Hosts: Denise Kovach, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
And good morning to you. This is On the Money, brought to you by Orlando’s oldest and largest independent firm of certified financial planning professionals, the Certified Financial Planning Group in Altamonte Springs. With us today, we have two of the 12 certified financial planning pros. Say good morning to the lovely Denise Kovach.
Hi, hi, Bert. How are you doing today?
I couldn’t be better. Thanks. Nice to see you.
You too.
And the equally lovely oracle of Orlando, Joe Bert. How are you doing?
Thank you very much.
Lovely?
Good morning.
Well, Joe, why don’t you tell anybody who might be new to this program why you’re here?
Well, Denise and I are here this morning to take any questions that mind be on your mind regarding your personal finances. As we oftentimes say, we go through life trying some of this, trying some of that, only to wake up when we’re 55 years old and realize maybe we have a collection of financial accidents. And the reason for that is they don’t teach this stuff in school, and what we learn is what we read in the newspaper or read in a magazine or talk to our co-worker about or go to one of these luncheon seminars or dinner seminars or wherever, and we try some of this and try some of that only to find out it ain’t working. So we’re here to answer those questions because, when the time comes for the paycheck to stop, the only thing you’ll have coming in for sure is Social Security. And you have to supplement that with whatever you’ve been able to save and accumulate during your working lifetime. If often revolves around decisions you have to make about stocks and bonds, your 401(k), your IRAs, real estate, and you’re considering long-term healthcare or an annuity or life insurance or a reverse mortgage and all that and more.
And as I say every week, Monday through Friday, I and the 11 other certified financial planners at CFG do this for a fee, but on Saturday morning, we do it absolutely free. So, if you have any questions about anything that I’ve brought up or any financial issue that might be on your mind, the good news is the lines are absolutely wide open. And all you have to do is pick up the phone and dial 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965. <Inaudible> client, you can text us, send us a short text from your mobile device. That number is 21232, 21232. Or you could even use the open mic. You’ll find that on the News 96.5 app. Well, Joe, some of the things we’re going to talk about this week along with Denise, year-end tax strategies. We’re coming up real soon.
It’s hard to believe, two more weeks.
And three Social Security mistakes that you should avoid, which leads me to this week’s must-read on your website.
Go ahead. Well, how to boost your Social Security check by 85%. There’s certain strategies that are out there that may benefit you and help you increase your overall Social Security benefit at the end of the day. So go to our website at financialgroup.com and this week’s must read and click on that link and read the article and get some information and learn how to boost your Social Security.
We have a veritable plethora of past articles there that Denise and I and my colleagues at CFG have come across over the course of many, many moons. So they’re there for your taking. But we find that there’s a lot of stuff in the financial press that we wish that our clients and our listeners would be aware of. And that’s why you posted this week’s must-read. Once again, it’s at our website. That’s financialgroup.com, financialgroup.com. Click on the right-hand side and take a look. And we have a call here from Brody of New Summer Beach. Good morning, Brody.
Good morning.
Good morning. How can we help you?
Yeah, I’ve just got a quick question. I’ve got a traditional 401(k), and I’ve got a Roth 401(k). Where I work, I will still get a pension from my employer when I retire. I’m 40 years old. And I’m just wondering if I should contribute more to the Roth to get the tax, you know, taxed now because I’m going to get a pension when I retire, so I don’t want to — I don’t think a 401(k) will save me as much now as it will in the future because I still will be taxed on my paycheck, and I’ll probably make almost as much now as I do, you know, when I retire.
Well, first of all, do you know your tax bracket, Brody?
I’m probably, like, 18%.
Okay, that’s your mark. That’s your effective rate. Are you married?
Yes, sir.
You file joint, I presume?
Yes, sir.
Okay. You want to tell us what your income is between you and your wife combined?
It’s, uh — combined income, I mean —
Gross, gross.
With the overtime I’ve been getting lately, it’s getting close to $90,000.
Close to $90,000, okay. Chances are you are in the 15% tax bracket. So, at that level, at that level, you’re not giving up a lot by putting money into a Roth today, okay? For anybody in a higher tax bracket, what do you think, Denise?
