The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley — Robert Burns To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough As with many great ideas, in practice the concept of exclusive electronic delivery of Social Security benefit statements seems to have gone “agley”. Apparently a very small percentage of folks actually took advantage of the online version of these statements (primarily my client base, I’m guessing). As a result of this and apparent feedback from customers, advocates and Congress, Social Security is resuming the physical delivery of paper Social Security Statements. The new delivery schedule will be based upon the age of the potential Social Security benefit recipient, with statements being sent automatically 3 months before your 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, 55th, and 60th birthdays. You will only receive this statement if you are not currently receiving Social Security benefits AND […]
social security statement
Be Careful When Using Your Social Security Statement for Planning
Recently I received an interesting email from a reader (thanks, JRT!) that illustrates one of the problems with interpreting your statement from Social Security on a regular basis. Part of the email follows: I am just reaching 66 and have been self employed for many years. I have worked continuously for 30+ years reaching $100,000 or so per year but have been slipping into retirement and last years income dropped to $70000. SS has already reduced my monthly payment estimate. It appears that if I postpone beginning taking my SS retirement I will lose in the long term because each year I have reduced income before retiring my SS distribution will be less. For instance if I defer to 70 and have 4 years with zero income won’t I be hurting myself??? In the situation described above, what the reader is describing is the amounts he is seeing on statements […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
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And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.