are collecting benefits from your former spouse’s work and later remarry another person then you will lose your right to these benefits. You may qualify to claim dependant benefits from your new spouse’s work. In the case that you divorce your new spouse, as long as you remained married to them for ten years, you can either claim from your first, or second spouse.

The first thing you need to know about attempting to claim disability under Social Security is that it is granted based on your inability to work because of any outstanding medical condition that is disabling you. To be considered disabled by the Social Security Administration you must be entirely unable do the work you previously did. It is at the dicretion of the SSA if you would have been able to adjust or not to your previous employment, or any other form of work because of your medical condition.

Another factor when being considered is that your disability must either last, or is expected to last a year for you to qualify. This is also true if your medical condition is believed to be leading to your death.

You can not claim disability benefits unless you are fully disabled in the eyes of the SSA. This means that you are not partially disabled or you are disabled for a short period of time. As long as all of these qualifications are met… well then you need to meet even more qualifications. These are outlined in the document “Disability Benefits” (This is document number 05-10029 put out by the SSA.) The SSA strongly suggests that you read over this document to better understand their decision process.

However, you should be clear about one thing: Social Security is not the same as welfare. One determining factor in whether social security benefits are paid to an individual or his family is whether that person has previously contributed something to the system. If your case is not 100% clear cut, or even if it is, an experienced lawyer can help you get the best deal.

Lawyers that specialize in social security disability claims are standing by to help you interpret your situation and inform you of your legal rights pertaining to social security denials and appeals. Generally speaking, social security disability lawyers and attorneys are very knowledgeable. They can help you ensure that you follow all the rules.

But are they honest?

In a word, yes. The vast majority of Social Security disability lawyers is very honest and ethical. They are highly experienced professionals who specialize in handling Social Security disability claims and appeals. They have a vast knowledge of the Social Security laws. So don’t worry, approach a Social Security lawyer so he can provide you with helpful legal assistance in filing a social security disability claim.

The Social Security Administration strictly governs what lawyers may charge you. Any fee you pay to a Social Security lawyer must be approved by the Social Security Administration.

So give it a try, contact a Social Security lawyer today!

According the Social Security Administration, it is not permissible at this time to claim more than one benefit at any given time. This is regardless of if you qualify for multiple types of benefits at the same time. You are not entitled to claim more than one type of Social Security benefit at once. If you do find yourself in this situation, as per current policy, the Social Security Administration will award you only the highest benefit that you qualify for, but they put a strict emphasis on that you can never claim more than one benefit at once.

Because the Social Security Administration will not let you claim multiple benefits at once, but will allow you to accept the highest benefit that you qualify for, you should do extensive research into which benefit this applies to. This will help you ensure that you are receiving the largest possible amount of money that you are entitled to.

Once you have done that, you should attempt to claim only that Social Security benefit from the SSA. Always ensure that you conduct your due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any decision that will impact the rate of your Social Security benefit payout.

According to the Social Security Administration many situations impact if your Social Security disability benefits are taxable. They say that most people who get the Social Security disability benefits will pay tax on them, while others will not. Well that sure clarifies it! Some more digging into the topic shows that the Social Security Administration says that you must pay federal taxes on these benefits I you are filing a federal tax return as an individual and your income exceeds $25,000. Should you be filing a joint federal tax return, then you must pay tax on these benefits if you and your spouses join income exceeds $32,000.

Your best bet to get more information on this topic, and hopefully a clearer answer would be to call the Internal Revenue Service directly. They put out a publication known as “Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits.” (This is publication number 915.) You are also able to have federal taxes directly withheld from your benefits check. The Social Security Administration does not have the ability or authority to withhold local, or state taxes from your benefit payments. This is most commonly because many states and local jurisdictions do not tax Social Security benefits. For more information about this be sure to contact your state or local region taxation branch for further clarification about if this applies to you or your area.

There are various types of benefits available under the Social Security System. These benefits have been designed so as to meet the different types of needs that various people may have. Some of these various benefits include:

1. There is a state pension available for people who have reached retirement age.
2. If you are the parent of a disabled child, then you may be eligible to receive Social Security Child Benefits.
3. For those employees who have to take an extended leave of absence from their job due to illness, there is the Statutory Sick Pay.
4. Those persons who are out of work and seeking a new job may be eligible to receive the Job Seeker’s Allowance.

As you can see, there really are a wide variety of benefits that are available from the Social Security Administration. Of course, there is also a set of guidelines that clearly state who and who is not eligible for each type of benefit. In order to find out whether or not you are eligible for any of these benefits you will need to go through an application process.