Well, if you’re in a higher tax bracket, you’re going to want to contribute to the traditional side of things because you get that benefit of the pre-tax contribution. So higher tax brackets can benefit from that. So the Roth might make sense for you, Brody, in that regard, and, well, you’re very fortunate to have a pension at the end of the day, big time.
Yeah.
Our rule of thumb is, if you’re in the 15% or lower tax bracket, you’re not giving up a lot. By that, I mean by putting your money into a Roth, you give up the tax deduction. But if you’re above that, you want to have second thoughts about that because, chances are, we’re going to see a change in the tax law in some way, shape, or form. And I would encourage you to go out on the Internet and click on an article that I wrote for Kiplinger a few months back. It’s called A Roth – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. That’s Roth – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. And it will tell you what we see to be a potential problem of selecting a Roth over a traditional IRA or putting your money on a pre-tax basis into a 401(k). But, in your particular situation, as long as you stay in that tax bracket, you’re not giving up a lot. But for those in a higher tax bracket, we would have to see you grab that tax deduction today because we don’t know what tomorrow brings.
I have one more quick question, if you’ve got time.
Yeah, go ahead.
My 401(k)s and everything, I just combined, and I took away and went through my local credit union through a financial advisor through there, put all my eggs in one basket kind of thing. And I had some with a past employer and some with USAA. That wasn’t performing very good, so I put it all in one basket. And I have a lot of it mixed, half of it mixed, but I just wanted to see was it a good choice because I put some money down and bought a lot of stock in Ruger and Smith and Wesson stock because they took a pretty big hit after the election. Was that a good idea, or should I not have done that?
You bought a lot of gun stock because you thought that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected and guns and gun <Inaudible> are going to continue to go up. I mean, I hear — was that your strategy there, Brody?
No, no, sir. I waited until after the election. I waited until after the election, and Ruger and Smith and Wesson took a pretty good hit.
Oh, so you bought on the dip. Oh, okay. I thought you bought before the election and then you saw —
No.
Okay. Well, here’s —
I mean, <Inaudible> was that a good idea, or should I not have done that?
Well, any time you pick individual stocks, you take — it’s a high-risk, high-reward proposition, okay? We don’t believe in selecting individual stocks for most people because, basically, what you’re doing is you’re speculating. You’re gambling. You’re hoping that you pick the right company and the right time for the right reasons. This is why we strongly believe that you ought to have professionals do that for you, and by that, I mean a good mutual fund. You want to answer that?
I agree with the risk on an individual stock simply because it can go down so, so, so quickly, and up, as well. But instead of taking that risk <Inaudible> like Joe said, the mutual fund manager who’s got a PhD, perhaps, from Harvard who knows how to do this stuff, let him or her and his team manage for us. And we manage the fund managers. That’s what we do.
Yeah, what we do for our clients —
Yeah, I just <Inaudible> of my portfolio in those two. I didn’t apply maybe 1/4 of it, maybe even less than that, of my portfolio.
Okay. Well, any time, as Denise said, any time you’re picking individual stocks, it’s a high-risk, high-reward proposition. I do the same thing with my money that I recommend to my clients, and that’s <Inaudible> mutual funds. Our strength is a company is going through the thousands of mutual funds out there and selecting the best combination of different kinds of funds for our clients. And once again, we do that for a fee. If you’d like more information, go to our website. That’s financialgroup.com, financialgroup.com, and you can learn how we’re different than most people out there that do this kind of stuff. It’s 9:15, quarter past 9:00, on WDBO. That opens up a line for you at 844-220-0965. Quick reminder, Dave Wall is in the news center, and he’ll be joining us in about five minutes with today’s top stories, a look at your weather forecast for the Christmas weekend, and traffic. If we can add a little quick personal thing here, if you’re coming down <Inaudible> Parkway, watch out for the goats. Yes, we have goals that run amok. We have a couple of goats. It looks to me like some — I don’t know if they got loose, but it looks to me like somebody dumped them.
And they are so cute.
And they’re crying, which is not a baa.
