Benefits expert Tammy Flanagan joins Your Turn today to answer questions about Social Security and retirement applicable to both federal and private sector work...
The amount of the indexed-to-inflation Social Security benefit will be important for some people. For those with little or no post-retirement income that steady Social Security payment will be critical.
While Social Security is available as early as age 62, benefits expert Tammy Flanagan said most people can dramatically boost that monthly payment by delaying it. If they wait until age 70 the value it will be worth 76% more than if taken at age 62. Despite that, she said that 72% of Social Security recipients are receiving reduced benefits, and will for life, because they took them before their full retirement age.
On the other hand, there are times when it is best for individuals to take benefits as soon as they are eligible. Confusing, right?
That’s because planning for retirement is not easy. It involves asking the right questions of the right people, and knowing what those questions are. And it takes realizing that many people working today, when they do decide to retire will be alive, kicking, spending and traveling for decades to come. In many cases some of you will be retired longer than you worked. Check your local newspapers obits, do the math.
Then, seriously, do the math. Ask the right questions, know the rules, be aware of what you don’t know but can find out. Which is where Tammy Flanagan comes in. She’s my guest today on our Your Turn radio show, and she is also doing a pre-retirement webinar Thursday for National Active and Retired Federal Employees at www.narfe.org. Check both of them out.
And remember our show will be archived so you can listen later, listen again or pass it on to friends and coworkers. While aimed at members of the federal family many of the tips from Tammy apply to private sector types as well as state and local government workers. For instance:
Tammy is going to try to cover all the basics and then some, to help put more money in your monthly retirement income and reduce costs to you. Tune in at 10 a.m. EDT today at www.federalnewsnetwork.com or 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
By Amelia Brust
Before alarm clocks were widely available or reliable, during the Industrial Revolution in Britain and Ireland people known as a knocker-up or knocker-upper were responsible for waking people so that they could get to work on time. They used batons to knock on clients’ doors, or a long and light stick to reach windows on higher floors; sometimes they even used pea-shooters to hit windows.
Source: Wikipedia
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Mike Causey is senior correspondent for Federal News Network and writes his daily Federal Report column on federal employees’ pay, benefits and retirement.
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