Your Social Security

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talking social security this week with our retirement planning professionals
from Class Financial. If you have a question, love to
have you join us this morning, get you on the
air six oh eight three two one thirteen ten at
six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. You can
learn more about Class Financial on their website Clossfinancial dot
com that's Coss Klaasfinancial dot com and their telephone number

(00:20):
six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
No charge for the initial gets to know your appointment
tech Loss Financial. It will be complimentary to you again
the number six oh eight four four two five six
three seven. And joining us this morning are our retirement
planning professionals CJ Closs and Malia Quavis. CJ. How you
doing this week?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Really well? Great to talk with you. Malia, how are
you this morning?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Very good? Happy Halloween, Happy Halloween.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Great to have you back. I hope you went somewhere fun.
I know you're out the last week and and I
hope you didn't.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, just sitting at home doing that, not a whole lot,
but feeling good about it.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that at all.
We've got an exciting important, and I know this is
a conversation that often garners a lot of questions. Don't
forget phone lines or open as we talked this week
about social security and really when's the right time to collect?
We'll get to that in your call. Do all of
that as the program rolls on. Another thing too, as
the program rolls on a really cool feature of the
show with the class Quiz question leak your chance to

(01:15):
win a fantastic prize. This week, our friends from Class
Financial provided a twenty five dollars gift card to Cole's
tell you a little bit later on in the program
how you can win that little tipto. Oftentimes, the question
and answer to the Class Quiz Question the Week comes
up during the program, so it definitely is good to
pay close attention to the program. And speaking of the
Class Quiz Question the week, let's actually take a look
back at last week's show and get the question and

(01:37):
answer there as well.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Maleia, Yes, we had a good conversation about what you
should be putting in place if you haven't already in
terms of a state planning, because a state planning, retirement
planning all fold in together. So the question of the
week was there are two primary types of power of
attorney documents. There's one for medical. What's the second type,

(01:58):
Tom of Madison called in the correct answer. The answer
is financial, So you should have a power of attorney
for your financial as well. So listen carefully to today's
show and for our question, and.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Don't forget if you missed any part of last week's program,
or you missed part today shoal step out, maybe dropping
the grand kids or kiddos off at school or grabbing
some coffee. Don't think you can always listen back at
class financial dot com that's coss k l a A
s Financial dot com. Say, we're gonna be talking about
a big question, that magic question as folks look towards retiring,
which is when is the right time to collect our

(02:30):
Social Security benefit? And CJ, I'm going to put this
on you have fun with it.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, you know, we return to Social Security every every
month or two to talk about it because it just
impacts every American and certainly as you are planning for retirement,
or even if you've had a spouse pass away recently,
or if you had been married and now you've been remarried,
there's a lot of confusion around normal retirement benefits and

(02:57):
then survivor benefits and then having spousal benefits. I mean,
and it is, it's actually quite confusing. And then you
add onto that soci security disability and oh boy, before
you know it, people's eyes are, you know, rolling in
the back of their heads. So we are going to
be focused at least now on just retirement benefits SoC security,
retirement benefits for you, maybe some things through a spouse,

(03:17):
but it is a mystery for a lot of people,
like when do I draw and what is the optimal time?
And so we're going to kind of build from the
ground up. So a little education on where social security
benefit is derived from. So remember your benefits were funded
originally by payroll taxes that both your employer and you

(03:38):
paid into. This is known as OASDI if you look
at your paste UB or what they'll often refer to
as FIKA, which is Medicare and OASDI. OASDI for those
who don't know, is old age and Survivor's disability income.
I mean, it's it's the social security withholding. So FIKA

(04:01):
ends up being seven percent something. But the OASDI or
the social security component of that that you pay is
six point two percent of your wages, and then your employer,
assuming you're not self employed, your employer pays the other
six point two percent, which amounts to twelve point four
percent of your income going into a future SOLI security benefit.

