Speaker 1: And our phone lines they are open for you right now.
Speaker 1: If you've got a question for our retirement planning professionals
Speaker 1: from Class Financial, all I gotta do is dial in
Speaker 1: six oh eight three two one thirteen ten. That's six
Speaker 1: oh eight three two one thirteen ten. Love to have
Speaker 1: you join us this morning, and we are joined by h. CJ.
Speaker 1: Closs and Eric Schwartz, retirement planning professionals from COSS Financial.
Speaker 1: You can learn more about them and the whole team
Speaker 1: at Costs Financial on the website class financial dot com
Speaker 1: that's Coss k l Aasfinancial dot com and their telephone
Speaker 1: number six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
Speaker 1: No charge for that initial gets to know your appointment
Speaker 1: tech Loss Financial. It will be complimentary to you. CJ.
Speaker 1: How you doing this morning.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Just brave the snow on the way in.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling good about it.
Speaker 1: Yes, it can get dicey out there for sure, for sure. Eric,
Speaker 1: how is your drive in this morning?
Speaker 4: You know it was it was pretty slow, Sean, but
Speaker 4: I made it.
Speaker 1: That's good. It's good to hear, and it's smart to
Speaker 1: keep it slow on days like today, for sure. And
Speaker 1: we've got a conversation ahead involving social security, talking about
Speaker 1: social security benefits and of course the effect that has
Speaker 1: on others around you, and we'll get to that in
Speaker 1: just a moment. One of the really cool features of
Speaker 1: Money in Motion with Coss Financial is the Class Quiz
Speaker 1: Question Week. This week you will have a chance to
Speaker 1: win a twenty five dollars gift card two pet smart
Speaker 1: from our friends at Coloss Financial. Little tip if you
Speaker 1: listen close to the program. Just about every show, the
Speaker 1: question and answer to the Class Quiz Question week come
Speaker 1: up during the program, so it really benefits you to
Speaker 1: pay close attention to the show. We'll do that a
Speaker 1: little bit later on the program. We'll talk a little
Speaker 1: bit more about how you can win that. And before
Speaker 1: we get rolling on this week's conversation around social security,
Speaker 1: let's actually take a look back at last week's program
Speaker 1: and get the question and answer there as well.
Speaker 4: Eric, absolutely so, as always, thank you everyone for listening,
Speaker 4: and congratulations to our winner from last week was Jody
Speaker 4: from Fitchburg, and the question was it was a true
Speaker 4: or false question. Conversion means you are paying taxes on
Speaker 4: the converted amount now, and when we say now, we
Speaker 4: mean in the year of the conversion to enjoy tax
Speaker 4: free withdrawals later, and the correct answer to that was true.
Speaker 1: Fantastic, congratulations to Jody. You two can be like Jody
Speaker 1: all You got to just pay attention to the program
Speaker 1: and then we'll tell you how you can win a
Speaker 1: little bit later on in the show. So as mentioned
Speaker 1: to be talking about social Security benefits, but specifically benefits
Speaker 1: and how they impact spouses or former spouses CJ. What
Speaker 1: do we need to go there?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 2: Our focus for today will be on current or former
Speaker 2: spouses of US citizens who are historically or are currently
Speaker 2: eligible for Social Security benefits. However, before we get too
Speaker 2: deep into that kind of narrow discussion, I want to
Speaker 2: begin by outlining the various types of Social Security benefits
Speaker 2: someone could be eligible to receive throughout their lifetime. We
Speaker 2: actually did this about a month or two ago, where
Speaker 2: we just reminded everybody, hey, there's actually when when you
Speaker 2: say social Security, there's actually here in the United States
Speaker 2: a lot more to that in terms of types of
Speaker 2: benefits than I think a lot of people realize. The
Speaker 2: most common one that we all think of is just
Speaker 2: retirement benefits.
Speaker 3: I work, I'm a US citizen with soci Security number.
