Boomers and Social Security

By Stephen Clifton, Director
Social Security Office, Greeley.

While some baby boomers
expected to retire at one of the
traditional milestones such as age
62, the current economy is forcing
many to re-evaluate their plans.
Many are wondering if they
should work longer or how their
Social Security benefit—or their
spouse’s benefit—would be affected
if they continued working.
To help find answers, Social
Security has published a fact sheet
called When To Start Receiving
Retirement Benefits. You can read it
online at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10147.html.

As most workers know, your
choice of a retirement age can
dramatically affect your monthly
Social Security benefit amount. If
you choose to start receiving benefits
early, the monthly payments
will be reduced based on the
number of months you receive
benefits before you reach your full
retirement age.
The rate of reduction will
depend on the year you were born.
The maximum reduction at age 62
will be: 25 percent for people born
between 1947 and 1958; 30
percent for people born after 1959.
If you wait until your full retirement
age, your benefits, your
benefits will not be reduced. And if
you choose to delay retirement,
your benefit will increase up to
eight percent a year from your full
retirement age until age 70.
However, there is no additional
benefit increase after you reach age
70, even if you continue to delay
taking benefits.

Social Security also has created
several retirement planners to help
you make an informed decision. We
have an online calculator that can
provide immediate retirement benefit
estimates to help you plan for retirement.

The online Retirement
Estimator uses information from
your own earnings record and lets
you create “what if” scenarios. You
can, for example, change your “stop
work” date or expected future earnings
to create and compare different
retirement options.

Source= http://www.socialsecurity.gov/

Kristin Kopp ~ President & Founder

952-292-5801