Social Security Rules Women May Not Know: Survivor Benefits, Retirement Age & Taxes (Ep. 124)
Social Security rules can look straightforward until survivor benefits, retirement ages, taxes, and your personal history start overlapping.
Understanding where these rules came from can help you recognize which details deserve a closer look before you file.
In this episode, I look back at how Social Security has changed and why that history still affects women making retirement decisions today. I explain why some people have two different full retirement ages, how survivor and divorced-spouse benefits developed, and how rules around remarriage have changed. I also cover Social Security taxation, cost-of-living adjustments, and several numbers that haven’t kept pace with inflation.
Key points:
- Why retirement and survivor benefits can have different full retirement ages for the same person
- How survivor benefits developed and why a spouse’s filing age can affect the surviving spouse
- Why a 10-year marriage remains an important threshold when considering benefits from an ex-spouse
- How Social Security taxation thresholds have remained unchanged even as incomes and costs have risen
- Why understanding today’s Social Security rules can help women make more informed retirement decisions
- And more!
Resources:
- Get Your FREE Simply Retirement Roadmap
- Ultimate Guide to Women’s Social Security Success
- #24 – Understanding Spousal (and Ex-Spousal) Social Security Benefits
- #37 – Top 5 Questions on Social Security Survivor Benefits
- #47 – Three Game-Changing Social Security Strategies
- #54 – How Social Security Gets Taxed: What You Need to Know
- #63 – Social Security Planning After Divorce: Crucial Rules and Mistakes to Avoid
- #109 – Social Security Rules That No Longer Apply
Connect with Eric Blake:
- www.TheSimplyRetirementPodcast.com
- Join the Simply Retirement Newsletter
- Ask a Question or Suggest a Topic for the Podcast
- Blake Wealth Management
- YouTube
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