Q & A
What’s the actual dollar impact of maxing my Social Security?
Answer: Social Security may be your largest or one of your largest assets. How you manage it by deciding which benefits to collect and when can make an absolutely huge difference to your lifetime benefits. And those with the highest past covered earnings…
Medigap Vs. Medicare Advantage: Which Is Better?
Answer: Like any massive insurance enterprise, Medicare is confusing.Medicare.gov will give you hundreds of pages of explanation, but luckily, the basics of the program aren’t difficult to grasp. As the cliché goes, however, the devil is in the details. Medicare has four basic parts –…
Does Selling Your House Affect Eligibility For Assisted Living?
Full Question: I’m a realtor who’s listing a client’s home. She is on Social Security and is moving into assisted-living housing. Will the proceeds from the sale of her home affect her eligibility for housing, which is based on her income?…
Why does my spouse’s Social Security Statement show an estimated benefit less than what it would be as a survivor’s benefit?
Full Question: I always thought that my surviving spouse would get an amount equal to my Social Security amount when they reach full retirement age unless their own Social Security is larger. Recently I pulled a statement from the Social Security…
Can I collect Social Security on my husband’s record (he was on SSDI)?
Full Question: My husband began receiving Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits around age 57. He recently died at age 60; I am 65 but still working till my full-retirement age. His SSDI was $450 higher than my SS will be at…
What are the implications of taking Social Security at 62 while still working?
Full Question: My wife will turn 62 in one month. She is working full time and would like to continue until 64. I will be 70 within 5 months, retired but have not applied for Social Security as yet. Can my…
How do you correct Social Security errors?
Full Question: I am 64. I recently reviewed my Social Security summary online and saw that it does not have an accurate listing of my income, so the projections of my benefits aren’t accurate either. How do I correct these errors?…
Wha are the rules for Medicaid qualification?
Full Question: My mother is 78 yrs old and now lives with me full time. She receives about $1700/month from social security and has no savings and no other income. Most of her income is used to help pay for living…
When does a senior citizen have to file a tax return?
Full Question: I am 85 and my income is less than $10,000 a year, not including Social Security. Do I have to file a state or federal tax return? Many of my fellow senior citizens file tax returns even though they…
When do I get credit for my 2013 earnings?
Full Question: I retired effective January 2014, so my current Social Security payment only reflects earnings through 2012. When will my retirement amount include 2013 wages? What do I need to do to make that happen? Answer: Earnings for 2013 are automatically…