share this article!

Economic Security Planning, Inc., Economic Security Planning, Inc., Economic Security Planning, Inc., Economic Security
The rate of reduction for submitting fewer than 12 months before full retirement age (FRA), eligibility for benefits based on an ex’s record, and how and when delayed retirement credits (DRCs) are applied when filing after FRA are all topics covered in today’s column. Larry Kotlikoff is a Boston University professor of economics and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc, which distributes Maximize My Social Security and MaxiFi Planner. More Ask Larry responses can be found here.
Do you have any Social Security queries that you’d like answered? Here’s where you can ask Larry about Social Security.

What Will My Benefits Be In January 2022 If I Reach FRA In December 2022?
Hello, Larry. In December of 2022, I will have completed my FRA. Is it possible for me to start receiving Social Security payments in January 2022, given that is the year of my FRA? I’ll be cutting back on my job hours and relying on my Social Security payment to make up the difference. I’m going to go above my yearly budget. What percentage of my benefit will be lowered if I earn $27,000 more than the limit during that year? Do you get monthly reduced benefits or do you have to wait until the full amount is paid off before you get a check? Thanks, Carl
Hello, Carl. If you reach full retirement age (FRA) in December 2022 and start receiving benefits in January of that year, payments for months prior to December may be subject to full or partial withholding, depending on how much you earn. The exempt amounts for the Social Security earnings test in 2022 will not be available until later this year, but the exempt level of wages for persons achieving FRA in 2021 is $50,520. People who earn more than that amount in the months leading up to FRA have $1 deducted from their benefits for every $3 they earn beyond $50,520.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR YOU
If you earn more than the exempt amount, Social Security will deduct your whole monthly benefit payment for as long as it takes to deduct the required amount.
Furthermore, if you begin receiving Social Security retirement benefits 11 months before you reach FRA, your monthly benefit rate will be around 6.1 percent lower than if you began drawing at FRA. You might wish to use my company’s software, Maximize My Social Security or MaxiFi Planner, to completely assess your alternatives before determining when to apply for your benefits so that you can determine your best approach for maximizing your benefits. If created with extraordinary care, Social Security calculators given by other companies or non-profits may provide accurate recommendations. Best, Larry
Do I Have Any Rights To My First Husband’s Social Security Benefits?
Hello, Larry. Before divorce, I was married for about 30 years. I later remarried, but after three years of marriage, my second spouse died. My previous spouse remarried as well, although his marriage only lasted two years before it ended in divorce. My first spouse, as well as his second wife, are still alive. We’re all in our eighties.
Are any of my first husband’s Social Security benefits available to me? In the divorce, I was not given anything. Thanks, Susanne
Hello, Susanne. Although you cannot claim any share of an ex-actual spouse’s benefit payment, you may be eligible for auxiliary or survivor payments on their behalf.
A person who is eligible for more than one form of Social Security benefit, on the other hand, can only be paid the larger of the two benefit rates. To put it another way, you can’t collect more than one advantage at a time. So the only way you’d be eligible for divorced spousal benefits is if your divorced spousal rate is higher than what you’re getting now.
Divorced spousal benefits on a live ex-account spouse’s can be paid up to 50% of their ex-primary spouse’s insurance amount (PIA), which is equivalent to their full retirement age (FRA) retirement benefit amount. Social Security should be able to tell you whether 50% of your ex’s PIA is greater than the amount of the benefit you currently get.
If your ex-PIA husband’s isn’t high enough for you to qualify for divorced spousal benefits, you may be eligible for payments based on his record if he dies before you. Surviving divorced spouses can be paid up to their ex-full spouse’s benefit rate, if the ex-benefit spouse’s amount is more than whatever benefits the surviving ex-spouse now receives. Best, Larry
When Will My Benefit Rate Go Up?
Hello, Larry. I’m 68 years old and trying to determine whether to receive my $2,100 Social Security retirement payments now or wait two years for $2,400. When does the monthly benefit increase to the next level amount, and in what month? I don’t want to sign up for $2100 only to find out that I could have gotten $2250 if I had waited just a little longer. Thanks, Ryan
Hello, Ryan. Your benefit rate is equivalent to 100 percent of your primary insurance amount if you begin drawing Social Security retirement benefits at full retirement age (FRA) (PIA). Your rate increases by 2/3rds of a percent for each month you wait beyond FRA to start drawing benefits up to 70. (i.e. 8 percent per year).
However, if you begin receiving benefits between the ages of FRA and 70, Social Security will only credit you for whatever delayed retirement credits (DRC) you earned through December of the year before you begin collecting. DRCs earned in the year you begin drawing benefits are credited to your payout beginning January of the year following the year you claimed benefits.
For example, if Tom applies for benefits in April 2021 at the age of 68, he will be credited with the 21 DRCs he earned between December 2020 and April 2021. That would put him at the same rate as if he had filed in January 2021.
Tom, on the other hand, would be credited with the additional three DRCs he earned for not drawing benefits from January to March 2021, starting with his benefit rate for January 2022. Tom’s monthly rate would then be around 2% higher than it would have been if he had begun in January 2021. Best, Larry/nRead More

share this article!