Speaker 2: I work, I pay Soci Security taxes through myself and
Speaker 2: my employer, and then over time, when I get to retirement,
Speaker 2: I get an income that is your retirement benefit. However,
Speaker 2: there are various types of Social Scurity benefits, and they
Speaker 2: include one of the five categories. Category number one retirement benefits,
Speaker 2: which I just mentioned, Category number two disability insurance benefits,
Speaker 2: Category number three survivor benefits, Category number four Family benefits,
Speaker 2: and Category number five Supplemental Security income benefits. Now, according
Speaker 2: to the Sociecurity Administration, here are quick definitions of each
Speaker 2: type of benefit someone could be eligible to receive. So
Speaker 2: of those five, let's just go through quick definitions, beginning
Speaker 2: with Socialecurity retirement benefits, the most.
Speaker 3: Common of them all.
Speaker 2: This is a monthly check that replaces part of your
Speaker 2: income when you reduce your hours or stop working altogether.
Speaker 2: It may not replace all your income, so it's best
Speaker 2: to identify other ways to pay for your monthly expenses
Speaker 2: as you age.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 2: That is a definition from Social Security's website. Benefit item
Speaker 2: number two. The soci Security Disability Insurance Benefit, also known
Speaker 2: as SSDI, provides monthly payments to people who have a
Speaker 2: disability that stops or limits their ability to work. So
Speaker 2: social Security disability is for people who have a disability
Speaker 2: that stops or limits their ability to work. Number three,
Speaker 2: the Social Security Survivor Benefit provides monthly payments to eligible
Speaker 2: family members of people who worked and paid Social Security
Speaker 2: taxes before they died. So right in the definition there,
Speaker 2: survivor benefits is for family members of somebody who has died.
Speaker 2: A category Number four, the soci Security Family Benefit provides
Speaker 2: monthly payments to certain family members of people who are
Speaker 2: eligible for retirement or disability. Often people confuse the family
Speaker 2: benefit with the survivor benefit. Survivor is for certain family
Speaker 2: members of people who have died. Family benefits are for
Speaker 2: certain family members of somebody who is living and is
Speaker 2: eligible for retirement or disability. And finally, the last court category,
Speaker 2: Social Security Supplemental Security Income Benefit also known as SSI
Speaker 2: for short, provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and
Speaker 2: older adults who have little or no income or resources.
Speaker 2: So against think you know super low income disability, older
Speaker 2: adults a little to no income or resources. So as
Speaker 2: you can see, over the lifetime of an average American,
Speaker 2: there are a multitude of ways that you could be
Speaker 2: impacted by various types of Social Security benefits from things
Speaker 2: like long term disabilities, or the death of a loved one,
Speaker 2: or a divorce or a disabled child, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: We understand that social Security can get a bad reputation,
Speaker 2: and there can be good reasons for that number one,
Speaker 2: as funding problems or how politicians use it, you know,
Speaker 2: during debates, as a political leverage tour tool. However, at
Speaker 2: its core, in our opinion, social Security is a modern
Speaker 2: financial marvel that positively impacts the lives of tens of
Speaker 2: millions of Americans and countless more it keeps countless more
Speaker 2: out of extreme poverty. So, with all that being said,
Speaker 2: for the remainder of our show today, we will be
Speaker 2: primarily focusing on Social Security, family benefits, and survivor benefits.
Speaker 2: So again I gave you kind of that fifty thousand
Speaker 2: foot view. Now we're going to never throw down in
Speaker 2: the five or ten thousand foot view on family benefits
Speaker 2: and survivor benefits.
Speaker 1: Love the rundown this morning, as we talk with CJ.
Speaker 1: Closs and Eric Schwartz, our retirement planning professionals from Class
Speaker 1: financial don't forget. You can learn more online the website
Speaker 1: cossfinancial dot com. That's Klaasfinancial dot com. The telephone number
Speaker 1: six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
Speaker 1: No charge for that initial get to know you appointment
Speaker 1: tech COLSS Financial. It will be complimentary to you again
Speaker 1: their number six oh eight four four two five six
Speaker 1: three seven. So, Eric, what should we know when it
Speaker 1: comes to Social Security survivor benefits and how can that
Speaker 1: have an impact on a former spouse.
