That's still the case. Have you run maximizemysocialsecurity.com? If not, pls do. Otherwise, you will go around and around worrying about what to do. The program has all this stuff exactly right. If it says you will get X for doing Y, you will get X for doing Y. best, Larry
Hi Jay, Unfortunately, you can't file for widow(er) or divorced widow(er) benefits on line. You need to provide proof of marriage and a death certificate. I'm not sure how you can convey this over the phone. Best is definitely to go into the office and specify in the Remarks section what you are and aren't filing for. best, Larry
Yes! You go, Larry!!! Always great info. Your books saved my bacon when l had to file—or else l would have been taken like those other widows, losing many thousands. They don’t know what they are doing. It’s scary.
Larry, just out of curiosity, can this person (or any one for that matter) simply file for their benefits online according to the recommendations they get from your MaximizeMySocialSecurity software? In other words, if someone knows and trusts that they have the right filing strategy (i.e., they have run your software) AND they can do it all online, why ever engage with a real human from the Social Security Administration in the first place? Is it ever really critical to get what's yours!?
"When you are eligible to collect a widows or divorced widows benefit, you don’t have to file for your own retirement benefit at the same time, and vice versa. Since the system will pay you only the larger of the two benefits, it’s always best to take one benefit first while letting the other grow." Larry, taking the divorced spouse benefit at Full Retirement Age and waiting while your own benefit grows till 70 is only available for people born in 1954 or earlier....is this still the case? thank you for all your efforts, and the new book sounds like a must read.
Yes, the incompetence is staggering; I went in person to the SS office in Portland (made a trip to the USA for that purpose) and queued in the early morning hours. The guy in the office tried but could not help me because I did not have an ID (like a US driver's licence) that he/the system needed to set me up. That was October 2022; I was promised someone from a higher-level team would call me in Sydney on January 2, 2023, but that call never came. I have since tried in various ways to get through to them - to no avail. I get typically AI generated responses that do not address the problem. Just frigging boilerplate. I wonder: Are there any decent lawyers that specialize in that kind of stuff?
So your answer is what? Privatize social security that Peter Thiel,Pete Peterson or Goldman Sachs, can grab the trust fund and your monthly insurance payments called FICA, to gamble on the stock market?
Or just completely privatize it and let millions die of homelessness and starvation?
Hi William,
Let me know what you think of this plan. https://larrykotlikoff.substack.com/p/the-personal-security-system-fundamental
I'm not into giving Wall Street a single penny in fixing the system. best, Larry
That's still the case. Have you run maximizemysocialsecurity.com? If not, pls do. Otherwise, you will go around and around worrying about what to do. The program has all this stuff exactly right. If it says you will get X for doing Y, you will get X for doing Y. best, Larry
What is the issue? Best email me at kotlikoff@gmail.com. best, Larry
Hi Jay, Unfortunately, you can't file for widow(er) or divorced widow(er) benefits on line. You need to provide proof of marriage and a death certificate. I'm not sure how you can convey this over the phone. Best is definitely to go into the office and specify in the Remarks section what you are and aren't filing for. best, Larry
Yes! You go, Larry!!! Always great info. Your books saved my bacon when l had to file—or else l would have been taken like those other widows, losing many thousands. They don’t know what they are doing. It’s scary.
Larry, just out of curiosity, can this person (or any one for that matter) simply file for their benefits online according to the recommendations they get from your MaximizeMySocialSecurity software? In other words, if someone knows and trusts that they have the right filing strategy (i.e., they have run your software) AND they can do it all online, why ever engage with a real human from the Social Security Administration in the first place? Is it ever really critical to get what's yours!?
"When you are eligible to collect a widows or divorced widows benefit, you don’t have to file for your own retirement benefit at the same time, and vice versa. Since the system will pay you only the larger of the two benefits, it’s always best to take one benefit first while letting the other grow." Larry, taking the divorced spouse benefit at Full Retirement Age and waiting while your own benefit grows till 70 is only available for people born in 1954 or earlier....is this still the case? thank you for all your efforts, and the new book sounds like a must read.
Yes, the incompetence is staggering; I went in person to the SS office in Portland (made a trip to the USA for that purpose) and queued in the early morning hours. The guy in the office tried but could not help me because I did not have an ID (like a US driver's licence) that he/the system needed to set me up. That was October 2022; I was promised someone from a higher-level team would call me in Sydney on January 2, 2023, but that call never came. I have since tried in various ways to get through to them - to no avail. I get typically AI generated responses that do not address the problem. Just frigging boilerplate. I wonder: Are there any decent lawyers that specialize in that kind of stuff?
So your answer is what? Privatize social security that Peter Thiel,Pete Peterson or Goldman Sachs, can grab the trust fund and your monthly insurance payments called FICA, to gamble on the stock market?
Or just completely privatize it and let millions die of homelessness and starvation?