(04:24):
So we should pause right there. WHOA like WHOA? If
I'm an employee somewhere, are you saying, CJ, that between
me and what my employer puts in for me, over
twelve percent of my income from now until the day
that I retire is going into Social Security. Yes. And
that is the reason why when people just kind of
with a cavalier statement say I don't think soci security

(04:47):
is going to be there, I go, hold on, if
what you are saying is actually true, you should be
like picketing at the White House right now, because that's
twelve percent of your income for a career that you
just suddenly are saying not going to be there now.
By the way, I'm sure there's some people listening to
me right now in saying, CJ, do you not know
the funding issues? I do. I'm aware that there's risk

(05:09):
to Social Security. I'm aware that there's funding problems with
Social Security, but I think all of us should get
a little bit more educated on how much is going in,
how much money that would equate to, and just recognizing
that actually we should all be working very hard to
make that make sure that soci security is there. Okay,
with that being said, so then people say, well, is

(05:29):
there a difference between when I can first take my
benefit and when I reach a full benefit? And the
answer is yes. So there's this concept in social security
called your full retirement age. We have talked ad nauseum
about your full retirement age on this show. So according
to Social Security, if you are born between nineteen forty

(05:49):
three and nineteen fifty four, your full retirement age is
sixty six flat. For those born between nineteen fifty five
and nineteen fifty nine, or full retirement age is sixty
six plus some number of months, so sixty six and
two months or four months or six months or eight
after nineteen sixty and like I'm raising my hand right now,

(06:10):
I was born in the early nineteen eighties, your full
soci security retirement age is sixty seven. Now here's the key.
Your full retirement age is the time you can collect
one hundred percent of your Social Security benefit with no
reduction let me repeat that full retirement age, in the
eyes of Social Security is the age at which you

(06:33):
can collect one hundred percent of your Social Security benefit
with no reduction. Therefore, if you draw early, all of
us should be able to quickly say, well, that means
I'm getting reduction. That's right. You can draw as early
as sixty two, by the way, but if you're going
to draw before your FRA, your full retirement age, we
all know it's going to be some reduction. Now where

(06:53):
it gets a little confusing as people go but wait, wait, wait,
I thought I could draw even after my full retirement age.
So what happens then? And the answer is, well, actually,
you get delayed retirement credits. You can get additional monies
for having weighted and in the eyes of Social Security,
that is over one hundred percent of your benefit, right,

(07:15):
if that makes sense. So sixty two up till say
sixty five sixty six. Is this idea of a reduced
benefit once I get to my full retirement age, which
remember is different for each person. But once I get
to my full retirement age, which is somewhere between sixty
six and sixty seven, they consider that one hundred percent
of my benefit but if I wait, I get delayed

(07:35):
retirement credits that take it up to one hundred and
eight and then one hundred and sixteen percent all the
way up to age seventy. Here's the key, delayed retirement
credits add eight percent per year flat tier benefit right
now guaranteed, but it stops at age seventy. So often
people will say, well, should I wait beyond age seventylan?

(07:57):
I go no, no, because there's no longer and eight
percent delayed retirement credits. So again, sixty two is the earliest,
but it's going to be reduced. Somewhere between sixty six
and sixty seven is considered my one hundred percent unreduced
full retirement age benefit, and then age seventy is when
delayed retirement credits end.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Talking this morning with CJ. Coloss and Malia Quavis, i'll
retirement planning professionals from Class Financial the website class financial
dot com. That's Class k LaaS Financial dot com. Tell
phan number for the office here in Madison six so
eight to four four two five six three seven, So CJH.
Is there are there tools out there folks can be
using websites sort of the things that folks can go
to to kind of get an idea of where they're

(08:37):
headed and what they might expect when it comes to
Social Security.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out, Sean so so To.
The answer is yes, So SSA dot gov is a
wonderful website that you should consider. Just about every American
should consider setting up a secure log in making sure
that when they earn income and their employer and they
pay money into soci Security, that Social Security is receiving
that record accurately. Because this is you know, hundreds of

