Money

Have any of you bought a telikin computer, and if so did you like it and was it worth the price?

Long story short - we pull our statements every January. The latest statement (2025) shows that my wife is now back down to 39 credits when she had 40 credits on the previous two statements (2023 & 2024). She is a Texas teacher which doesn't pay into SS, so she gained the necessary credits when she took a hiatus from teaching. So recovering the missing credit might require a part-time job (ugh!) Has anyone else had this happen to them regardless of your work situation? Looking for some context. Thank you.

I keep search I no and they say it is at AARP but cannot find it.

An easier-to-read version: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1o67G3iZojC-GvpTEfN8hQSAuR483N6WJ?usp=drive_link

It's just come to my attention (or maybe I forgot about it) that there is the "Social Security Handbook". It's available online as a pdf on the SS Administration's web site, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.html I've never received but It looks a lot like the the Medicare Handbook I get in the postal mail every year. Is this something that all SS recipients are given? It seems a lot bigger than the Medicare Handbook. And I see bound copies for prior years available for sale. Walmart shows an upcoming 2021 Edition (to be available in May) for $85, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Social-Security-Handbook-2021-Overview-of-Social-Security-Programs-Paperback-9781641434850/182486753?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0 So, is something we get in the mail once we apply for benefits? Thanks.  Edit:   well, to answer my own question, apparently the answer is "no". The Handbook states: "Is The Social Security Handbook Available In Pape

     The increase of 2.5% for Seniors this year, was an unfunny joke.   Medicare ripped us off for more money, and Medicare Advantage raised Co-pays across the board.  Can't afford it, Congress say's, as well as the Senate.  Then How can this Government give Billions to other countries constantly ??   They do not have the guts to change the "Formula" for Social Security.  It's to hot a Topic in Washington.  They can't take a chance on not getting re-elected, with pay raises on the horizon.  They can spend Billions on illegal aliens, but not Seniors.  Third World Countries look after their elderly better than the United states.  The plan is to make excuses.  That is always the plan.

I am hoping for a couple of things:1.  If this new found bounty + their other income puts them into the Medicare IRMAA territory that they are NOT given a 1 X wavier for this. 2.  That no stupid politician does away with the taxes on benefits - we need all we can get and at least get some of this back into the Trust Fund. A new update was posted today - doesn’t sound like this is gonna be a very swift process  https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html  

There is an update on the SSA site on this matter:  I am just posting this as a courtesy. https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html    

Looking at the current inability of Congress and the disposition of the incoming administration to actually address the SS trust fund depletion in the next 8 to 10 years, does it not make more sense to start taking benefits at 62 (even though they are reduced) versus waiting until FRA and in all likelihood get the essentially the same amount you would of got at 62? Back of the napkin math, My FRA amount is $3700/m, @ 62 it's 2700/m  or roughly 30% reduction from FRA.  In those 5 years I will have collected $162,000.  Now if Congress doesn't act swiftly (and let's be honest here, they don't seem to have an desire to), the ability to fix the SS funding will have disappeared without some radical change (again this is Congress we are talking about).  So it probably more likely we will cross into the reduced benefits territory.  Once that happens, Congress will just too bad and move on. So now those who waited until FRA to collect will see their benefits r

Hello:   I'm interested in purchasing a book on Medicare (first time enrollee)Spoiler (Highlight to read)  , preferably one that is updated annually, like a copyright 2024 copy?  Does anyone have any firsthand use suggestions?  I'd like to stay away from websites, they seem to authored by insurance brokers; I know of the "Medicare and You" info from the SSA. I attended a 1 hour webinar, I'd like to get more details on the specific Medicare "parts" (a,b,c,d, etc.)Thank You.

First off, I am very sorry that many people seem surprised and shocked over the WEP or GPO if they are affected by either of these when they retire.  On the other hand, I understand why this formula reduction is there and the concept seems fair.  Is the current WEP or GPO reduction formula correct for those whose benefits are being recalculated because of them - I don't know.  I do know that the previous method of calculating benefits for these folks was not right -  so going back to the previous method is really out of the question.  So there either has to be a new formula which will still not give a full benefit or a totally new concept. I have come up with a possible solution and wanted to run it by the folks here to see what you think? Why not give these government  / civil employees, on an individual selection basis,  the option of staying within the Social Security system by allowing the person to pay their own payroll withholding

Background information:I'm currently 66-4 months and full retirement age is 66-8 months. My wife is 55. I retired 2 years ago and my wife will be retiring in 2 months. We both are collecting decent pensions.Here's what I wanted to do.  I wanted to wait to 70 to start collecting SS benefits mainly because I wanted my wife to collect the amount of my benefit at 70 if I were pass away before her.At what age will my wife be eligible for my 70 year old benefit?

I am 76 and my spouse is 79.  She applied for Social Security benefits at her full retirement age.  I was subject to GPO so I couldn't apply for spousal benefits.   Please help me with the following questions: 1.  Will my spousal benefits be one half of her current SS benefits? 2. If she were to die tomorrow, would my survivor benefit be equal to her full current benefit? 3.  Where can I find her PIA?  I can't find it in her mySocialSecurity account or in the letters Social Security sends. Thanks for your help.

  If you were a government worker that did not pay into the Social Security System and have been penalized for getting a Survivors or Spousal benefit because your Government pension was too high -That has now all changed with the Repeal of the WEP and the GPO.Some of you that knew they were going to be impacted by the GPO might have never even filed a claim for these Suvivors or Spousal benefits - you can now but the procedure isn’t up quite yet.  Maybe soon. I just want to know how many here will be filing for these Survivors or Spousal benefits because the GPO has been repealed. I don’t think the government knows how many there are of you. 

