Well, it's about time.
It's been over 20 years since then they revised the social security statement
that we've all been accustomed to getting and there's really some wonderful
changes in there that could help to better inform you about what kind of
social security strategy you should use.
But before we get there, subscribe to my channel, hit the notification bell to
be alerted to when we post new videos, I have over 30 years in this business and
why I want to share all I can with you with regards to retirement income, social
security, and this next chapter of life.
So for many of us, We had been accustomed for years of getting the hard copy,
social security statement, mailed to us on an annual basis that green and white
four page folder, it was chalk full of information, not always in the best
scripted way, but a lot of it was there.
Then we stopped getting anything.
Right.
We didn't get any information.
And then all of it was pretty much pushed online to my statement,
I'll get to that in just a minute.
But a few years ago they started, social security started to send out the
hard copy again, but only to those who were over the age of 60, 60, or above
and had yet to claim their strategy.
So this is a real new development and the way that not only they're
delivering the information.
But the information that's being delivered and some of these
changes are really important.
I want to share them with you now, since 1999, we've been
seeing the same statement.
It was time.
It was time for an update, but what's happening is they're slowly
rolling out this new statement.
I believe it's just going to be in the online version.
It will not get mailed to you.
And here in lies, what may the most important piece of information I
can share with you, particularly for those who have not started to claim
their social security, and that is the importance of signing up for my statement.
So we've heard a lot about how people have hacked up people's social
security numbers and gotten money.
Well, if you go on and sign on simply www.social security.gov
forward slash my statement.
Take the five minutes or so that it takes to sign up.
And what you'll end up doing is you'll put a stake in the ground that
this is your social security number and that nobody else can take that.
And you could also, while you're looking at it, you can also see
whether or not anybody's made claims on your social security number.
So I think whenever I speak nationwide on financial literacy, social security, this
is the number one thing I put out there.
Say, as soon as we're done with this session, webinar video, please, if you
haven't already, no matter what age you are, go on and sign up for my statement.
Now, before I get into the statement itself, I want to share with you
a study that was done a couple of years ago by United income
which will give you a sense of how important getting informed really is.
So let me take you to my screen for just a moment.
Now, this was a study that was done by United income back in June of 2019, where
it said Americans lose trillions, claiming social security at the wrong time.
The study concluded that 96% of retirees choose the wrong
year to tap social security.
And most people are better off waiting until 70 to claim though
43% of adults actually are better off claiming before age 70.
The big takeaway from the study was by claiming at the right time,
more than half of retirees would see income in their seventies and
eighties rise by more than 25%.
So it's really important to get informed.
Should you wait until you're 70?
Are you one of the 43% who should take it before age 70 is 62, a good number
for some people maybe, but upwards of almost a third of all people who claim
social security claiming at age 62, for many of them it's the wrong decision.
So I want to give you as much information as possible.
And this is where I think this new statement is really beneficial.
So let's take a look at what this new statement looks like online.
So instead of that green and white four page folder, we were accustomed
to getting there is now a blue and white two pager that is much
better constructed than before.
Here, you can see the first page of it.
And here is the second page.
And what I want to do is to highlight some of the areas that are on here,
that now I have information that I think is really good for you.
And some changes that may be a little questionable here.
Page one, we see the first bullet, which really is says the following.
The retirement disability and survivor benefits below are based on your earnings
that were taxed for social security.
These amounts may be affected if you participate in a retirement plan or
receive a pension based on earnings, not covered by social security.
So here's the first indication on here that you need to be aware of, that
there are certain jobs or employments that are covered by social security
and then there's others that are not.
Typically when pensions from municipalities, you're a teacher,
you're a firefighter um, you have different rules and regulations and
they go into it on this two page.
But here's the first indication that you really need to be taking a look at this.
The last thing that you want to have happen as you go into this
next chapter of life and expect your social security, that you would get a
social security number that is lower than what your expectations are.
So you must be fully informed about the difference between covered and uncovered.
Now here's the next piece I want to alert you.
It talks about your retirement benefits.
And this was sent over by an individual who had had this available online.
He had already had it rolled out.
Um, so that's why some of the information is specific.
It shows here that his full retirement age is 66 and 10 months based on his birth
date and that he could start as benefits anytime between age 62 and 70 now there's
an interesting piece here that they had not identified previously, but you
needed to know about this, you can get it increases on a monthly basis that first
year that you're going to collect social security, but it never been stated before.
And it says for each month you wait to start your benefits.
Your monthly benefit will be higher for the rest of your life.
Now here's a nice change to the statement.
It used to show your retirement benefit estimate based on age 62,
then your full retirement age.
And for this individual is 66 and 10 months.
And then for age 70 Yet the new statements show each year that you're eligible.
So this is a nice addition, so you can make a more informed decision based
on the projections that they make.