Speaker 4: That's a great question, Sean. And before we kind of
Speaker 4: dive into that, I want to just highlight one of
Speaker 4: the definitions cj diis referenced. That's the Social Security Administration
Speaker 4: gives us for survivor benefits. Okay, So the Social Security
Speaker 4: Survivor Benefit provides monthly payments to eligible family members of
Speaker 4: people who worked and paid Social Security taxes before they die.
Speaker 4: So who are those eligible family members? So Social Security
Speaker 4: tells us that this can include spouses, divorced spouses, children,
Speaker 4: or even a dependent parent. And while we'll be focusing
Speaker 4: today on spouses and divorced ex spouses, it's important for
Speaker 4: our listeners to realize there are a lot of other
Speaker 4: individuals that could benefit from a Social Security benefit after
Speaker 4: a loved one dies, So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 4: We're going to dig in deeper here, just on those
Speaker 4: benefits for spouses and divorced X spouses, So survivor benefits.
Speaker 4: According to Social Security, you may be eligible for survivor
Speaker 4: benefits if your current or divorced X spouse died and
Speaker 4: you are age sixty year older or fifty to fifty nine,
Speaker 4: if you have a disability and you were married for
Speaker 4: at least nine months before your spouse's death and you
Speaker 4: didn't remarry before age sixty or age fifty if you
Speaker 4: have a disability. Now, whenever we talk about Social Security,
Speaker 4: the content tends to get very very dense at times,
Speaker 4: and there are a lot of different moving pieces, so
Speaker 4: stick with us here. Ex Spouses who are married for
Speaker 4: at least ten years, as well as some valid non
Speaker 4: marital legal relationships may also be eligible. And then, beyond
Speaker 4: the two broad categories, you may also be eligible regardless
Speaker 4: of age and how long you were married. So one
Speaker 4: common example of this is if you're caring for a
Speaker 4: child of the person who has passed away. Now, of course,
Speaker 4: if you are eligible for a Social Security survivor benefit,
Speaker 4: as a current or divorced X spouse, or you were
Speaker 4: part of a valid non marital legal relationship. The next
Speaker 4: question becomes is what is the benefit, what's the amount,
Speaker 4: what are you actually receiving. The answer is it could
Speaker 4: provide you with a monthly payment based upon the work
Speaker 4: history of the decendent, along with the potential for Medicare
Speaker 4: benefits based on their work history. Of course, you have
Speaker 4: to be sixty five for that. Based upon what I've
Speaker 4: outlined here, if you think you may be eligible for
Speaker 4: a survivor benefit, you should gather the decedent Social Security
Speaker 4: number and do one of two things. Either call the
Speaker 4: Social Security Administration or schedule a meeting at a local
Speaker 4: Social Security office. Now, Social Security has actually a pretty
Speaker 4: robust website these days. They're trying to get their information
Speaker 4: available two folks directly, but in our experience, when it
Speaker 4: comes to survivor benefits, there's little information that you can
Speaker 4: find that relates directly to you by logging into your
Speaker 4: Social Security web portal, So you really do have to
Speaker 4: actually directly reach out to the administration and basically you're
Speaker 4: going to provide the Social Security representative with the decedent
Speaker 4: Social Security number. And then let them know why you
Speaker 4: think you may be eligible for survivor benefits. One important
Speaker 4: note about survivor benefits. If you begin receiving monthly benefits
Speaker 4: and you are not yet full retirement age or FRA,
Speaker 4: as we've talked about, you may have earning limits, right,
Speaker 4: so they're not going to let you. In some cases,
Speaker 4: if you're not yet at your full retirement age, which
Speaker 4: is either sixty six or sixty seven or somewhere in between,
Speaker 4: your survivor benefit amount could be reduced by the amount
Speaker 4: that you earn or are anticipated to earn in a
Speaker 4: year over the annual limit which they allow you to
Speaker 4: earn twenty three four hundred dollars this year. Now, this
Speaker 4: is a really complicated discussion, and we've simplified it here
Speaker 4: quite a bit. But for current or divorced expouses of
Speaker 4: a deceased individual, you should probably talk with someone at
Speaker 4: the Social Security Administration just to determine eligibility, or at
Speaker 4: least speak with the financial advisor and get some guidance
Speaker 4: on all.
