Though many clients see Social Security as a government benefit, it is really a covered worker's investment asset to be managed like any other asset. This course examines how Social Security benefits are calculated, identifying benefit-claiming strategies and what spouses can do now to maximize benefits at retirement. You'll learn how Social Security works and explore common planning situations’including workers with and without spouses, sandwich-generation families with dependent parents and minor children, and surviving and/or divorced spouses’with the focus on techniques to maximize your clients' benefits.
Learning Objectives
• Determine how Social Security works, how benefits are calculated, who are beneficiaries, and techniques to maximize your clients' benefits
• Recognize the language and forms of the Social Security Administration
• Outline the earnings test and other drawbacks to drawing benefits early and how to plan around them
Major Topics
• Social Security planning, benefit calculation, and beneficiaries
• Recent changes to "file and suspend" and "restricted application" strategies
• Increasing benefits for divorced and surviving spouses
• Early retirement and the earnings test
• An overview of the obstacles beneficiaries face when claiming Social Security disability benefits
• Integrating retirement plan distribution strategies with Medicare and Social Security claiming strategies