Why don’t you bring them in the studio?
Are you going to clean the bathroom?
The little — the darker one looks like he had a little baby.
Yeah, and she’s crying. That’s how you knew that they were probably stolen or —
Whatever.
<Inaudible> or whatever. But just, if you love goats and you want to pick up these goats, or if you’re missing goats, please come claim them.
Running around on <Inaudible> Parkway.
Yeah, in front of the studio. What’s the address here?
No idea.
Nor do I.
Right here across from <Inaudible>.
I don’t know the address.
Right there across from <Inaudible>.
There you go. Listen, Joe, if somebody wanted to get a hold of you during the week, is it best to do it through the website or phone call?
Oh, man. You can give us a call, obviously, but our website at financialgroup.com is a great place for contact information. You can even submit an e-mail to us, saying you want to be contacted and why. Or, if you do want to use the phone, it’s 407-869-9800 or 1-800 <Inaudible>.
And while you’re there, you can also subscribe to our e-newsletter.
Yeah.
It comes out periodically, chock full of tips. And you can sign up right there. Once again, that’s financialgroup.com. That’s financialgroup.com. We’ve got a call here from Chris in Daytona Beach. Good morning, Chris.
Good morning. How are you today?
We’re doing great. How can we help you?
Well, I have a little situation. I have a 401(k) plan, and out of that 401(k) plan, I had taken a loan of about, in round numbers, $40,000.
Okay.
I’ve been making minimum payments on the $40,000 but just pretty much letting it drift.
Okay.
My question is I also have an IRA which has substantial money in it. Can I take money out of the IRA and roll it into the 401(k) to pay the loan, not just to roll it in, but can I actually use that to pay the loan and be tax-deferred?
My guess is that you can.
Okay.
You want to check with your plan administrator on whether or not that’s possible.
Okay.
But my guess is that you can.
Okay.
And I actually think that’s a good idea if it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because you know what, Chris? If anything happens, and you’re not working for your employer, you know, obviously, that 40,000 is going to be taxed.
Right.
And if you’re not 59 and a half, there’s a 10% penalty. So yeah.
I am 59 and a half, so either way, the penalty doesn’t apply. But you do think I can do that to pay the loan off.
My gut tells me yes.
Okay.
We have somebody in our office that’s a specialist in that if you want to call me. But you ought to check with your plan administrator. They ought to be able to tell you if you can do that.
Isn’t it written in the plan document?
Okay.
Yes. They should tell you. But that’s a great idea. I like that strategy, and my gut tells me that you can do it.
Okay. I will give the plan administrator a call next week. Thank you for your help.
All right. You’re quite welcome. Appreciate the call.
9:25 on WDBO, this is On the Money, brought to you by the Certified Financial Group in the studio with Joe Bert and Denise Kovach, both certified financial planning professionals. Let’s get right back to it.
I want to go back to a call, a call that had a question about paying off his loan by rolling over his IRA into your corporate plan. Chris, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. I checked with the brain trust at Certified Financial Group, and they tell me that that is not doable. You have to pay it with after-tax money, so that’s the way it works. You have to pay that down —
But that’s still a great idea.
A great idea, yeah. You would think you’d be able to do it. All you’re going to do is get the money back in your account. But you can’t do it. You’ve got to pay it back with the after-tax money, and that’s just the way its.
Okay. 844-220-0965. R.J. in <Inaudible> County. Good morning, sir. R.J.!
Good morning <Inaudible>.
Thank you very much. How can we help you?
I have a unique situation. I was divorced last year, and her assets were hers, and mine were mine in the divorce decree. And, of course, I was listed as a beneficiary on the brokerage account. Now, three months later, she passes away. And in the meantime, I was in the process of collecting the money from her brokerage account, but it was stopped because of <Inaudible> back in 2012.
Because of a will, you said? You said a will?
Well, we had a will. But in the divorce decree, her assets were hers, and mine were mine.
Right. I understand.
Okay. Now, in the meantime, I don’t know if she had a new rule or not because I hadn’t heard anything from her attorney.
Okay.
