A Lasting Way to Show Your Love
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: May 19, 2016
Springtime is upon us and love is in the air! Valentine’s Day may be but a memory and the storefront displays have moved on to new holidays, but you can still express your feelings in a meaningful way.
A powerful way to prove your love is to show that you care about a family member or friend’s future. Everyone you love probably wants to enjoy retirement. The decisions of when and how to retire require preparation and careful planning.
Social Security is a safety net that keeps millions of elderly Americans out of poverty. At www.socialsecurity.gov/planners/retire you’ll find valuable resources that you can access 24 hours a day from your preferred location.
Showing your love might take the form of letting a family member know when a realistic retirement date might be. Our online Estimator offers an instant and tailored estimate of your future Social Security benefits based on your earnings record. You can plug in different anticipated yearly earnings to discover different retirement options and learn how your benefits could increase if you work longer.
While it’s just an estimate, it can also be vital information before your loved one puts the down payment on the beach condo, boat, or moves to Tuscany. Or they may want to open that dream business after retirement. It’s all possible when you plan ahead. Give the Retirement Estimator a try today at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.
Love comes in many forms. Helping someone prepare for retirement will improve the overall quality of their life for years. Spread the love, direct your loved ones to www.socialsecurity.gov.
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Tags: online services, retirement
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Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
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Richie p.
That sound good and keep ti go all
the time.
Trudy M.
I intended to work until I was 70 years old but I didn’t make it to 60 years old! If it wasn’t for Disability income at first and now that I am over 65, Social Security, I would be living on the streets or worse. Whatever nest egg I had at the time I became disabled rapidly disappeared until my Social Security Disability kicked in leaving me with no liquid assets. I feel for my children and grandchildren because they probably won’t have this safety net to draw on.
GOBIND H.
A beautifully written article reminding each of us how important a “guaranteed, lifetime Retirement Income is” At the death of the wage earner, the spouse (if she/he has no retirement income of their own) continue to receive one-half of the retirement income of the wage earner.Also, there is a periodic increase in the retirement income based on the CPI.
Retirement income, typically, consists of one;s personal savings, company pension, and Social Security. For most of the current working population, company pension is a non-existent; personal savings, Roth IRA, Tax deductible Traditional IRA, 401k, 403b plans provide an opportunity to build retirement funds; however, from my personal and professional experience, I have observed greater percentage of the working population electing not to participate in the IRA accounts, or participating minimally in their 401k account, which gets cashed out soon upon the termination of their job. Social Security contributions provide “Guaranteed Lifetime Income”, regardless of the market volatility!! Not only does it provide lifetime retirement income to the wage earner, upon their death, their spouses continue to receive for their lifetime, one half of the retirement income, if the spouse does not have their own SS retirement income, or if their SS income is less than the one half of their spouses) If one was receiving monthly $3000 SS income, in today’s low interest environment, it is equivalent of having a capital sum of $1,800,000 (at 2% it will provide interest $36,000 yearly) If the interest rate were to double to 4%, then too, it would equal to $900,000!! I see very few people who have successfully saved that much money on their own.
All of us need to aggressively save from our very first paycheck until our very last paycheck to guarantee ourselves a comfortable, worry free, life time retirement income. Got have Gold to enjoy Golden years of Retirement..
Korri R.
My husband passed away May 2014. I am in a State Sanctioned Retirement program so the Windfall elimination applies to my Social Security.
I am on planning taking my husband’s Social Security but I want to verify that the windfall elimination does not apply to widow’s benefits.
Carl
If your retirement is subject to WEP, any widow’s benefit is subject to GPO–Government pension Offset. 2/3 of your state pension is applied against the widow benefit.
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf
AK
(1) If I wait until age 70 to draw my social security benefits, does my spouse (who will then be age 63) receive 37.5% of my FRA (age 66) benefits … or 37.5% of my maximum (age 70) benefits?
(2) Once we both sign up for social security benefits, will my spouse and I (while we are both still living) be receiving TWO sets of benefits simultaneously … mine (full amount) and hers (37.5% of my benefits)?
(3) In the event I precede my wife in death, will my spouse’s benefits be increased to the same amount of benefits I was receiving until my death … or will she continue to receive just the same (lower) amount she had been receiving while I was still alive?
Manuel S.
Special circumstances, my state retirement will be about 1/2 of the benefit amount I was expecting because my employer failed to honor my Tier 1 Choice at time of hire 26 years ago.
Would I be eligible for an increase in my Social Security Benefit amount.
Also would I be able to Donate my Benefit to my Wife if I pass away before she does.
I am due to retire this December from state service of 27 + years.
State Tier 1 Error caught about six years at which time we were allowed to convert from Tier 2 to Tier 1 deductions.
MS
R.F.
Thank you for reaching out to us Manuel. Unlike workers in the private sector, not all state and local employees are covered by Social Security. Some are covered only by their public retirement pension program; some are covered by both public pensions and Social Security; and some are covered by Social Security only. Each state has a State Social Security Administrator who can provide additional information about Social Security and Medicare coverage. Please read our publication “How State And Local Government Employees Are Covered By Social Security And Medicare” for more information.
Also, a pension based on work that is not covered by Social Security (for example, Federal civil service and some State or local government agencies, such as police officers and some teachers) may cause the amount of your Social Security benefit to be reduced. Your benefits can be reduced based on one of two provisions,the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. We hope this information helps.
Grace
If you go and try to get social security they treat you very bad. Make you feel as if they are giving it from their own pocket. This is what you get after working 40 or 50 years and being contributing to social security. Sad.
StillLearnin'
Hi Grace, I’m sorry that was your experience. Hope it gets better. The Glendora, CA SOC office is wonderful from the moment you walk in the door until you leave. Parking is easy in their lot. Everyone is respectful, knowledgeable, and warm. Mr. Serrano is so knowledgeable, thorough, patient, and kind. The security officer is great and kept his eye open to a pregnant woman who appeared to be having trouble breathing as she was leaving. He stepped out to check on her and helped her. I hope your future experiences with SOC change to all positive. Best of luck to you. Take care of yourself. God bless you and yours.
Carol D.
I can’t believe the blogs that I just read. I am so sick an d tired of this kind of attitude from so many people about so many things nowadays. I for one am very happy about my social security. I had to go on disability first because of multiple problems that made it impossible for me to work any longer. A lot of people in our country need to grow up and appreciate the many things that they have available when they get in trouble. Just wait until some stupid politician manages to cancel these things.
Mary
Hi carol
I totally agree with you what you said in your post about social security as like your self. .I too was on disability and when I became the age of 65 2 years ago..I was automatically rolled over to social security and not complaining at all..as I do not know where I would be without it…so yes…I totally agree with you that people in this world should be happy they get social security and pension plans…and what else they may receive…people are so greedy these days..they want and want..
Have a great day Carol and nice to meet you…
Your new friend
Mary
Burt O.
I agree #1000 %. It’s no different than medicare. The government can’t wait for us to die & go away so they can line their pockets with $. Our $.
Mickey
Plan retirement and “show your love?”
You force this shitty plan down our throat, and then try and market it like we have a fucking choice?
Fuck off and die please….now….hurry
Grateful f.
What language…angry man. Be grateful for Social Security and what you have.