Speaker 1: This great guide. It's some great information. As we talk
Speaker 1: with our retirement planning professionals, Eric Schwartz and CJ. Closs,
Speaker 1: of course they come to us from Class Financial website
Speaker 1: Coss Financial dot com. That's clause k l a A
Speaker 1: S Financial dot Com. They're telephone number six oh eight
Speaker 1: four four two five six three seven. No charge for
Speaker 1: that initial get to know your appointment tech co Loss Financial.
Speaker 1: It will be complimentary to you again their number six
Speaker 1: oh eight four four two five six three seven. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about Social Security family benefits. We'll get
Speaker 1: the details with CJ. We'll also head on over to
Speaker 1: the Money in Motion listener question corner and have the
Speaker 1: Class Quiz question a week. All of that coming up
Speaker 1: in Money and Motion with Class Financial right here on
Speaker 1: thirteen ten WIB eight talking with our retirement planning professionals CJ.
Speaker 1: Closs and Eric Schwartz. They come to us from Class
Speaker 1: Financial the website coss Financial dot com. That's css k
Speaker 1: l a A S Financial dot com. Telphy number for
Speaker 1: the office right here in Madison, sixt oh eight four
Speaker 1: four two five six three seven. Talking Social Secure this week,
Speaker 1: and we started that last segment. We ended up talking
Speaker 1: about survivor benefits and very very complicated and some really
Speaker 1: good guidance there. If you missed any part of that
Speaker 1: segment to want to listen back to this show or
Speaker 1: previous shows Doorfgate. You can always listen and subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast at class financial dot com. So, CJ, what
Speaker 1: about social Security family benefits and what do we need
Speaker 1: to know here? So and you know, kind of how
Speaker 1: does that differ then from survivor benefits?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Good questions. So, you know, as as Eric kind of
Speaker 2: ended his section there, the big encouragement here is like, whoa,
Speaker 2: there's a there's a lot to this. You know, if
Speaker 2: I'm a survivor or an ex house of somebody who
Speaker 2: has passed away, I may be eligible for benefits. So
Speaker 2: our biggest encouragement is just kind of keep your ears
Speaker 2: open to what we're saying. And if you think this
Speaker 2: might impact you, just talk to the Social Security Administration. Now,
Speaker 2: even as I say that, I'm chuckling on the inside
Speaker 2: a little bit. Just talk to the Socialcurity Administration.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like your.
Speaker 2: Neighbor, go over and chat with them and have a
Speaker 2: nice Unfortunately, that's not the way it works with Social
Speaker 2: Security Administration.
Speaker 3: They get a lot of inbound calls.
Speaker 2: There's almost seventy million recipients of Social Security, not to
Speaker 2: mention three hundred million people paying into.
Speaker 3: This thing or something like that.
Speaker 2: So yes, it could take some time to get a
Speaker 2: meeting set up, but just talk to them and see
Speaker 2: if you're eligible. Now to your point, you know, we
Speaker 2: kind of move on from survivor benefits and we talk
Speaker 2: about family benefits, you know, and how do these things differ. So,
Speaker 2: just like Eric did, I'm going to start with the definition. So,
Speaker 2: the Social Security Family Benefit provides monthly payments to certain
Speaker 2: family members of people who are eligible for retirement or
Speaker 2: disability benefits. So again right away you can tell this
Speaker 2: definition differs from the survivor of benefits Eric's just discussed
Speaker 2: in that we are not referencing deceased, current or divorced
Speaker 2: ex spouses in this definition. We are referencing benefits of
Speaker 2: a living, current or divorced X spouse. It may be
Speaker 2: eligible for family benefits if you are the spouse, divorce
Speaker 2: ex spouse, or child of someone entitled to retirement or
Speaker 2: disabilility benefits. We will be focusing on spouses and divorced
Speaker 2: X spouses. Okay, so we're not focusing on all the
Speaker 2: definitions of people who might be eligible for family benefits.
Speaker 2: We're just focusing today on the spouses and divorced X spouses.
Speaker 3: So let's dig a little deeper.
