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i think it is a social security gotcha that few realize . you never do get back those months where you got the reduced check .
OTOH, I think you can suspend, reinstate, suspend again... I certainly understand why SSA would wait until January to calculate the benefit, but there should be some type of retro benefit paid (similar to how it handles recalculations for earned income.)
Yes, as in my case explained in thread #8, the phone interviewer did try to talk me into the 6 month retro, with a corresponding reduction in monthly benefits. She did not try and "force" it, but I did have to be very clear that I was not interested.
I came across this article and have not been able to verify the statement which I bolded.
Disclaim the Retroactive Benefits It turns out that the system defaults to awarding you retroactive benefits. We have discussed retroactive benefits in detail previously, but in a nut shell Social Security allows you to back-date your application and claim up to 6 months of benefits in a lump sum. This retroactive claiming is limited to those people who have reached their FRA and the retroactive application can only go back 6 months or back to your FRA month, whichever is less. Since the default is to file your claim retroactively you must expressly disclaim these retroactive benefits if you instead want to take full advantage of your Delayed Retirement Credits.
so far all indications are that very sneakily ss does take away those credits for the current year .
you could claim retro benefits but a cut in ss back to those 6 months is the result if you try this but in any case this is a different issue then the one i mentioned .
if you try back dating to recapture then you lose the credit going forward .
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-10-2016 at 03:15 AM..
As I understand the point you are making, if your FRA was 66, and you were to file at 69 1/2 and your birthday was say Jan 4th, and your first check was July whatever, you would only get DRC credits for 35 months for the 6 checks received that year, and 41 months of credits from the following Jan on, meaning you were not paid roughly 4% of what you actually should be credited for, for 6 months. Correct? And so it goes for each successive month, so if you filed in December, and your first check was in Jan, before the previous 12 months DRCs were credited, you would be missing 8% on one check, as the next check would have all credits.
On a hypothetical $3000 check then 4% for 6 months would be $120x6= $720. 8% for one month would be $240. 2% for 9 months would be $540. So with the exception of the month turning 70 rule posted, when you file is somewhat important relative to January, with midyear being the worst. Is that correct?
Doesn't seem right that when your birthday is, can cost you a chunk of change compared to someone else with the same number of DRCs and same earnings history. So there is no ratched "lost" credit amount spread out over successive months?
Last edited by Perryinva; 04-10-2016 at 05:35 AM..
without me running through the math it means that if i filed in july at 68-1/2 the following january i would be ratcheted up to a rate reflecting i retired at 68-1/2 but for the august through december checks i would not get that difference since that is paid at the 68 rate based on the previous january . it seems you will never recover that amount .
if you tried claiming the 6 month retro that you can claim they knock your retirement date back 6 months so that is a poor idea ..
you can avoid that by always filing after december so the january recalculation gives you all months .
This is something I've been trying to figure out also. How about if one turns 70 the last week in June? Filing for the June date means that payment starts / arrives in July, correct? In this case there's no benefit to wait until July to begin collecting is there?
Once past FRA, I don't think filing month matters much. File the month you turn FRA or age 70, and you'll get your check the next month. If you continue to work, your employment may change your SS benefit slightly. I filed in January when I turned 66, but I continued to work until March 31. I will add that extra quarter plus I will get credit for another quarter, April 1-June 30, for my un-used vacation/sick leave accruals. Those might increase my SS a couple of bucks whenever SS does the recalculation.
Well, yes, if you file at or before FRA then it really doesn't matter when you do. Onlynif you are earning DRCs does it matter.
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