(09:02):
millions of Americans, there could be errors that occur. So
number one, set up a log and just to make
sure that your earnings are getting attributed to Social Security,
because again, if it's twelve percent of your earnings, this
could be a big number in the future, and it
is for many of the people that we work with.
So set up a log in SSA dot gov. I
don't tend to be really positive about government websites, but

(09:23):
this is one of the exceptions. It's actually really good.
Now because it's a complex system, there's only so much
that they can show to you. So I will warn
you you'll you'll need to set that up and if
you have any unique circumstances that are impacting you. They
may not be able to display that to you accurately
within the website, but at least you can get some
some basic understanding. And I'll add to that. You know,

(09:44):
I haven't really gotten into so like when should I
draw right? You haven't answered that question. We're going to
get into that a little bit more. But generally speaking,
we like to see people try to get at least
to their full retirement age benefit. Surprise, surprise, the most
common age to draw is like sixty two or sixty
three because people are uneducated and or fearful of Social Security,

(10:06):
so they just grab it as soon as they're eligible.
But generally speaking, we would suggest try to at a
minimum get to your FRA and then obviously meet with
an advisor if you have unique circumstances.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Talking this morning, we see j Colossamalia Quavis, our retirement
planning professionals from Class Financial, the website Classfinancial dot Com,
delfht number six so eight four four two five six
three seven, and Malia As we kind of break this
down and kind of figure out and try to compile
are social Security how exactly is that benefit determined? And
can my benefit go up over time.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, that's an excellent question. It's one of those curious
things people scratch their heads about. It's like, how do
they how does this number even you know, come out
of the computer. So we like to start back kind
of educating people again understanding that first of all, you
need to have enough credits to even qualify to receive
Social Security benefits. People say, well, what are the what

(11:01):
are you talking about? What are credits? So as you
work and pay taxes, you earn these these items called
Social Security credits. So for example, in twenty twenty four,
you earn one credit for each seventeen hundred and thirty
dollars of earnings. And you've been doing this your whole life,
and that number has continued to increase. The most credits

(11:24):
that you can actually accumulate in one year, regardless of
your income, is a maximum of four credits per year.
So obviously you can get a credit for you know, working,
you know, earning much higher amounts, but you're only going
to get a max of four credits. Now, the amount
of money needed to earn one credit usually goes up
each year, as I said, and most people need forty

(11:45):
credits or ten years of work to qualify for a benefit.
So if you if you stop working before you have
enough credits to qualify for benefits, your credits stay on
your record, and then if you return to work later on,
more credits will be added. And so this is what
we talk about with a lot of you know, our
clients who maybe were homemakers for a few years, were

(12:08):
in and out of the workforce, and at some point
it could make sense for them to go back into
the workforce to accumulate more credits to make sure that
they have a ten year period where they do have
a Social Security benefit available to them. So what if
you don't have them As you enter retirement, you don't
have at least forty credits, you are not currently entitled

(12:32):
to retirement retirement benefit. But if you stop working, as
I said, those credits will stay on your record. So
you can go to SSA dot gov that CJ mentioned
you can read their publication how you earn credits to
add to that potential benefit in the future. Assuming you
have enough credits, your Social Security benefit is going to

(12:55):
use this calculation based on a thirty five year average
of your covered wages. They look at just the highest
years in that thirty five year period, and then they
adjust the wages for inflation before they average it out.
And that's where people are scratching their head even more. Well,
if I got a zero, you know, one year, but

(13:15):
I got a higher amount the next year, they are
going to look at the highest highest amounts in that
thirty five year period and average those together. The next
question always is, okay, well, there's cost of living, you know,
increases every year. How does that affect my Social Security?
So you are actually eligible for that cost of living benefit.