Speaker 2: You may be eligible for family benefits if you have
Speaker 2: been married for at least one year and are age
Speaker 2: sixty two and older, or caring for a child age
Speaker 2: fifteen and younger, or caring for a child of any
Speaker 2: age who has a disability. I'm going to repeat that
Speaker 2: you may be eligible for family benefits if you have
Speaker 2: been married for at least one year and are age
Speaker 2: sixty two and older, or caring for a child age
Speaker 2: fifteen and younger, or caring for a child of any
Speaker 2: age who has a disability. X X spouses who were
Speaker 2: made married for at least ten years, as well as
Speaker 2: some valid non marital legal relationships, may also be eligible.
Speaker 2: So notice one important distinction between survivor benefits and family benefits.
Speaker 2: In the case of survivor benefits, where you were the
Speaker 2: spouse at the point of their death, you had to
Speaker 2: be married for at least nine months before they died
Speaker 2: and didn't rema and didn't remarry before age sixty to
Speaker 2: be eligible for those benefits. However, in the case of
Speaker 2: family benefits, where you are the current spouse, you must
Speaker 2: have been married for at least one year.
Speaker 3: To be eligible for these benefits.
Speaker 2: I tell everybody this because there's quite a bit of
Speaker 2: like interesting things floating around there. People go, wait, I
Speaker 2: thought it was nine months. Other people go, no, wait,
Speaker 2: I thought it was one year. And then other people, yeah,
Speaker 2: go wait, I thought you had to be married for
Speaker 2: ten years. And actually all of those are true, just
Speaker 2: depending upon what type of benefit you're talking about. So
Speaker 2: I know we're probably freaking you all out because there's
Speaker 2: so much complexity here, But our hope is that you
Speaker 2: here's something that says, hey, that could be me, and
Speaker 2: then you start looking into it. So, similar to what
Speaker 2: Eric referenced earlier, if you are eligible for a family
Speaker 2: benefit as a current or divorced ex spouse or we're
Speaker 2: part of a valid non merital legal relationship, you could
Speaker 2: be eligible for a monthly payment based upon the work
Speaker 2: history of the living current.
Speaker 3: Spouse or divorced x spouse.
Speaker 2: So if you think you may be eligible for a
Speaker 2: family benefit, just like Eric mentioned before, you should do
Speaker 2: one of a few things. Either call the Social Security
Speaker 2: Administration to confirm your eligibility and ask questions, or schedule
Speaker 2: a meeting at a local Social Security office or talk
Speaker 2: with a financial advisor who can discuss the logistics of
Speaker 2: your circumstances, and in any of these instances, you should
Speaker 2: be prepared with some of the following basic information, your
Speaker 2: Social Security number, your work history, your current in any
Speaker 2: past marriages, and then name and details about your children.
Speaker 1: A lot of great detail there. So we talked with CJ.
Speaker 1: Class and Eric Schwartz. They are our retirement planning professionals
Speaker 1: from Coss Financial. A lot of really important, great content
Speaker 1: each and every week here on Money in Motion, including
Speaker 1: this week with Coss Financial. Don't forget if you ever
Speaker 1: missed part of the program, you can always listen back
Speaker 1: at cossfinancial dot com. You can also sign up for
Speaker 1: the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. It's a great weekly email.
Speaker 1: It's got a snapshot of what's happening in the markets.
Speaker 1: Also linked to the most recent podcasts that available to
Speaker 1: you at Cossfinancial dot com. That's Klaas Financial dot com.
Speaker 1: They're telfoed up for the office right here in Madison
Speaker 1: six oh eight four four two five six three seven.
Speaker 1: No charge for that initial gets know your appointment at
Speaker 1: Loss Financial. It will be complimentary to you again their
Speaker 1: number six oh eight four four two five, six three seven.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk have a bit of a Rod
Speaker 1: Tidwell Jerry Maguire moment in just a moment here on
Speaker 1: thirteen ten wi BA. We'll do that next as Money
Speaker 1: in Motion with COSS Financial continues right here thirteen ten
Speaker 1: wib I talking with CJ. Kloss and Eric Schwartz. They
Speaker 1: are our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial, the website
Speaker 1: class financial dot com. That's Coss k l a as
Speaker 1: Financial dot com telph number six so eight four four
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. An Oscar winning moment. I
Speaker 1: and a lot of folks probably from Jerry Maguire. You
Speaker 1: got Cuba Gooden Junior, as Rod didwell going back and
Speaker 1: forth on the phone. Show me the money, Show me
Speaker 1: the money. Let's talk about showing me the money. Kind
Speaker 1: of a little serious though, Eric, how much could I
Speaker 1: get then when it comes to monthly benefit if I'm
Speaker 1: eligible for a survivor benefit or family benefit there.
