Page 11 - Senior Times South Central Michigan October 2021 - 28-10

Senior Times - October 2021 Page 11
2. If you were born on the 1st of the month, we figure your benefit (and your full retirement age) as if your birthday was in the previous month. If you were born on January 1st, we figure your benefit (and your full retirement age) as if your birthday was in December of the previous year.
reduce your benefit if you start receiving benefits before your full retirement age. Visit our website to learn how claiming retirement benefits early will affect your benefit amount at www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/earlyretire. html.
When you delay benefits beyond your full retirement age, the amount of your retirement benefit will continue to increase up until age 70. There is no incentive to delay claiming after age 70.
benefits include whether you continue to work, what type of job you had, and if you have a pension from certain jobs.
3. You must be at least 62 for the entire month to receive benefits.
3. Delayed Retirement Age
While Social Security earnings are calculat- ed the same way for most American workers, there are some types of earnings that have additional rules. Earning types with special rules include:
• Farm Work
• Federal Government Employment
• Household Employment
• Military Service
• Nonprofit or Religious Organizations
• Railroad Earnings
• Self-Employment
• State and Local Government Employment
4. The maximum benefit for the spouse is 50 percent of the benefit the worker would receive at full retirement age. The percent reduction for the spouse should be applied after the automatic 50 percent reduction.
If you decide to delay your retirement, be sure to sign up for just Medicare at age 65. If you do not sign up at age 65, in some cir- cumstances your Medicare coverage may be delayed and cost more.
To make an informed choice, consider the following factors as you think about when
to start your Social Security benefits. There are three important things to know about age when thinking about when to start your bene- fits.
Full retirement age is the age when you can start receiving your full retirement ben- efit amount. The full retirement age is 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954. The full retirement age increases gradually if you were born from 1955 to 1960, until it reaches 67. For anyone born 1960 or later, full retirement benefits are payable at age 67. You can find your full retirement age by birth year in the full retirement age chart found at www.ssa. gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction. html or turn to page 24 in this issue of Senior Times.
Find more details at www.ssa.gov/benefits/ retirement/planner/delayret.html.
Wages
• Work Outside the United States
1. Full Retirement Age
Increase for Delayed Retirement
Pensions and taxes have the potential
to impact your retirement benefit as well. Review the resources below on pensions and other factors you should consider:
• Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP): If
Year of Birth
1933-1934
1935-1936
1937-1938
1939-1940
1941-1942
1943 or later
*Note: If you were born on January 1, you
You can choose to keep working beyond your full retirement age. If you do, you can increase your future Social Security bene- fits. Each extra year you work adds another year of earnings to your Social Security record. Higher lifetime earnings can mean higher benefits when you choose to receive benefits.
What else affects your retirement bene- fits? Everyone’s retirement is unique. Beyond deciding when to begin receiving retirement benefits, other factors that can affect your
12-month Rate of Increase 5.5%
should select the previous year.
• •
6.0% 6.5% 7.0% 7.5% 8.0%
you have a pension from a job for which you didn’t pay Social Security taxes, this policy may lower your retirement benefits. Government Pension Offset (GPO): This policy affects benefits as a spouse, widow, or widower if you have a pension from a gov- ernment job for which you didn’t pay Social Security taxes.
Choosing when to begin your retirement benefits is an important and personal decision. No matter your age, be sure to explore the Social Security website at www.ssa.gov to learn your choices and make the best decision. Sometimes, the month you choose to start benefits could mean higher benefit payments for you and your family.
If you've already reached full retirement age, you can choose to start receiving benefits before the month you apply. However, we cannot pay retroactive benefits for any month before you reached full retirement age or more than six months in the past.
Income taxes and your Social Security ben- efits: You might have to pay federal income taxes on your Social Security benefits in cer- tain situations.
2. Early Retirement Age
You can get Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62. However, we’ll
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