(13:37):
I'm starting with the year you become age sixty two,
and as CJ mentioned, sixty two is the earliest for
normal Social Security benefits to be turned on. So that
cost of living benefit, that's true even if you don't
get benefits until your full retirement age or age seventy.
So those increases apply to your benefit and up to

(14:00):
the year you actually start receiving benefits. So, for example,
here in twenty twenty four, social Security did their cola
adjustment up three point two percent. It's been announced for
twenty twenty five that will increase by two and a
half percent, again reflecting inflation or the reduction of inflation.

(14:21):
And what that will equate to for people is about
fifty dollars per month per benefit in your household. For
some people be a little bit more, but that's the average.
And obviously, you know, we hear on the back end
is like, well, my Social Security benefit it's going to
go up, likely Medicare will too, and it'll eat it up.

(14:42):
And sometimes that's true and sometimes it's not, but it
does reflect the current inflationary situation we're in. Finally, if
you're a government worker and you have a pension, there's
a whole different formula. It's applied to your average indexed
monthly earning. So we suggest again go to SSA dot
gov and you can look at the Windfall Elimination Provision

(15:04):
the web and that will help calculate what you might
be looking at as a future benefit.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Really good tools there. As we talk with Malia Quavis
and CJ. Closs, our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial.
The website, it's class financial dot com. That's spelled class
k l a A S Financial dot com. Telephone number
six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
No charge for the financial get to know you appointment
at Loss Financial. It will be complementary to you again

(15:30):
their number six oh eight four four two five six
three seven. So what's the best age to start your benefit?
We'll find out maybe a little bit next as Money
in Motion with Glass Financial continues right here at thirteen
ten wib A talking with our retirement planning professionals CJ.
Closs and Malia Quavis. Of course they come to us
from Class Financial. The website coss financial dot com. That's

(15:50):
Class k l a A s Financial dot com. Great
place to learn more about Coss Financial. There's separate divisions.
You can know the team as well and sign up
for the weekly market Paul's snowsletter. That all available to
you at classfinancial dot com. Tellfh number six oh eight
four four two five six three seven. No charge for
that initial get to know your appointment at Class Financial.
It will be complimentary to you again their number six

(16:12):
oh eight four four two five six three seven. Talking
this week about social security and Malia Uh, is there
a way for someone to figure out what their best
age to start their benefits? And if you start collecting earlier,
what kind of reduction are we looking at?

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, show wants to collect today, so we're talk them
off that Cliff. You know, it really depends our favorite
word on the shows, depends on each person situation. And
I will say the people get so excited. Admittedly I
understand this because they've been paying into Social Security for
so many years and it's almost like, Okay, I get

(16:48):
to finally collect yay. And so this is similar to
our shows. When we talk about signing up for a
pension that you might receive, people get very excited. Okay,
I'm just going to mark the box and be done.
And on this is where we do want you to
slow down because this really depends on your personal household situation.
So we need to consider other first of all, other

(17:09):
income sources that you might have when you retire. So
are you going to have spousal benefits? Is there part
time working income in the household? How much is that
working income? Because that may suggest to us you should
delay because you don't want to get benefit pulled back
without understanding why it's getting pulled back, because there are
income thresholds if you're taking Social Security early. And also

(17:34):
we're going to look at, you know, existing debt. Is
it you know, is a cash flow coming into your
house and a lot of it's going towards mortgage or
other outside debts. So there is quite a few things
to consider for your specific situation. And then we have
to look at life expectancy, which obviously can be difficult
to estimate. So all of those factors go into it.