Speaker 4: Well, luckily, Sean, we don't get a whole lot of
Speaker 4: Jerry Maguire moments in our meeting, but they are generally
Speaker 4: asking us that same question, how much am I going
Speaker 4: to get? The Social Security Administration uses a specific formula
Speaker 4: calculate the amount of a survivor benefit or a family benefit,
Speaker 4: and in general it's a percentage of the current or
Speaker 4: former spouse's primary insurance amount. So we've talked about this
Speaker 4: on the show before. Your primary insurance amount is the
Speaker 4: benefit amount you would receive at your full retirement age.
Speaker 4: They'll get an age between sixty six and sixty seven.
Speaker 4: But the calculation is more complex, of course, and it's
Speaker 4: impacted by several different factors, some of which include your age,
Speaker 4: your current spouse's eligibility for benefits, your work history, the
Speaker 4: year that your late spouse passed away, whether or not
Speaker 4: you remarried, and at what age you do decide to remarry,
Speaker 4: the number of eligible family members that you have, the
Speaker 4: year you actually become eligible, and finally, the age that
Speaker 4: you begin drawing your benefit. Okay, so I want to
Speaker 4: just kind of pause here for a second. Unfortunately, CJ
Speaker 4: and I have a lot of experience helping clients through
Speaker 4: the process following the loss of a loved one, and
Speaker 4: beyond all of the normal things you'd expect, you know,
Speaker 4: grief and loss, we're trying to help them figure out
Speaker 4: how to navigate the financial implications of this, and I
Speaker 4: will say from my experience, especially in the case of
Speaker 4: young families, but also you know, in most cases, the
Speaker 4: Social Security survivor benefit tends to be one of the
Speaker 4: I would say most surprising to clients and in many
Speaker 4: ways impactful. I mean, we're potentially talking about thousands of
Speaker 4: dollars a month here for a family that may have
Speaker 4: just lost, you know, one of their income earners. So
Speaker 4: we really really want to encourage people don't ignore this,
Speaker 4: really really take the steps to investigate any benefits you
Speaker 4: might be eligible for. Get in touch with the Social
Speaker 4: Security Administration and figure out if there are benefits that
Speaker 4: you are eligible for, not only from a deceased spouse,
Speaker 4: but just a living former spouse as well.
Speaker 1: Talking this morning with Eric Schwartz and CJ. Closs. They
Speaker 1: are our retirement planning professionals from Class Financial online class
Speaker 1: financial dot com. That's Class k l aasancial dot com.
Speaker 1: While you're at the website, of course, you can learn
Speaker 1: more about COSS Financial. You can learn more also if
Speaker 1: you are a business owner and the different options and
Speaker 1: different divisions at COSS Financial as well stuff for you
Speaker 1: as an individual, all available at cossfinancial dot com. Also
Speaker 1: While you're there, you can submit a question to be
Speaker 1: answered right here on the program and our Money in
Speaker 1: Motion listener question corner, and this week, Sue writes in
Speaker 1: she says, I was married for twenty eight years. I
Speaker 1: lost the love of my life and the father of
Speaker 1: my three children to cancer at age fifty two. I'm
Speaker 1: now fifty eight years old, with all my children out
Speaker 1: of the house, and have been fortunate enough to meet
Speaker 1: another great man who I would like to marry. However,
Speaker 1: before we get married, I want to know if there's
Speaker 1: anything I should consider relative to potential social security benefits.
