If you want to travel and enjoy your leisure time to the utmost you are probably going to have to plan ahead carefully so that you have resources to draw from beyond your Social Security benefit. If you get started early enough and stick to an intelligently conceived plan for an extended period of time you should be able to enjoy your golden years in comfort.

It is however important to gain an understanding of what to expect from Social Security when you are making preparations for your senior years. While this entitlement program will provide you with some income if you pay into it sufficiently, you must recognize the fact that it is not a cure-all.

Many people have questions about Social Security spousal benefits. If you are married both you and your spouse will receive the Social Security benefit that you have each respectively earned throughout your working years.

However, there is a caveat. Let’s say that your earned benefit was less than half as much as your spouse’s benefit. In this case your benefit would be increased to equal half of what your spouse was receiving.

It should also be noted that if your spouse’s benefit is greater than yours and he or she was to pass away you would receive 100% of his or her benefit but you would no longer receive your own.

The best way to gain a thorough understanding of Social Security as you are creating a comprehensive plan for your retirement years is to discuss everything with a professional. Should you be interested in doing so, simply pick up the phone right now to arrange for a consultation with a licensed, experienced South Carolina retirement planning lawyer.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

As you are looking forward to the future it is important to have a good understanding of what you can expect from Social Security. If you want to be able to retire in true comfort you don’t want to rely too heavily on Social Security, but if you are like most people it is certainly going to represent a significant portion of your retirement income.

The first question that many individuals have about Social Security involves when they will become eligible to receive their full benefits. There is no one answer because your age of eligibility depends on the year during which you were born. For people born in 1954 and earlier who are not yet receiving Social Security full retirement age is 66. For individuals born in 1960 and after the full retirement age is 67.

For those born between 1955 and 1959 full retirement age is somewhere between 66 and 67. It goes up from 66 by two months per year. So if you were born in 1955 your full retirement age is 66 years and two months; if you were born in 1956 your full retirement age is 66 years and four months, and so on until 1960 when it becomes 67.

As for the amount of your benefit, that is going to vary depending on how much you paid into the program over the years. There is a maximum at the present time of $38,880 per year. However, the average Social Security payout is under $1100 per month and this underscores why it is so important to plan ahead in advance and not be too reliant on Social Security.

Comprehensive long-term financial planning is the key to a comfortable future. If you do not currently have a plan in place, right now would be a good time to take action to arrange for a consultation with a good SC estate planning lawyer.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you’re like most people, you think of social security as retirement benefits.  And, it is.  However, the social security program has survivorship benefits as well.

Surviving spouse

The surviving spouse (or children who are eligible for benefits, if there is no surviving spouse) is entitled to a lump sum payment of $255.

The social security administration provides benefits for a surviving spouse once she attains a certain age.

The surviving spouse can receive 100% of the deceased spouse’s social security benefits if she is 65 years of age, or, perhaps, older, depending on her date of birth.

If the mandated retirement age isn’t yet met, a smaller social security payment may be received.  For example, a smaller payment is made if the surviving spouse is 63 and the retirement age for her year of birth is 65.

Note that if the surviving spouse gets remarried after the age of 60, retirement benefits from the first spouse continue.

While the surviving spouse cannot collect double payments from social security (i.e. her deceased husband’s and her own), she can choose whichever payment is greater.

Ex-spouses

So long as the marriage was 10 years or more, a divorced spouse of the decedent (who has not remarried before age 60) receives full social security payments for life, starting at age 65.  Reduced benefits are available, starting at age 60.

It is possible for an ex-spouse and a second spouse (i.e. surviving spouse) to both collect social security payments based upon the same decedent spouse.

Children

Children age 18 and younger (or, 19 and still in high school) are entitled to monthly social security benefits.

Disabled children can receive social security survivorship benefits for their lifetime so long as they continue to be disabled.

Other beneficiaries

If the decedent had grandchildren or great-grandchildren or dependent parents (age 62 or older), they may be entitled to social security survivorship benefits as well.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are times when you come across a statistic that really turns your head around, and you can do a double take and question whether or not you actually read it right. One of these is circulating right now with regard to the rapid aging of the population. At the present time there are no less than 10,000 people applying for Social Security each day for the first time due to the fact that the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age. This in itself is a rather eye-opening statistic, but the thing that puts it over-the-top is the fact that this volume of applicants is expected to continue lining up at the Social Security office every day for the next 20 years.

Unfortunately, many baby boomers are not prepared financially. A recent AP-LifeGoesStrong.com poll indicates that 44% of the baby boomers who were interviewed are not confident that they will have the financial resources that they need during their retirement years. Considering this, many people are going to want to do everything possible to get the most out of their Social Security benefit, so let’s take a look at the possibilities.

Full retirement age for Social Security purposes varies depending on the year during which you were born. For those born between 1943 in 1954 full retirement age is 66, and it then goes up by two months per year until 1960. For those born in 1960 and after full retirement age in the eyes of the Social Security Administration is 67.

However, you can maximize your Social Security benefit by working beyond your full retirement age up to the age of 70. Your benefit goes up by 8% per year that you work past your full retirement age. So delaying your retirement is a way to increase your benefit on this level, but it can also help in another way. The 35 years during which you earned the highest wages are used to calculate your benefit. If you were to work for three years beyond your full retirement age at a rate of pay higher than what you were making during any three of the years that would have been used to calculate your potential benefit your actual benefit would rise as a result.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.