(17:57):
So some people, you know, generally, they'll lean towards starting
Social Security as soon as they're eligible. And I'll tell
you what, many times that's because they're talking to their
neighbor or colleague and they're like, well, I'm starting this year,
so they feel like they should start this year. Well
it's not necessarily, you know, apples to apples. So one
other thing to recognize, and cee J mentioned about what

(18:19):
full retirement age is according to Social Security, that age
could adjust in future years because you do have to
realize right now that Social Security is accommodating nearly seventy
million people that receive benefits in some form today. So
those aren't just retirement benefits. Those could be disability benefits,

(18:41):
widow benefits, and survivor benefits, etc. So understand it is
a big system. Things could get adjusted in the future.
But let's talk about if you do say I am
going to take my benefit earlier, I just want to
just start it up. What is that really going to
look like? So a few examples again based on if

(19:01):
we say a full retirement age of sixty six years
and two months, if that is your full retirement age.
If you start collecting at age sixty two, knowing that
sixty six years and two months is your full retirement age,
Sean right out of the gate says I'm sixty two,
I'm collecting, what is that going to look like? You'd

(19:22):
receive about seventy four point two percent of your monthly benefit.
So that's a thirty percent reduction that never changes. You're
always going to be starting a third behind. And I
don't think over time that makes sense for a lot
of people. Some people, it does a lot of people.
It doesn't. Age sixty five, you're going to receive about

(19:43):
ninety two point two percent of that full benefit. Now, again,
people get fixated on ages. We talked about ages a
lot on this show. Sixty two, sixty five, sixty seven,
et cetera, seventy But what's what you need to know
is the sliding amount. You could start at age sixty three,
sixty four, sixty five. So it doesn't matter as far
as the actual year you start, but understand there will

(20:05):
be a reduction in your benefit and it's a permanent reduction.
So the fact is, even though we know your benefit grows,
is the longer you wait. We look back at data.
Social Security data from twenty twenty two shows that the
average age people begin benefits is about sixty five, So
this has gradually increased from the age sixty two. But

(20:27):
again most people are starting at a couple years prior,
which doesn't mean prior to full retirement, ah, which does
not mean that's what you should do, but just understand
statistically what's happening out there.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Really cool getting some of that information, some of that data,
and it's really cool as we talk with CJ and
Malia each and every week here on Money in Motion.
If you ever have questions or want to listen back
to the program. A lot of great information up at
cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss Klaas Financial dot com. They're
twell for number six eight four four two five, six
three seven and CJ bringing you back in on the conversation,

(21:00):
let's talk about that word break even and what exactly
that break even ages and kind of how does that work,
kind of put out into practice.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yes, so you know, up until now, most of what
we've been talking about we've either discussed before on the
show or it's more common language. Although I have to
admit everything with social security is complicated enough you could
hear it a hundred times in your life and may
not still remember it. But this idea of break even
is i'll call it more of a sophisticated concept. So

(21:29):
some of you may not have heard of this. Others
of you, you know, it may be old hat. But
when you choose to start benefits early, as Malia just
mentioned before, that decision becomes permanent. Now there actually is
a way to stop that and pay back all the
money and then like start back up the crew, but
my goodness, it's a disaster, and most people can't do that.

(21:51):
So once you start, it's tick typically after a short
period of time, a permanent decision. And so as Malia
just mentioned, your benefits are reduced for the rest of
your life, not just until full retirement age. That's actually
a permanent reduction. So therefore, here's this concept of break even.
If I start at six, my benefits at sixty two
versus another version of me starts it at full retirement age,

(22:15):
let's say at sixty seven versus another version of me
starts at age seventy, and then I just basically keep
track of an EXCEL formula in nominal terms. For those
of you who don't know what I mean by nominal terms,
I'm just talking in pure dollar terms, not in terms
of inflation adjustments. So just in nominal terms, when does
the cumulative amount that I have received from Social Security

(22:38):
break even? Okay, So that's the concept of break even again,
one version at sixty two, another version of me at
sixty seven, another version of me at seventy. When do
they break even? Well, here's an example. If you were
born in nineteen sixty two, your full retirement age is
sixty seven. Therefore, if you start benefits at sixty two

