There are 2,728 rules in the Social Security handbook and a few million regulations about how those rules are managed. It's safe to say that no single person on the planet knows them all. Compounding the confusion is that Social Security staffers aren't allowed to give you personal advice, meaning you have to ask about something before they can tell you about it. It's a Catch-22. If you don't know that a benefit exists, you don't know to ask about it. So here are some things that you might not know, by the numbers:
4/29/2016
The date on which the file and suspend strategy goes away. Until April 29, 2016, if one spouse is full retirement age (66 or older), he or she could file for benefits but immediately suspend collecting them. This enables that person to grow his or her own benefits by 8 percent a year. It also allows his or her spouse to file for spousal benefits off the filed-and-suspended record. After April 29, 2016, this will no longer be the case. After this date, if a spouse suspends his or her benefits, benefits for everyone involved – including the other spouse or qualifying dependent – will be suspended, too. If you are eligible for the file-and-suspend strategy, it behooves you to get busy and claim it before it expires. While some see the upcoming change as closing a loophole to save Social Security some money, file-and-suspend is a benefit that is worth about $60,000 and it's going away. If you are eligible for it, take care of this today.
4.4 million
That's the number of minor children who collect benefits from their retired parents' -- or grandparents' -- Social Security accounts. The Pew Research Center said that 7.7 million U.S. children — one in 10 — lived in the same household as one of their grandparents in 2011. In most cases, that meant living in their grandparent’s home. If you legally adopt your grandchildren, Social Security will pay benefits to them when you file for retirement benefits or become disabled. Even step-grandkids are eligible. Benefits are available until they turn 18, but can continue until age 20 if they are still in high school.
$15,720
There are downsides to claiming benefits before your full retirement age -- chief among them is that you will significantly reduce what you get for the rest of your life. But there is another downside to collecting benefits while you are still working: Half of everything you earn over $15,720 is deducted from your Social Security check until you turn 66. So you are basically working for even less Social Security. Try to file as late as you can. How significant is this "for the rest of your life" statement? A 65-year-old woman has a 50 percent chance of living another 20 years to age 85, according to an online calculator maintained by the Society of Actuaries. And a 65-year-old man has a 50 percent chance of hitting 82.
8 percent
That's how much your lifetime benefits will increase per year if you don't collect them until you are 70. So from 66 to 70 you can get another 32 percent above what you have gotten had you filed at 66. File as late as you can.
82.5 percent
This is the claim you hope you never need to file. Parents of working adult children who predeceased them can qualify for Social Security benefits based on a son’s or daughter’s work history. One parent may receive 82.5 percent of the deceased child’s benefit and two parents can receive 75 percent. To qualify, parents must have been dependent on the worker when he or she died.
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