Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Social security questions come up often on this forum. And, then there are debates about when and so forth. This is an interview of Mike Piper, who wrote open social security. I watched a good portion of it and was impressed. He made some interesting points and I definitely learned something. And, his tool is free and there seems to be a fair discussion of how to use it in the course of the video. A number of survivor, spousal benefit scenarios and strategies are also discussed.
Mike also describes the analysis the tool does. The probabilistic analysis that he is doing is particularly useful when a couple is involved as it is looking at the expected survivor benefit scenarios. I found the discussion of Roth conversions in the context of social security strategy also interesting. Also interesting was a rare scenario of delaying social security past 70 (no more than 6 months) to move the payment to a later year, although it is not likely to be very useful to most.
Thanks for sharing! Mike Piper does a great job of explaining many of the questions people have about SS and using his tool. This was extremely helpful and informative. Definitely worth your hour of listening!
I have a Mike Piper Can I Retire book,and need to get the SS one also. His calculator is free and provides alot of information when determining your strategies for claiming, especially when married. I wish he could find a way to address taxes, but he explains why that is not possible with a free calculator.
I only wish he had discussed the Widow's Limit Provision and how that works in detail as every time I think I have it figured out, I end up becoming confused again. Mathjak has been the best at explaining this on the forum, so I will have to do some searching.
Thanks for sharing! Mike Piper does a great job of explaining many of the questions people have about SS and using his tool. This was extremely helpful and informative. Definitely worth your hour of listening!
I have a Mike Piper Can I Retire book,and need to get the SS one also. His calculator is free and provides alot of information when determining your strategies for claiming, especially when married. I wish he could find a way to address taxes, but he explains why that is not possible with a free calculator.
I only wish he had discussed the Widow's Limit Provision and how that works in detail as every time I think I have it figured out, I end up becoming confused again. Mathjak has been the best at explaining this on the forum, so I will have to do some searching.
Would you mind please? Let me give you a scenario. Both spouses claim early at 63. Let's say the benefit is 1400 a month for one and 2200 for the other (made it so no spousal benefits comes into play since that is totally separate from survivor's benefits).
Higher earning spouse dies first before age 67 which is their FRA. Their PIA would have been around approximately 3000 at FRA.
Does the survivor have to wait until FRA @67 to get the 82.5% of 3000 using the Widow's provision? And they would collect their own until age 67? In this case the survivor benefit would be 2475?
If the higher earning spouse collects at age 65 instead of 67, so still early but not as early as 63, and they are getting more than 82.5% of their PIA, then the surviving spouse can get the higher amount, instead of being reduced down to 82.5%?
I apologize if I've made it too confusing. Everytime I think I have it figured out...
Does Mike Piper not discuss it after minute 16? In your scenario, if the surviving spouse waits till his/her FRA, they get PIA of the deceased spouse - even if the deceased spouse claimed at 63 or 65.
Does Mike Piper not discuss it after minute 16? In your scenario, if the surviving spouse waits till his/her FRA, they get PIA of the deceased spouse - even if the deceased spouse claimed at 63 or 65.
They only get the full amount if the deceased spouse waited until FRA. If the deceased spouse took it early, then the survivor benefit is reduced also but there is something like the Widow's Limit provision that allows the lower earning spouse to get up to 82.5% of the PIA even if the deceased spouse took it early and gets less than the 82.5%. This Widow's provision is what I am trying to fully understand. Here is something from the SSA about it.
Does Mike Piper not discuss it after minute 16? In your scenario, if the surviving spouse waits till his/her FRA, they get PIA of the deceased spouse - even if the deceased spouse claimed at 63 or 65.
So as long as the survivor doesn't take the survivor benefit early they will get 100% of the deceased spouse PIA. Am I understanding that correctly?
For example both take at 62 and are the same age, higher earner dies at 63. If the survivor waits until 67 FRA, then they can get what would have been the PIA of the deceased spouse. That means that their own SS needs to be enough to supplement other retirement income for the next 4 years in order to get the higher amount. If they chose the survivor's benefit at age 63, 64 etc then it is reduced. Am I on the right track?
So as long as the survivor doesn't take the survivor benefit early they will get 100% of the deceased spouse PIA. Am I understanding that correctly?
For example both take at 62 and are the same age, higher earner dies at 63. If the survivor waits until 67 FRA, then they can get what would have been the PIA of the deceased spouse. That means that their own SS needs to be enough to supplement other retirement income for the next 4 years in order to get the higher amount. If they chose the survivor's benefit at age 63, 64 etc then it is reduced. Am I on the right track?
That’s what I understood. MJ said something similar in the other thread. If survivor waits until their own FRA, they get the PIA of the deceased spouse, irrespective of any early benefit claim by the pre deceased spouse.
There used to be some calculator floating about that ran every scenario. It said I should wait until 70, but my wife should take at 62. I assume that is because I am a couple years older, was the higher earner, so if I croaked she could do the switcheroo.
Obviously most calculators don't take tax issues into account, which are the driving force behind most of our financial planning decisions at the point.
Thanks for sharing! Mike Piper does a great job of explaining many of the questions people have about SS and using his tool. This was extremely helpful and informative. Definitely worth your hour of listening!
I have a Mike Piper Can I Retire book,and need to get the SS one also. His calculator is free and provides alot of information when determining your strategies for claiming, especially when married. I wish he could find a way to address taxes, but he explains why that is not possible with a free calculator.
I only wish he had discussed the Widow's Limit Provision and how that works in detail as every time I think I have it figured out, I end up becoming confused again. Mathjak has been the best at explaining this on the forum, so I will have to do some searching.
It seems that Mike directly answered your question about this at another forum.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