(22:59):
this year and twenty twenty four, your monthly amount would
be reduced by thirty percent. Okay, So that's that reduction
from sixty seven down to sixty two. So if your
full retirement age benefit amount, your FRA amount was going
to be one thousand dollars a month, well, if you're
gonna start at sixty two, it would be seven hundred
dollars a month. That's that thirty percent reduction. If you

(23:22):
waited until your full retirement age at sixty seven, as
I just mentioned, you'd get one thousand dollars per month,
totaling twelve thousand dollars per year. But since you started early,
it means you're collecting eight thousand, four hundred dollars per
year instead of the twelve thousand dollars per year. Okay,
if that makes sense. But here's the key. I started early.

(23:43):
I'm sixty two right, This later version of myself, you know,
is five years behind. So I get eighty four hundred
dollars per year, which for the first five years accumulates
forty two thousand dollars more than I would have had
if I had waited to sixty seven. Well, when you
run that mass, so I'm forty two thousand dollars ahead,
but I'm only getting eighty four hundred a year. And

(24:05):
then this other version of myself starts at twelve thousand
a year. The question is when do the nominal dollars
break even? And the answer is at seventy eight years
and eight months. Again at seventy eight years old and
eight months. So as you can see, it's like, oh,
that's kind of interesting. Well, here would be a way
to almost manage that. If I am really unhealthy and

(24:29):
or I have a chronic illness and I'm retired, I
might want to draw early because there's no guarante I'm
going to live to seventy eight years and eight months.
But if I have a lot of longevity in my genes,
goodness gracious, and everybody in my family lived to eighty
five to ninety five to one hundred, well, then I
should probably wait longer because then I'd be money ahead.
And it's like ding ding ding, a light bulb is
going off. Right. You get the idea. You can quote

(24:52):
unquote game social security to the extent that you know
the future, which none of us do. Well, you can
game it by saying, hey, based upon my life exp
and see a family, and my health, I could draw
a little earlier or later based on these break even calculations.
Now we could nerd out for another hour, and I
could just ramble on and on and on about a
lot of different considerations like inflation adjustments and what about

(25:13):
real rates of return and what if you took that
money and invested it. But at a basic level, this
concept of break even at around seventy eight years and
eight months is something that you should pause and recognize.
And one final thought on them, surprise, surprise, what do
you think life expectancy is for the average American? Right
about eighty? Isn't that interesting? So people go, oh, social

(25:37):
Security wants me to draw earlier, they want me to
draw late, And I just laugh and I go, social
Security could care less when you draw, because all of
the numbers break even at average American life expectancy. So
if you draw it sixty two, sixty seven, or seventy,
they all tend to break even right around between seventy
nine and eighty, which means it doesn't matter to Social Security.

(25:58):
It is irrelat to them. When you draw. It's not
irrelevant to you, but it's irrelevant to Social Security administration.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's almost like they plan it that way, isn't it exactly?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
That's actually the point I'm making, Sean, They planned it.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
That way exactly. Talking this morning with CJ. Class In
Malia Quavis, our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial, the
website coss financial dot com. That's Class financial dot com.
Teleph number six O eight four four two five six
three seven, which is the Class quiz question week will
do that next and wrap up our conversation about Social
Security as money in Motion with cost Financial continues right
here on thirteen ten WIBA talking with our retirement planning

(26:34):
professional CJ Closs and Malia Quavis. The website coss Financial
dot com. The telephone number six oh eight four four
two five six three seven. So CJ, let's say I
don't have enough credits to qualify for my own Social
Security benefits? What can I do? Are their options?