Again, you get an 8% guaranteed increase in your benefits.
If you delay, plus you get cost of living adjustments, but the cost
of living adjustments remember, are not calculated into these numbers.
As we move along here on the first page, it talks about disability benefit.
And it clearly states to get benefits.
If you become disability disabled, you need 40 credits of work.
And 20 of these credits had to be earned in the last 10 years.
This individual did not qualify for it.
And it shows so on his statement.
Now this is a great addition to the new statement where it shows the taxes that
you pay into the social security system.
And here we see this individual paid as an employee, almost
$53,000 where the employer paid another, let's call it $53,000.
And some people just don't understand the value of social security.
So think of it this way.
If he's getting the amount that he shows on his statements, if he's
getting approximately $24,000 a year in benefits, which is based on his full
retirement age, it doesn't take much of a math whiz to figure out it's only
about two and a half years before he's collected back what he had paid in taxes.
It really is a great system that is very much undervalued by many.
In this next box it talks distinctly about survivor's benefits.
And here it's important because again, many people are not aware of the different
types of roles that you may take on during retirement and the fact that you
may be eligible, for different amounts, whether it's your own work record
as a divorced spouse, as a survivor.
And here it talks very specifically about what the survivor benefits are.
This is really important to understand, because.
As we can see they are basing their estimates on current law.
And we know that Congress often is looking at revising, enhancing
the social security laws.
So again, legal disclaimer that these numbers, this information is based
on current legislation now, I believe you've worked hard for it, and I really
want you to enjoy it right, retirement.
I want you to max out your social security.
And with over 567 different claiming strategies, it can get really confusing.
So I wanted to share with you, this is my latest book.
Don't outlive your money in retirement, right?
I want to get to you the free, a free chapter on how to maximize
your social security benefits.
So I want you to go to our banner and click on the link to get your
free chapter so that you'll have more information about some of the questions
you need to ask about some of the strategies you may want to employ.
And then once you have that and the new statement, you should be ready
to be as well-informed as you can be to make that decision going forward.
So let's take a look at page two.
Now, remember I talked about earnings that were and were
not covered by social security.
Well, the windfall elimination provision, and the government pension offset,
WEP, and the GPO are very important provisions for you to recognize
how much you and your household will receive for social security.
We have a very popular video on that.
You may want to check it out, um, in our, uh, playlist for social security.
But what's important here is to recognize that there may be offsets depending on
the type of role or job that you had.
And I don't want you to go into this next chapter of life expecting
more than what you're going to get.
Now, here you can see on the second page, a nice overview of the important things
you need to know about your benefits.
Let me go over them, bullet by bullet for you.
As you can see in the first one.
They recognize that social security is just part of your overall income.
For some, it may be more substantial than others, but it says right here, you may
need other savings investments, pensions, or retirement accounts to make sure
you have enough money when you retire.
I think that's great language.
You go to the second bullet.
And this is new language where it does say you need 40 credits of work,
the quality for retirement benefits.
And it is very clearly the amount of your benefit is based on your
highest 35 years of earnings.
That's really important.
Then you go to the next bullet benefits are adjusted for cost of living increases.
This is really important to recognize that not only do you get, if you're
deferring your income and delaying your claim where you can get an
8% increase, but you're also going to get the 8% plus cost of living.
And if you want to go to one of my more popular videos, the massive social
security increase, we talk about the potential for what might happen this
year with cost of living increases.
Another great bullet ,the age you claim benefits will affect the benefit
amount for your surviving spouse.
Most people are not aware of that.
It's important to understand that also the next bullet, if you get retirement
and disability benefits, your spouse and children also may qualify for benefits.
This is wonderful language.
Next, and this is a, a point that we emphasize with our clients, for
those married, divorced to understand that there are other options out
there and it clearly states here.
If you are divorced and were married for 10 years, you may be eligible to claim
benefits on your ex spouses, right?
Really really important.
If you're divorced spouse receives benefits on your record, that does
not affect your or your current spouse has benefit amounts,
tremendous upgrade in the language.
Next bullet for either retirement or spousal benefits, you may be required
to apply for the other benefit as well, really important to talk to you, the
social security personnel or your advisor on this and the next three benefits,
just a bullets just talk about, you know, contact information about where you can
get this type of information for you.
Finally, I go to an area which I actually think is not an enhancement.
Um, there's not full disclosure here, as you can see on your earnings, right.
They've sort of gapped up numbers.
You can see 1971 through 19 80, 19 81 through 1990.
They don't give all of your years.
And as we've talked in other videos here on my channel, it's important to
check those records on an annual basis.
Therefore, what you can do is you can review your full earnings record.
If you go to your social security site and my statement and you can, their
checkout every year that is available for you for even more information about
how to maximize your social security benefits take a look at our playlists.
And I hope that you really get good information from it.