SOCIAL SECURITY MAXIMIZATION

For your weekend reading I bring back a familiar topic. As discussed on this recent segment of PBS's WealthTrack, here is the latest on how to maximize your Social Security benefits in your retirement and, since most of us are recent retirees, this should be valuable. Enjoy the rest of this beautiful weekend.  

9-17-20 SOCIAL SECURITY MAXIMIZATION - A message from Consuelo - September 17, 2020

September 17, 2020 

Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,

COVID-19 has thrown a monkey wrench into many retirement plans as millions of Americans were thrown out of work and many were forced to tap into retirement accounts to pay the bills.  

The experience has made Social Security benefits even more valuable to potential and current retirees.  According to Social Security expert Mary Beth Franklin, they account for half or more of total income for 50% of married couples and 70% of unmarried individuals. 

They are the only source of guaranteed income for life for most Americans, and they have the added bonus of adjusting for inflation, thus protecting purchasing power. 

With 73 million baby boomers retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day over the next decade the benefits will be even more essential.  But with more than 2700 rules governing them, knowing how to get the most from these benefits becomes even more essential.

On this week’s WEALTHTRACK, Mary Beth Franklin joins us to discuss how to make the most of Social Security benefits.  Franklin is an acknowledged expert on this topic.  She is the author of the ebook, Maximizing Social Security Retirement Benefits, now available in its 2020 edition. 

She is a Certified Financial Planner, Contributing Editor at InvestmentNews and an award-winning personal finance journalist.    

She has written that deciding when and how to claim Social Security benefits is one of the most important decisions that retirees will ever make. In this week’s show, I asked her how the pandemic is affecting those decisions.   

As always, if you miss the show on public television, you can watch it on our website.  

You can also find the WEALTHTRACK podcast on Stitcher and SoundCloud as well as iTunes and Spotify.

Thank you for watching, and make the week ahead a healthy, profitable and productive one. 

Best regards,

Consuelo