Now, I was — I am now being denied being the beneficiary of her money because of the law <?> in 2012. How, here’s the twist. Her brokerage accountant talked to her before her passing and asked if she wanted to change the beneficiary, and she said no.
Okay.
All right. But I am still being denied the money. I’m just wondering if I should pursue this to establish a precedent against the 2012 law.
Well, first of all, I think you’ve got a pretty good case there. And I think what you need to do is seek legal help because she named you the — during your lifetime, you split up your assets. You both went your own ways. And she could’ve changed the beneficiary and done anything she wanted. And now you’re telling me that, only after the divorce, she reaffirmed that she wanted to keep you as the beneficiary. She still loves you. She still wanted to take care of you <Inaudible>. And so she wanted to leave you as beneficiary. There shouldn’t be anything there that denies you. Did she get remarried?
No. Now, she had a —
A boyfriend?
A boyfriend —
Yeah.
That she left her $110,000 house to.
Yeah, okay.
Now, she had the opportunity to change the beneficiary of the brokerage account.
Right, right.
And she did not.
She did not. Yeah. I would seek legal help there. I think you’ve got a case.
Was it an IRA, R.J.?
Is it an IRA? Was it an IRA?
Yes, it’s an IRA and a Roth account. But we’re not talking about a lot of money. We’re only talking about, like, 29,000.
Yeah.
Well, regardless, if you’re named as the beneficiary, that is yours.
Right.
And I’m really not certain what law you’re talking about in 2012. Joe?
Try it.
Yeah, well, there’s some kind of law that the attorney found or whatever denying me as the beneficiary because of the divorce decree. Now, whether there was a new will on her part, I have no idea.
Yeah.
Doesn’t matter. If your named beneficiary on an IRA, it’s not probateable. It is what it is.
Right.
Hey, can we talk about this on the other side of the news a little bit?
Sure, yeah. We can take a break here.
Because a lot of people, after divorces, they forget to change their beneficiaries, and the money, instead of going to your current wife, maybe, would go to your ex. So we’ll talk a little bit more about that, R.J. We’ve also got Wayne in Melbourne. Wayne has an 18-year-old daughter, and he wants to know how to invest for her. So we’re going to tackle that, as well. If you’d like to join us, the number is 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965, or text us at 21232.
Good morning. It’s a nice Saturday morning. It’s an Ask the Experts Saturday morning. And we have in the studio Joe Bert and Denise Kovach from the Certified Financial Group. If you’d like to speak to them about any financial or pocketbook issue — Denise, what kind of questions are you going to take today?
Well, we’re going to take questions about 401(k)s, stocks, bonds, reverse mortgages, long-term care insurance, mutual funds, and, you know, like you said, financial pocketbook situations. If it’s retirement planning and you have questions about that, give us a call. Cash flow planning, if you have questions about that, give us a call. Joe and I are here in the studio to take your calls, so —
Here’s the number, 844-220-0965. We were talking to R.J. in <Inaudible> County. I think he’s still with us. Good morning, R.J. You still there?
Yes, I am. Thank you, Joe and Denise.
Sure. R.J., let’s recap for our listeners who just may have joined us what your situation is. Why don’t you say it once again?
Okay. I was divorced December of last year, and I was named beneficiary to her brokerage account. Now, she passes away three months later. I do not know if she has a new will. When we were divorced, her assets are hers, and mine are mine. Now, her attorney is confiscating the The funds the brokerage account from <Inaudible> and 2012, even though I was named beneficiary. Her brokerage account had talked to her before her passing and asked if she wanted to change the beneficiary, and she said no. However, I am still being denied the funds.
Close to $30,000 worth.
Yeah, and these were IRAs, Roth IRA or something, as I recall.
Yes. One was — she had two accounts. One was a 401 and the other one was a Roth account.
Okay. A 401 and a Roth account, okay.
No <Inaudible>.
And she did not get remarried?
No.
Okay, do you know if her new boyfriend was named as a contingent beneficiary? In other words, if you weren’t there, would he get the funds?
