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  • 2016-01-15 (xsd:date)
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  • Social Security Changes to Take Effect 1 May 2016 (en)
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  • In October 2015, HR 1314, also known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, was passed by Congress. That legislative bill called for some modifications to the Social Security program which are to take effect on 1 May 2016. As usual some unscrupulous finance-related businesses seized upon those modifications to scare gullible readers into signing up for hefty financial newsletter subscriptions in order to protect themselves from Congress' supposed hidden radical reform that threatens the financial security of as many as 21.3 million Americans. In fact, the pending changes are relatively minor: they do not take away any existing benefits or alter core Social Security benefits or payment levels, they are not hidden or radical, and they do not threaten the financial security of millions of Americans. The coming changes will alter or eliminate a few strategies used by some people to maximize their Social Security benefits, however, so those in a position to take advantage of them while they still exist need to know how they can be grandfathered in. The first change applies to Social Security's file and suspend strategy, which allowed couples to maximize their combined benefits by having one spouse file for Social Security upon reaching full retirement age (currently 66), then immediately suspending the benefits. This allowed the other spouse to claim a spousal benefit while their deferred Social Security grew 8 percent per year until age 70: Another change will eliminate restricted applications, a mechanism that allows persons who are between full retirement age and age 70 to file an application to claim spousal benefits but defer collecting their own benefits; upon reaching 70, they change from receiving spousal benefits to receiving their own (larger) benefits: The last of the pending changes affects suspended benefits, a mechanism that allows persons to file for Social Security but suspend their benefits, then at a later date request payments dating retroactive to their original filing date: (en)
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