Have you ever thought that you are
completely secure if you do not earn your livelihood income or have less
salary? If not, then you are actually missing the benefits offered by the
Social Security. Now, what does it mean? Social Security is defined as any
government based system, which offers monetary assistance to people with no or
insufficient income. It can provide benefits in three different sections. These
sections include when you get retirement, if you have suffered from any disability
or lastly when you die. It is important for every person to know his rights
that he gets from the government.
The information related to the Social
Security advantages can be found on the official website of the Social Security
Administration.
What is about the Social Security?
Under federal low on social security unit,
the unemployed, the poor and the disabled are given assistance through SSI. Generally,
this advantage is funded by general tax revenues and provided in the form of
the cash to eligible persons so that they can get help and support to meet
their basic needs of shelter, food, and clothing. When it comes to reaping the
benefits of the Social Security, it is good to do some research work as there
are some requirements to be fulfilled.
Eligibility pre-requisites
When it comes to the eligibility to avail
the Social Security’s benefits, it is essential for a person to provide that
- He is 65 in age or older, disabled or blind.
- He is a student and residing in the abroad on a temporary basis. There are some restrictions applied to it.
- He legally stays in one of the fifty states, Northern Mariana, the District of Columbia, or he is the teen of military parents assigned to full-time duty outside of the United States of America.
- He has resources and income with some limits
- He must also apply for receiving its benefits
It is good to know that the benefits of the
social security are more than an insurance policy. It can be said that the
security related to the social existence provides and adds income for disabled,
retirees and the unemployed.
Factors to consider
When you are going to apply for the
benefits of the Social Security, make sure that you have considered all the
essential factors. When acquiring Social Security, you should take some factors
into account including your life expectancy, marital status, taxes, the plan of
the retirement, and will you or your partner get a government pension. Similarly
to the other types of pensions, SSA has actually decided to give people
different amounts based on when you start payment. If you take it before the
recent full retirement age or FRA of 66, it decreases payments and delaying it
past FRA, it means that you are going to increase your payments.
Tips for couples
As a couple, people can also receive merits
from the Social Security. When you are deciding when and how to claim social
security, they may have some benefits. When it comes to the basic rules, a
couple has more options as compared to a single person. The reason is that each
partner can claim at dissimilar rates, and may be qualified for spousal
benefits. So, if you as a couple want to get the most of the Social Security,
it means that you will have to follow some strategy.
When you are 62-year old, for every year
you delay taking the Social Security, you might get up to 80% more in monthly
payments for the future. A couple can also have a chance to claim the benefits
dependent on their own work record, or 50% of the benefits of the spouse. For
those couples who have big differences in their earnings, getting the spousal
benefit may be superior than claiming their own. An important thing to note is
that you will have less income from the Social Security in the initial years of
retirement so that you can get larger benefits later.
Being a couple, you can do the below-mentioned
things to enhance the benefits.
Take full advantage of the lifetime benefits
A couple with identical ages and incomes
may desire to consider the maximizing of the lifetime benefits by delaying
their claim both. The basic principle is that the longer you delay the
benefits, the bigger the monthly benefits increase. This approach works best
for those couples, who have normal to high life expectancies with identical
earnings. Moreover, those who are thinking to work until age 70 or possess
enough funds to provide any required income throughout the deferral period.
Premature claim due to health issues
The more chances, there are couples, who
want to claim at the early age because of shorter life expectancy. Couples
deciding on a shorter retirement period many go for this option. Normally, one
of the partners would need to survive in their late 80's for the purpose of
increased advantages from deferral to offset the merits sacrificed from age
62-70. While on the other hand, a couple at age 65 can anticipate one spouse to
live to be 85, can claim earlier. Moreover, couples who are unable to afford to
wait or have some reasons to decide on a shorter retirement, may benefit from
this strategy.
Get the best out of the survivor benefit
In this strategy, it targets to enhance the
social security for you and your partner by claiming later. When you die, your
partner is qualified to receive the monthly payment of the social security as a
survivor benefit, if it is greater than your own amount on a monthly basis. However,
if you begin taking the benefits prior to the FRA, you are permanently
restricting your partner’s advantages. This thing is neglected by many people
when deciding to claim at the age 62. In any case, if you delay the claim until
the FRA, then your monthly benefit will accelerate, as a result, it will impact
the surviving spouse’s benefit following your death.
This way, a couple can increase the chances
of higher monthly payments while receiving the social security.