That, I don’t know if she had a new will —
The will has — RJ, hold on. RJ hold on just a minute. A will has nothing to do with this. A beneficiary designation on an IRA, 401(k), annuity, life insurance policy, overrides whatever your will says. So you may say you want to do XYZ in your will, but if your beneficiary designations are different on any of those instruments, that’s what’s going to happen. The will doesn’t mean anything, it’s what that beneficiary designation is.
Well, I guess I’m just going to have to hire an attorney —
Yes.
To fight this.
Yeah.
But yeah — they’re going by some law that was passed in 2012.
Yeah.
Yeah, RJ, they’re referring to the fact that if your ex-wife would have remarried, but she did not. Like Joe said, perhaps she listed the boyfriend, which I don’t see that being a problem.
No.
I would definitely seek <Inaudible> counsel to get to the bottom of this, definitely.
You have Tom Olsen coming up this morning at 11:00.
Yep.
I think this is right up his alley.
It sure is.
There you go, RJ.
RJ, call back a little after 11:00. I’ll be in the studio and I’ll remember you and I’ll jump you to the front of the line and you can spoke to Tom Olsen, attorney at law. Same telephone number, RJ. But before we go to rain <?>, real quick I wanted to say Joe, this isn’t the first time you discussed people that have named the beneficiary and it takes precedence over the current wife, you know? Like if you die, your current — you want the money going to your current wife but you didn’t change the beneficiary on your 401(k).
Yes. And Florida law has — there was a law passed in 2012 which RJ is referring to that says your current wife may have claim to those documents. However, federal law, which overrides state law, may preclude that. And I don’t think it’s going to adjudicate yet in the State of Florida. To my knowledge it hasn’t. That’s a legal question, but just to be safe, if in fact you do get remarried, you want to be sure that your beneficiary designations are current, because this is where you run into a snag.
Just do your homework.
Just do your — be sure all the — that’s on your life insurance and your IRAs and annuities, 401(k)s.
Your brokerage account, do a transfer on death designation. Make it simple.
Make it simple.
Alright, and I’ll expect your call in the 11:00 hour here, RJ. Let’s move on and talk to Wayne in Melbourne.
Good morning, Wayne.
Hey, good morning.
How can we help you? Thanks for calling.
No problem. I have two daughters, 18 and 25, and I’m trying to get them into doing IRAs right now, at a young age, and one I had, she won’t listen to me. She invested in like Tesla <?> at like 50 shares, and the other one wants to stick with like the mutual funds so they’re not up and down and I just wanted to see if the traditional IRA is the right choice, as they — every once in awhile, you’re not putting money into it. Am I doing the right thing or do you have any other suggestions?
Well Wayne, are you daughters working?
Yes, they are.
So they’re earning income. Are they earning a lot? A little? Give me some information.
Well, one just started college and she’s working part-time and the other one is doing real estate working full-time. So one is having money taken out of her account every month and the other one is kind of like — I’ll have to ask her hey, do you want to put some money into it? She’s not one to look in for the future, she’s just like okay, here. And I’m just getting it and kind of putting it in there, just so it’s out of her sight and gone.
Which makes sense.
So she can start building it.
I get it, I get it. The 18 year old I’m taking is the college student, so her earned income is not a lot so she’s really not in a big tax bracket.
Right.
So perhaps a Roth IRA would be better for her. Is there anyway that you could set up a systematic investment for her to a Roth IRA?
I think because it’s like — it’s very hard to get money out of her because she’s not making that much money. I’ll be lucky.
Well what I’m saying is you set up — say okay, I’m getting X amount of dollars per week, or whatever, every other week, from my employer, but that X amount of dollars is net of a $50 contribution that went to an IRA. The thing is, if you don’t see it, you don’t miss it. So it’s automatically coming out of her paycheck. That might be the easiest thing to do.
Oh, I didn’t — so she can do it right out of her paycheck so that way she doesn’t even see it?
Yep. She should be able to set that up. She needs to talk with the benefits person and see if they can accommodate that. Now the 25 year old, in real estate, does her company have access to a 401(k)?
I don’t know if they do or not.
