Social Security Info

Posted by Richard on November 7, 2024

Ask any financial advisor when you should claim your Social Security and they will tell you to wait until full retirement age. The reason is simple: You will get more money. Currently, the full retirement age for those born in 1955 or later is 67. For those born earlier, it is 66.

But people can claim benefits as early as 62, and there are some situations where that might make sense. Necessity is one of the top reasons. If you find yourself in a situation where you can’t work or have a shortened life expectancy, claim Social Security, according to Mass Mutual. Some may find that they can work, but need Social Security to stay out of debt and make sure bills are paid. In that case, you could claim and then suspend benefits once your situation improves.

Some happier reasons to claim early:
* You will never need the money. You could use your benefit to do good in the world.
* You want to just work part-time. Social Security can supplement your part-time income. Just be aware that you will get reduced benefits for the rest of your life.
* You have a solid marriage and your spouse is eligible for a larger benefit. In this case, the lower-earning spouse could claim and the higher earner would continue to build the benefit.

Also, if you use the My Social Security portal (ssa.gov/myaccount) to manage your account, there will be some changes coming.

If you created your account before Sept. 18, 2021, you will have to create a new account at login.gov, if you don’t already have one. The federal government established login.gov to identify online account holders. You will also have the option of using other authenticators such as ID.me.

The authentication process sends a one-time number to your email or mobile device. The first time you create your login.gov account, you might have to enter as many as three unique authentication numbers. Pay careful attention to the forms that verify your identity and make sure that every detail is correct. If you have changed phone numbers recently, make sure you type the correct phone number. Once you complete the process, your Social Security login can be done through login.gov. Just click ‘connected accounts’ to go directly to Social Security.