I have spoken with three agents from Hartford Insurance, and I find their process quite interesting. They do not provide quotes over the phone. Instead, you must print the home and auto questionnaire from their outdated website, mail it to a PO Box in Lexington, KY, and wait up to ten business days for a call back with your quote, assuming your application is approved. They do not have a fax number, nor can you email the forms to them. One agent even told me he couldn't take my information because their system was updating and suggested I call back later. When I asked why he couldn't return my call, he hesitantly replied that he could. This entire process feels problematic and even borders on a scam. I called 1-888-284-4616 and 1-888-684-5603.

Im sent emails asking to be an advocate for this and that but I'm 55 and on disability, no savings after being forced to move in 2022 due to tangled deed and now, facing eviction because the property manager never told me about partial rent payment not made by me (debit is as good as cash) or coming from my account being returned non sufficient funds.    Seems even if you are on disability, you don't qualify for anything unless you are 65 plus (no disrespect to seniors is intended).  I've never been late for rent in my adult life and had i been informed about the NSF when it occurred, I wouldn't be in the mess I'm in now.   Since when doesn't a property manager/landlord inform you that your check was returned by the bank?  (Wells Fargo should just be shut down).  My 55th bday was yesterday and I'm ready to give up.  Since moving, my credit score has dropped 300 points, and it's not getting better.  Having getting my credit straight and years

It seems the incoming administration is thinking about making major changes to Medicare and Social Security. I wonder what people are thinking about this, specifically, significant reductions in coverage and benefits. What are our options? Any thoughts you may have on how to deal with what might be disastrous for many of us on fixed incomes would be welcome.Thanks

My spouse needs to start ss payments BEFORE full retirement age. Do we specify to start the month of the birthday, when the payment amount changes, or the month AFTER the birthday? 

I am 71 years old and worked for the Post Office for over 30 years. I am collecting a government pension and was not eligible for spousal benefits due to GPO.I do have an online SS account and used the online calculator on the site to determine my ineligibility, so I never filed a formal application. Since the SS Fairness Act was passed, should I apply for benefits now, or wait until the SS admin updates the application process for people who only now have become eligible?

Did you know that we are now in the midst of the BIGGEST number of people turning  65 in a single year in U.S. history. And it will continue this way until about 2030 when the last of the Boomer Generation reaches their full retirement age.(FRA) So we are gonna have additional strain being put on Medicare and Social Security administrations in the next several years - More than 11,000 seniors a day will be signing up for Medicare and then Social Security -  For Retirement, some may be prepared, others maybe partially - others not so much.  Many of them will continue to work - full time or part time - well past their FRA.   ARE YOU READY? IF ALREADY THERE - would there be anything you would have changed in your plan for retirement? For me, since I am well past this age now, I would have not thought so much about saving tax money by contributing to a tax-deferred plan like a Traditional IRA or 401K during my working years - I would h

This is a new experience for me.  I have never been subject to age discrimination, but as the saying goes “there is always a first time”.  My wife and I have been members / credit card holders with Sam’s club for twenty-three years.  Approximately eighteen months ago the staff at our local Sam’s club suggested we look at the Sam’s club plus member Synchrony master card.    True to the card’s brochure it offers many more perks and was a master card that could be used outside the Sam’s / Walmart family of sites.  It increased our yearly membership cost to $110 but the cash back perk on select sales more than made up for the membership.  All was perfect until three months age. My wife used the Synchrony bank master card to purchase admission tickets to Silver Springs State Park in Florida.  This is our home county, and the park is a world known ecology park with famed glass bottom boats.  Synchrony denied the purchase and shut down th

What Social Security Benefits Changes Do You Want?  These are some that have recently been proposed - YEA or NAY on these?  If you don’t understand what these are - you need not vote.  There are so many of these that I am only going to post some of them at any one time so as not to overwhelm you.  - Thus this is Part One. I am not including any proposed offsets if they were mentioned - we can cover those later.  For the ones for which there were no suggested offsets, I did include those and the estimated cost to the Trust Fund. 1.  Should the Repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset be extended to the people of our territory Puerto Rico?This would bring the total increase in liability to the Social Security Trust Fund, including what has already been passed for the repeal of the WEP and GPO to $200+ BILLION over (10) years. 2.  Should the Social Security lump-sum death payment increase from $25

Per today's SSA Blog, going forward users must use either an ID.me or a login.gov to log into their SSA account You can still use your username and password for "awhile". And the blog says there are helpful instructions once you log in to set up a new login.gov account (if you already have a login.gov account there's no need to create a new one). See the press release here (https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/#7-2024-1) and the blog here (https://blog.ssa.gov/changes-are-coming-to-how-you-access-social-securitys-online-services/)  (better yet, just Google for this information so you are sure the links are safe. Best practice) I have all three login methods but nowadays I just use ID.me (a private concern). Some time back there were various issues with login.gov on SSA but they seem to be resolved now. I didn't like ID.me because it sent me to a "junk" page where they try to sell stuff. But I eventually realized you can configure things so you don't get sent

Will there be any coverage of the changes to Social Security eligibility/payments because of the changes to WEP/GPO?

The December Social Security benefit is paid in arrears, so payment is in January of the following year. So, for example, in the most recent case, is December's (2022) benefit considered as income, for income tax purposes, for 2022 or 2023?thx!