That where would be where, if I were her, I would participate in, because you can contribute a lot more to a 401(k). But yeah, set them up on systematic investments and have the money go straight to —
Yeah, the 25 year old does that. I’m all about like doing stocks and I look at like the future and stuff, where the 25 year old doesn’t like the up and down approach and would rather just kind of do something like a mutual fund so she doesn’t have to see that.
Right, right.
I’m going to ask her about the 401(k).
But you’re smart to do that and Denise is 100% right. If she’s in the 15% or lower tax bracket, a Roth might be a better way to go because she’s not getting much off <?> on a tax deduction. But as your income increases and you want to look at the tax deductions under current law, but heaven knows those are going to change, due next year.
I know.
We’ll be doing a whole new show on deductive billing and IRAs and that staff. But you’re on the right track. Congratulations on encouraging them to save at a young age, because that’s what it’s all about. The eighth wonder of the world is compound interest and that’s what you’ve got going on for 40 something years if they start doing it. It’s a lot easier to do when you’re 25 than it is when you’re 55. Congratulations in educating them upon that.
I’m reminded of your colleague Nancy Hecht. A man is not a plan.
Got to do your own <?>.
You’d rather do it yourself, you can’t really on anybody else to do it for you.
Here’s a text Joe and Denise: Would like to retire in seven years. What is your thought in the 4% withdrawal rule?
Well, the 4% rule will work, however, you want to be careful about that because it all gets down to sequence of returns. If you start the 4% rule in a down market, it’s not going to work. And that is in fact the key and the secret that a lot of people forget about.
What he’s referring to, Denise, is the fact that you’ve got a bunch of capital and you can assume that you can withdrawal 4% for the rest of your life and never run out of capital.
But like you said, if we’re in a down market, that does get very, very risky.
Right.
So you know what a good alternative would be is a reverse mortgage. It’s access, you don’t have to use it, but in a down market you’re retired. Instead of taking withdrawals from your IRA, let that heal from a market crash or whatever.
Yeah, it’s not a bad idea because you’re setting yourself up a safety valve, if you will. So if you’re retiring and you’re looking at starting that 4% withdrawal rate and we run into a down market, you want to have a place that you can tap into in order to meet your need and not be selling in a down market. There’s been a lot of articles written in the professional journals that we read today about the benefits, in some circumstances, of having a reverse mortgage as a safety valve. Doesn’t work for all people. We’re not suggesting you go out and cash out the equity in your home and go blow the money, but it’s a way to really protect your principal and your capital when you’re in those retirement years.
If you don’t have other funds.
There are some prerequisites, right?
Oh yeah, you’ve got to be at least 62 years old, and the older you are, the more money you’re eligible for. In fact, if you’d like to get a copy of that article that was in the recent financial journal about the benefits of reverse mortgages and to protect your nest egg, then just e-mail me: joe@financialgroup.com and I’ll be sure you get a copy of it.
Is there anyone in the group that could sit down and help somebody with a reverse mortgage?
Not to do the reverse mortgage. We can look — we can show the impact of that decision and so forth, but we don’t do reserve mortgages. We have people to refer you to, but we don’t do them internally.
That’s good enough for me. If I sell my house in retirement to rent a place and live off the house profit, what tax rate would I pay on that house profit money?
So you’re going to sell your house and you’re worried about paying taxes on the gains. Right?
Right.
If I sell my house in retirement to rent a place and live off the house profit, what tax rate would I pay on that house profit money?
So you’re going to sell your house and make a gain, you’re worried about — the good news is if you’re single, you can have a $250,000 in profit, if you’re married $500,000 of profit, and pay no taxes.
Zero.
There you go.
Under current law. All subject to change.
<Inaudible> resident.
It’s got to be your primary residence and you have to have lived there for two out of the last five years.
Here’s another text for you. I turn 70 during the month of April. Do I start collecting Social Security April or May 1st to get the max at age 70?
Do I start collecting — I can’t see this.
Do I start collecting Social Security April or May? He turns 70 in April.
Yeah.
He turns 70 in April, he’s collecting —
Oh he’s going to get his first check in May.
