Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits

About 9 out of 10 Americans 65+ receive Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits. But there's lots to learn about this government program that could put more money into seniors' pockets and pocketbooks. In this interview, Mary Beth Franklin, Certified Financial Planner and Contributing Editor of InvestmentNews, explains what you need to know to maximize your Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits.

Time Stamps
0:00 Introduction to Mary Beth Franklin and her Social Security book
1:40 How important is Social Security to retirees?
2:11 How important is it to decide when to start collecting Social Security benefits?
2:50 When you retire is not always when you should start collecting Social Security benefits
3:25 The Social Security Administration won’t tell you the best time you should start collecting benefits
4:20 How are Social Security benefits calculated?
6:06 What is the Social Security break-even calculation?
7:46 Married couples should look at how to maximize the Social Security survivor benefits for the remaining spouse
8:47 60% of people claim Social Security benefits before their Full Retirement Age (FRA)
9:30 You have to be healthy and wealthy enough to delay collecting Social Security benefits
11:00 There’s nothing wrong with collecting Social Security benefits at age 62 unless you’re still working
12:16 The Social Security benefits earnings cap
13:48 The Social Security benefits earnings cap as you near Full Retirement Age (FRA)
Mary Beth Franklin is a Certified Financial Planner, Contributing Editor of InvestmentNews, and author of the newly updated Maximizing Your Social Security Retirement Benefits. In this lengthy interview, the expert explains what you need to know to maximize your Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits.

Deciding when to retire may not be up to you, but deciding when to collect Social Security is. Americans can start collecting Social Security (#socialsecurity) at age 62, but Mary Beth explains why waiting is better if you can afford to do so. She lays out how your monthly benefits increase the longer you wait up until age 70. In fact, you can take in as much as 76% more per month by waiting. The difference between claiming 75% of your benefits at the earliest age of 62 and waiting until 70 to collect the maximum benefit, worth 132% of your full-retirement-age amount, translates into a 76% increase in monthly Social Security (#socialsecurity) income for the rest of your life. For every month you wait to collect Social Security (#socialsecurity) beyond your full retirement age, you earn delayed-retirement credits worth 0.66% for a total of 8% per year — up to age 70. That's a guaranteed 8% per year in delayed retirement credits. Try getting that from your savings account!

The book author explains how Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits are calculated and how you can perform your Social Security (#socialsecurity) break-even calculation: how long you have to live to make delaying your Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits worthwhile. She talks about how most people don't wait until their Full Retirement Age (FRA) to collect Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits, and how it's fine to do so unless you're still working. She explains how the complicated earnings cap can keep you from getting your benefits if you're still earning money elsewhere, even if it's very little income. She explores how the Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits earnings cap increases as you get close to your Full Retirement Age (FRA), and how to take advantage of that.

Mary Beth Franklin teaches is that it's okay to wait to collect your Social Security (#socialsecurity) benefits if you don't think you need the income right away and that your health will allow you to live long enough to make the delay pay off. She also explains how married couples should not just try to optimize their benefits at the moment but look at how to maximize the Social Security (#socialsecurity) survivor benefits for the remaining spouse when one partner passes.

Jeff Hoyt is SeniorLiving.org’s Editor-in-Chief.

To see the second part of this interview, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKmd5a1yCMQ

To see the third part of this interview, watch https://youtu.be/A1Qw-csbOS0

To learn why Seniors don't have to worry about paying back old debts, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDlyud-vG90

To learn how seniors can avoid paying taxes, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv7Om8SAIAM

Mary Beth Franklin's book Maximizing Your Social Security Retirement Benefits is available at https://www.investmentnews.com/store/product/maximizing-social-security-retirement-benefits/

For how to deal with debt collectors, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Xg5O0dJAY

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Видео Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits канала SeniorLiving.Org