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, if you don't qualify for your own benefits based
on your own record, which Malia was talking earlier about,
how you qualify, right, it's the about ten years worth
of earn as an American citizen paying into Social Security Administration,
and then once you're beyond that, they take your highest
thirty five year inflation adjusted wages to come up with
a number to try to solve for. But even if

(27:12):
you don't qualify for that, so say you've only worked
for eight years or five years, or maybe you never
worked outside of the home and you've been home with children,
it doesn't mean you won't get a benefit. You may
still be eligible to receive some sort of a benefit
even if you're divorced, or your spouse has passed away.
So here's some of those situations that might apply to you. Unfortunately,

(27:33):
we don't have enough time for me to dig into
each of these, but I'll just mention them and then
if you have questions, you can follow up with us
or your financial advisor. So one area would be spousal benefits.
If you qualify or to qualify for spousal benefits, you
need to be at least sixty two years old, or
if you're caring for a child under sixteen or a
distabled child. You can qualify at any age. That's for

(27:56):
spousal benefits. If you are spousal benefits at your full
retirement age, you receive fifty percent of the monthly benefit
your spouse would receive if they began benefits at their
full retirement age. Let me repeat that, if you start
your spousal benefits, so again, say I was a stay

(28:18):
at home parent, my wife worked. I don't qualify on
my own record, but my wife does. If I start
my spousal benefit at my full retirement age, which would
be sixty seven, I would receive fifty percent of what
my spouses benefit would have been at full retirement age.
So this is three thousand dollars a month I would

(28:38):
get fifteen hundred. Keep in mind, if you start before
you reach your full retirement age, you will get a
permanent reduction if your spouse has passed away. Here's what
you should know about widow or widower's benefits. You can
actually start benefits based on your own record and later
switch to survivor benefits, or start with survivor benefits and

(28:59):
then switch to your own record later on. By the way,
that whole thing is really complicated, So I suggest you
talked to talk to a financial advisor if your ex
spouse passes away. So again, now you're divorce but that
ex spouse has passed away. You may also qualify for
a survivor benefit similar to a widow or widower benefit,
but you'd have to work with Social Security to figure
out what that would be. And if you're divorced and

(29:22):
considering survivor benefits and you're at least age sixty and
the marriage lasted at least ten years and you didn't
remarry before age sixty, you may be able to collect
on your late expouses record. Okay, hopefully everybody's getting the idea.
Like whoa a lot of different even if I'm not

(29:44):
eligible for my own benefit, right didn't work ten years,
it wasn't an American citizen long enough, whatever it might be.
You know, on there could be different situations that might
apply to you, which often is why we tell people
if you've got any comple exity and social security, just
sit down with a social security expert and they can
give you a lot of help.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Really important guidance and one fast thing a final thing
here quick, Malia. I think a lot of folks wonder
is when do I need to apply? Do I apply
the day I want to start collecting? I'm going to
guess that's probably a bad idea.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Probably you probably want to look at a plane up
to four months ahead of when you want your benefits
to start, So it doesn't have to be four months,
but that's the earliest you can. For example, if you're
turning sixty two on April second next year and you
want your benefits to begin in April, you can apply
as early as December, So put that on your calendar
if that's your goal. But as CJ said, sit down

(30:36):
with your your financial advisor to make sure you're when
you want to start is the right time to start
in your situation.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Important timing, important conversation as well. Of course, speaking of conversations,
don't forget no charge on that initial appointment conversation that
class Financially, it will be complimentary to you. Telphy number
six so eight four four to two five six three seven.
I want to hold on to that tel ful number
as well, because in just a moment through the class
quiz questioned leak be your chance to win a twenty
five dollars gift card to Coles this week's Closs Quiz
question week is this true or false? Once you reach

(31:05):
full retirement age, you are entitled to receive one hundred
percent of your Social Security benefit. Telphon number six oh
eight four four two five six three seven. First call
correct answer win the twenty five dollars gift card two
Coals again telphone number six oh eight four four two
five six three seven. Of course, the website for Class
Financial it is Cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss k l

(31:27):
Aasfinancial dot com.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
CJ.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Malia, It's always great talking with both of you guys.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Have a fantastic day, Thanks Sean.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Thanks