Get What's Yours

Author: Laurence J. Kotlikoff
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1476772290
Language: English
Formats: Kindle,Hardcover,Audible, Unabridged,MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged,
Category: Books,Politics & Social Sciences,Politics & Government, Amazon Prime,

Social Security law has changed! Key secrets may require action before April 30, 2016. If you or your spouse turns 66 by then, you should read this book, and everyone should read updates on the authors' website, GetWhatsYours.org.

But even with the law changes, the book explains numerous secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits that you can’t get anywhere else. And above all, Get What's Yours explains the lifetime payoff from waiting as long as possible.

To navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits, you could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules). But Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman do the navigating for you, explaining Social Security benefits in an easy to understand and user-friendly style. What you don’t know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some individual retirees thousands in lost income every year.

Get What’s Yours covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples, by divorced retirees, by widows and widowers, among others. It explains what to do if you’re a retired parent of dependent children, disabled, or an eligible beneficiary who continues to work, and how to plan wisely before retirement. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments.

Many personal finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the thorough, authoritative, yet conversational analysis found here.

Social Security law has changed! Key secrets may require action before April 30, 2016. If you or your spouse turns 66 by then, you should read this book, and everyone should read updates on the authors' website, GetWhatsYours.org.

But even with the law changes, the book explains numerous secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits that you can’t get anywhere else. And above all, Get What's Yours explains the lifetime payoff from waiting as long as possible.

To navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits, you could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules). But Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman do the navigating for you, explaining Social Security benefits in an easy to understand and user-friendly style. What you don’t know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some individual retirees thousands in lost income every year.

Get What’s Yours covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples, by divorced retirees, by widows and widowers, among others. It explains what to do if you’re a retired parent of dependent children, disabled, or an eligible beneficiary who continues to work, and how to plan wisely before retirement. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments.

Many personal finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the thorough, authoritative, yet conversational analysis found here. Get What's Yours

Given the choice of learning 3000 pages of Social Security law and tens of thousands of regulations, or having two front teeth pulled without anesthetic, most would choose the latter, if only because it's over quicker. Get What's Yours understands this. It presents the basic background, basic facts, basic tips, and even the basic SSA form, in an environment of real scenarios. The asides are cheerful or acidic, as appropriate, and it mitigates the confusion by constantly hammering at the basics. At first I thought it annoying, but slowing down, I realized I needed to see it all again, in action, to help it sink in. It also means you can go right to the section that concerns you, because the foundation points will be there (again).

This book is necessary for three reasons: Social Security is not intuitive, and sometimes makes no sense at all. Two, Americans act against their best interests, leaving all kinds of money on the table. Three, there is usually a "however" with Social Security rules.

Worse, Social Security is now up to three million requests every week, but Congress keeps cutting back budget, staff, hours and whole offices. Combine that with the complexity factor, and the authors conclude you cannot trust what Social Security advises. Great.

The way we go after Social Security says two things: Americans are poorer than they pretend, and they don't know how much they're giving up. Only about 3% wait until age 70 to claim, where the figures show a dramatic, peak difference (76%) over claims at 62, when the biggest group files - for the least amount offered. As an aside, there is an annual survey that always says the same thing: nearly 50% of Americans couldn't raise an emergency $2500 in 30 days, not from savings or even from friends and family.

Right off the bat, GET WHAT'S YOURS makes it clear how important it is to understand what benefits you deserve--and the pitfalls of making the wrong choice. Using an example couple, the 3 authors note that if that couple "make the right decisions, they can increase the value of their lifetime Social Security "asset" by more than $400,000." In other words, it's really critical to understand the rules.

Through simple charts, the authors point out that millions of Americans are making a BIG MISTAKE by claiming benefits too early. Although the system is supposed to be "neutral," that is not actually the case, the authors point out. A huge percentage of the populace is making the wrong decision. Probably, they point out, is that "lots of people need whatever money they can get as soon as they can get it."

So, it's important to understand the key rules that fit your situation.

I have always been confused about what the rules were for Social Security benefits. When should I file? How much will I get? Will I be taxed? I was especially confused about the spousal rules, and this book answered, in great detail, exactly what I needed to know. Besides explanation on spousal benefits, there are also chapters to cover special situations, such as parent benefits.

I found the most valuable chapters the "Secrets" chapters: Chapter 16, "50 Good News Secrets to Higher Lifetime Benefits," and Chapter 17, "25 Bad News Gotchas that can Reduce Your Benefits Forever." If there are just 2 parts of this book that you read--read these two chapters! They are really important.

The authors point out that Social Security employees are officially encouraged to sign you up and get your signature whenever you come in to an office and inquire about filing for benefits.

I really needed the information in this book. Although I tell myself I didn't need it repeated four or five times over, I probably did. Each time I read a familiarly phrased core principle, I had a more thorough understanding. The authors apologize for the repetitiveness here, but repeat themselves they do. Perhaps they're trying to make sure those of us who have historically made bad financial decisions get the Social Security choices right. (And that is the main reason I am reading this book now, at this point in my life, as a 50-something. Having failed to save any money, I can at least gain a good understanding of the benefits of my fall-back retirement plan which is Social Security alone, without embellishment.) So be prepared for some not-so-subliminal behavior modification efforts tucked into these pages. Given the numbers of us who act impulsively, according to the authors' statistics, perhaps we do need to be whacked with this information repeatedly and hard.

This book is also for people who think they know everything there is to know about Social Security choices. The authors spend a great deal of time debunking lovingly held misconceptions that could cost you a lot of money. They also point out that the standard advice handed out by Social Security workers on the phone and online is usually wrong and there is no liability on their part for being wrong and there's no recourse on your part (short of paying back the benefit) if you get it wrong because of Social Security's own advice.

The authors also point out that we all think we're smarter than we are. So you can drop this tendency into your next insufferably boring lunchtime conversation with your much dumber colleagues -- it's called 'illusory superiority.' Makes you sound smart when you say it, doesn't it?

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  Get What's Yours
  Besides addressing these and other issues, this revised edition contains a chapter explaining how Medicare rules can shape Social Security decisions.

  
  

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