Yeah.
Well, it really depends on what date of April he was born. Because if it was April 1st, he’s going to get his first check in April. But if it’s afterwards, he’s going to get his first check in May. So hopefully that’s the answer he’s looking for.
And the difference will be unmeasurable. It would be so small.
Yeah.
Alright, here’s another text for you — by the way, you can text at 21232. This text was cut off because it’s a little lengthy. Let’s see if we can get through. I am 62, currently working full-time. My house is paid for and could use about $30,000 worth of work. I would like to retire at 62 — that’s where it got cut off.
<Inaudible> question is.
Then you file for Social Security.
Yeah.
Well, starting at 62, if you’re still working that has it’s drawbacks, right Denise?
Well absolutely, but she’s saying she wants to retire. So if she’s retired, she’s not earning an income. The good thing about when you retire at 62 and start Social Security is that Social Security is there and you’re taking a benefit and it’s helping to supplement your income. The downside is you’re taking a 25% cut in the benefit, so.
For the rest of your life.
Exactly. So you may want to speak with somebody to get some kind of analysis done to show you the differences of collecting now, waiting until your full retirement age, or even to age 70, when you maximize your benefits for the longer period.
You know what? You should go to the website. We talked a little bit about this earlier. Go to financialgroup.com and click on this week’s Must Read, it’s in the Info to Know section, How To Boost Your Social Security Check By 85%. That’s at the website at financialgroup.com. We’ve got a couple of more texts to get to. We’ll take some more phone calls. Also, year-end tax strategies and three Social Security mistakes that you should avoid. Denise, you and your colleague, Nancy Hecht, who I mentioned earlier, are the experts when it comes to Social Security. When is your next Social Security boot camp?
Actually, it’s coming up in January, on the 19th, which is a Thursday, from 6:00pm until 7:30pm. So you can go to our website, financialgroup.com, and click on Events and you can register to attend right there. And furthermore, Gary Abley is having one come up a little sooner, and it’s going to be on January 7th. It’s Retire With Confidence.
It’s a Saturday.
And it’s from 11:00 to 1:00. And both of these will be held at our offices at 1111 Douglas Avenue.
How much is it though?
Absolutely nothing. As we say, leave your checkbook at home. Come for some good information –and RSVP.
Social Security is a minefield and you need that help.
Yeah, just go to our website, once again financialgroup.com. That’s financialgroup.com and click on Workshops. You can make a reservation right there online.
Alright. Real quick: Three Social Security mistakes you should avoid.
Well, best timing is divorce. As crazy as that sounds, if you’re in the process of getting a divorce, you don’t always have a choice of when things will become official, but if you do, there’s an opportunity to monetarily benefit from without affecting your spouse’s Social Security benefit, while leaving your own along to continue to grow. Social Security rules say that an ex-spouse can claim benefits on the other ex-spouse’s work record <?> but you need to be married 10 years. Not nine years and — you know —
Three months.
Yeah. It’s got to be 10 years. So you will have access to survivor benefits as well. But that 10 year point is going to be important. Another thing, if you’re thinking that delayed retirement credits apply to spousal benefits, they don’t. Now delayed retirement credits are those credits that you earn from your full retirement age, to age 70. Each year, in today’s laws, 8% per year. This applies to your own benefit, not to spousal benefits. And not realizing, this is the third one, that there is still a claiming available if you qualify. So if you turned 62 prior to the end of 2015, you are still eligible to file a restricted application, which means that your full retirement age, you can file for spousal benefits only and let your own benefits continue to grow again, taking advantage of those delayed retirement credits.
And these are all the things that you cover in the workshop.
Oh, I do. I do.
In detail.
Absolutely. The only difference now is if your husband or spouse — wife, didn’t turn 66 before April 30th of this year and file a file and suspend an application, your spouse will have to be taking benefits for you to be able to file a restricted application.
Got it.
So there’s the scoop.
So this stuff is very, very important. We see people time and time again making these mistakes, costs tens of thousands of dollars. Go to our website. That’s financialgroup.com and click on Workshops and you can learn more.
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