Can You "UNTAKE" Social Security?

Recently I was talking to a friend, who was lamenting the fact that he had signed up for social security at 62, and THEN read my various articles pleading with you not to do it. Here's a link to the summary of these articles on www.platinumyears.net. Or if you prefer, some of the original blogs:

My friend had even come to this conclusion BEFORE I wrote the follow up piece reminding everyone that Medicare is not available until 65 no matter when you sign up for benefits.

Now I am in the process of reading Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, which paints an exciting picture of second careers and the way our retirement systems ought to change to accommodate them. And if anything, my passion for this topic is growing, at least for those of you who don't meet my generous exceptions.

Which got me to thinking ... Is it possible for my friend to REVERSE his choice? That is, is it possible to UNTAKE social security benefits? Or is it possible for YOU, whatever your reasons, to do the same? So I did some research, first at the social security website, and then via Google, and I found this very interesting article at www.eons.com, which states:
"If you decide to take benefits early, you can change your mind, too. Suppose that a year from now, someone offers you a $9.9 million-a-year job. Just notify your friendly SSA rep, who can arrange to temporarily suspend your benefits. When you either leave the job or reach full retirement age, the number of months during which you didn't collect benefits will be added onto your base, and your payments will be adjusted upward."

So the answer is "Yes"! At least to the extent of payments you haven't received yet. And I'll bet it's one of the lesser known provisions about social security benefits. After all, how often in life have you had the chance to "Undo" certain financial decisions you've made... Or am I the only one who ever wished life had an "undo" key?

... So if you'll excuse me, I need to go email my friend. :-) Bob

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Benefits of Delaying Social Security

I occasionally plow through dreary assessments of how little we boomers are inclined to save and the risks that creates with our retirement prospects…. I do this reading for you, so you won’t have to :-) Occasionally a gem of wisdom will pop out, making it all worthwhile. And those, of course I will pass along. So from an Economic and Budget Issue Brief from the Congressional Budget Office, dated March 14, 2004, entitled “The Retirement Prospects of the Baby Boomers,” comes an excellent and concise summary from a section entitled “The Effects of Delaying Retirement”: "For households facing shortfalls in their retirement savings, relatively small changes in behavior can have surprisingly large effects. Because people who retire at 62 can expect to live another 20 years, each year they postpone retirement reduces their need for retirement savings by about 5 percent. An extra year of work also increases their Social Security benefits by several percent. Taken together, those effects ...
Read more

Pay Back Your Social Security
It Could Be the Best Annuity You Could Buy

The above title was the original title of yesterday's post , which later became " Social Security Decisions: Important But Not Irrevocable - You Have Much More Flexibility Than You May Think ." I actually posted it with the "Annuity" title above, but after sleeping on it overnight, I realized that yesterday's article was really about flexibility, an important issue in its own right. I have written before about flexibility. The general rule is, "Given two equally attractive decisions, always choose the one that is more "reversible," (i.e. allows you to change your mind later) Flexibilty is a key element in any personal financial decision, and retirement decisions are no exception. In fact, I think flexibility becomes MORE important as you get older, as youre "wiggle room" for creating alternatives diminishes the older you get. And I wrote on this before, in my original article, " Don't Do It ," as a major reason why ...
Read more

Social Security Decisions: Important But Not Irrevocable
You Have Much More Flexibility Than You May Think

I have written several times before on this subject, and my basic premise has been that many boomers are making a big mistake by taking social security at age 62, at least those who don’t fall under the three exceptions to the basic rule of “ Don’t Do It .” Then on February 1st , I wrote about the ability to UNtake social security by basically suspending payments, stopping the clock as it were, and gaining credits in the form of increased future payments. For example, if you start taking payments at 62, and suspend them at age 63½ for three years, at that point you would be 66½ and earning pretty much as if you had started at 65. Now comes an article from Forbes.com entitled “ Trade In Your Social Security Check ,” which describes how you can not only stop the social security clock, but you can RESET IT TO ZERO by paying back all of your previously earned social security checks WITHOUT INTEREST. Which certainly answers one of my original arguments about flexibility. You really c...
Read more