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My wife worked for the state just over 10 years in the local library and while it wasn't much money it was enough to pay for the college bills. Even more importantly she liked working there, became good friends with all the employees and most of the time work was a fun time.
She worked 8:00 to 4:00 every day and even got paid for her lunch half hour. Once a month she would trade a Monday for a Saturday to work the Saturday shift.
We're looking 10 to 15 years ago with pay generally around $9 to $10 but benefits were simply awesome! The county paid 100% of the health insurance for the family which included eyes and dental. Being government it was a gold plated policy to boot. Best one we ever had.
After eight years she was starting to feel it and thought about resigning but looking everything over if she had exactly 10 years she would be eligible for state retirement benefits that would start at age 60 just three years down the road. Being strong she stuck it out working for 10 years and one week.
She resigned, nothing happened for three years. Life continued, we were a stay at home mommy and wife again.
Turning 60 she signed up for retirement. Wasn't much, about $350/month, but a little here and a little there it counts up. It would have been a little more but she signed up for survivorship for me so if she passes the pension comes over to me. Hey, $350/month would pay all my utilities including cable and internet so I'm really cool with that.
As an added benefit at age 60 she could sign up for a heavily subsidized health insurance benefit which we did. Had everything, including dental and eyeglasses covering both of us at a cost of them keeping the $350 with us writing an additional check for $600 with most of the cost on account of me. Two people in their 60's for a gold plated plan covering everything for $850 total is a good deal. When I turned 65 I hit Medicare and when that happened she kept the insurance on herself and started getting a check again for $180 meaning the cost of health insurance was $170/month. Best deal ever.
Today she is on Medicare and the state provides her with a Humana Advantage Plan with dental and eyeglasses costing her $160 out of her $350 but they reimburse her the cost of her Medicare Part B coverage. Yeah, she pays for her Part B but every month gets a reimbursement check a practice I heard the state stopped.
My question is what will WEP do to her when she reaches FRA shortly and draws 50% of my FRA benefit?
What will they take two thirds of? Will they take two thirds of her $350 value or wil they take two thirds of the $455 which is the value of the Part B reimbursement?
Is there a low limit where they don't bother messing with WEP on state pensions? Silly me, I think I asked a silly question there but I would really like to know.
Now figure this, if I am a survivor I get the total value of the monthly pension and WEP has no impact. Got this info from the social security office and the guy telling me seemed pretty sure of it. Go figure, huh?
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