Speaker 1: That question from Sue CJ.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, first things first, thanks Sue for writing in this question,
Speaker 2: because this one would be hard for me to answer
Speaker 2: on the fly. I was thankful to have a little
Speaker 2: bit of time to kind of look in into this one. However,
Speaker 2: let me begin by saying, I'm really sorry. It sounds
Speaker 2: like it's been a while since your late husband's passing,
Speaker 2: but I can't imagine the heartache of losing a spouse
Speaker 2: to cancer after bearing and raising children together.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, what a mess.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but your question is timely since we just
Speaker 2: discussed soci security survivor benefits during our show today, so
Speaker 2: some listeners may already know the answer to your questions
Speaker 2: too based upon what we just discussed. So the answer
Speaker 2: is yes, you may want to slow down and speak
Speaker 2: with someone at the Social Security Administration and or your
Speaker 2: financial advisor before getting remarried, depending upon the specifics of
Speaker 2: your circumstances. If you remarry prior to reaching your age sixty,
Speaker 2: you could lose access to Social Security survivor benefits also
Speaker 2: known as widow's benefits by the way off your deceased
Speaker 2: spouse's record. Now, truthfully, this may or may not be
Speaker 2: very impactful to you, depending upon your current and future
Speaker 2: projected circle ccumstances With the man that you mentioned, You
Speaker 2: might want to marry, but it is worth slowing down
Speaker 2: to ask some questions before you tie the knot, especially
Speaker 2: given that I think you said you were fifty eight
Speaker 2: years old and really marriages after sixty don't impact these
Speaker 2: previous benefits. So yes, I guess what I'm trying to
Speaker 2: say to you, Sue, is great question. We would actually
Speaker 2: suggest pause, slow down before you get remarried. Here, talk
Speaker 2: to Social Security Administration and just understand the implications. It
Speaker 2: wouldn't surprise us if at the end of this little
Speaker 2: research project that you come to find out that it's
Speaker 2: not a huge impact and you're going to get remarried anyways,
Speaker 2: but you would hate to There's no redos here, right,
Speaker 2: You would hate to get married and then recognize that
Speaker 2: you lost a significant benefit that could have helped you
Speaker 2: and really the man you intend to marry.
Speaker 1: Great question, Sue, and don't free. You can submit your
Speaker 1: question if you could be like Sue, if you got one,
Speaker 1: you always submitted at class financial dot com. You can
Speaker 1: call in during the program, or even better, if you
Speaker 1: call Class Financial's office here in Madison six four four
Speaker 1: two five six three seven. That first appointment at COSS Financial,
Speaker 1: it will be complimentary to you. You can get that
Speaker 1: start that conversation again. All I get is pick up phone.
Speaker 1: Give them a call six oh eight four four two
Speaker 1: five six three seven. Speaking of that telephone number in
Speaker 1: the Madison office. Time now for the Coss Quiz Question
Speaker 1: the week. Your chance to win a fantastic prize this week,
Speaker 1: a twenty five dollars gift card to pet Smart Class
Speaker 1: Quiz Question Week. It works like this. In just a moment,
Speaker 1: I'll ask you the class Quiz question the leak. You'll
Speaker 1: then him thirty minutes to the end of the program
Speaker 1: to call the Class Financial Office here in Madison at
Speaker 1: six oh eight four four two five, six three seven
Speaker 1: if you are the first car with correct answer to
Speaker 1: win this week's prize again, the twenty five dollars gift
Speaker 1: card to pet Smart. This week's class quiz question the
Speaker 1: week is this true or false? You may be eligible
Speaker 1: for a Social Security survivor benefit as a spouse if
Speaker 1: you were married for at least nine month months before
Speaker 1: their death. True or false? Telephone number six oh eight
Speaker 1: four four two five six three seven. First call correct
Speaker 1: answer one. That's twenty five dollars gift card to pet Smart.
Speaker 1: And don't forget that's Class Financials Office right here in Madison,
Speaker 1: that number six oh eight four four two five, six
Speaker 1: three seven. CJ.
Speaker 3: Eric.
Speaker 1: It's always great chatting with both of you, you guys,
Speaker 1: enjoy this great Dan and we'll do it all again
Speaker 1: real soon. Thanks Sean, Thanks Sean, see you guys, and
Speaker 1: doctor Marty Greer she comes your way next here on
Speaker 1: thirteen ten w IB eight