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by Mike Piper
Premium summary · Opens in the app · 30 min read
Social Security is one of the largest financial assets most Americans will ever have. For many retirees, it represents the difference between a comfortable retirement and a precarious one. Yet most people spend more time researching which television to buy than understanding how their Social Security benefits work.
**Author:** Mike Piper
**Estimated Reading Time:** 42 minutes
**What You'll Learn:**
- How your Social Security benefit is calculated and what determines its size - Why the age you claim benefits can change your lifetime income by tens of thousands of dollars - How married couples can coordinate claiming strategies to maximize household income - What divorced spouses, widows, and widowers need to know about their benefits - How working in retirement affects your benefits and what you can do about it - The tax implications of Social Security and how to plan around them - How to structure your retirement portfolio to support a delayed claiming strategy
**Who This Book Is For:**
This book is for anyone approaching retirement who wants to make informed decisions about Social Security. Whether you are single or married, still working or already retired, the choices you make about when and how to claim benefits will affect your financial security for the rest of your life. If you have ever felt confused by Social Security rules or uncertain about the best time to claim, this book will give you the clarity you need.
Social Security is one of the largest financial assets most Americans will ever have. For many retirees, it represents the difference between a comfortable retirement and a precarious one. Yet most people spend more time researching which television to buy than understanding how their Social Security benefits work. The problem is not a lack of information. The Social Security Administration publishes extensive documentation about its programs. The problem is that the information is scattered across dense government publications, written in bureaucratic language, and organized for administrators rather than for the people who need to make decisions. Mike Piper wrote this book to solve that problem. He recognized that Social Security is not actually complicated once you understand a handful of core concepts. The difficulty lies in knowing which concepts matter and how they fit together. Once you see the underlying structure, the rules become intuitive. The stakes are high. The decision about when to claim Social Security is one of the few financial decisions in retirement that is both irreversible in most cases and worth tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. A married couple making optimal claiming decisions can receive significantly more in total benefits than a couple making poor decisions, even if both couples have identical work histories. Consider what is at stake. If you claim benefits at 62 instead of waiting until 70, your monthly benefit could be reduced by as much as 30 percent for the rest of your life. For someone with a full retirement age benefit of $2,000 per month, that is a difference…
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Get the complete summary in the appYour PIA is the benefit you would receive at full retirement age, and it is the foundation of all Social Security planni
Claiming at 62 reduces your benefit by 25 to 30 percent. Delaying to 70 increases it by 24 to 32 percent.
The breakeven point for delaying is around age 80 for single individuals. If you expect to live past 80, delaying will l
For married couples, the higher earner should generally delay claiming to maximize the survivor benefit.
Spousal benefits can be worth up to 50 percent of the worker's PIA, and survivor benefits can be worth up to 100 percent
The earnings test applies only to earned income, and benefits withheld are added back after full retirement age.
"Social Security Made Simple" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around finance, self help, reference, especially themes like your pia is the benefit you would receive at full retirement age, and it is the foundation of all social security planni; claiming at 62 reduces your benefit by 25 to 30 percent. delaying to 70 increases it by 24 to 32 percent. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Motivated to help readers with your "primary insurance amount" (PIA) is the monthly retirement benefit you would receive if you claimed, Mike Piper wrote “Social Security Made Simple” to package those ideas for a fast, focused read. In “Social Security Made Simple”, Mike Piper focuses on your "primary insurance amount" (PIA) is the monthly retirement benefit you would receive if you claimed. Through “Social Security Made Simple”, Mike Piper distills the core ideas on finance into lessons readers…
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