Social Security For Dummies

By Jonathan Peterson

The easy way to get a handle on Social Security

Are you or a loved one looking to understand how SocialSecurity benefits work? Social Security For Dummies helpsyou better understand and navigate the U.S. Social SecurityAdministration, covering important topics such as how benefits arefunded and distributed, the various Social Security options and howto qualify, and deciding when to start accepting Social Securitybenefits.

Additionally, it explains the history, regulations, andsignificant changes to U.S. Social Security, as well asconsiderations for the future of the program.

• Advice for ensuring you're receiving your maximum benefits
• Gives you a thorough breakdown of how benefits are determinedand what programs are sponsored by the Social SecurityAdministration
• Covers challenges and considerations for those with specialcircumstances

Whether you're receiving Social Security benefits, helpingsomeone who is, or thinking about beginning to accept benefitsyourself, Social Security For Dummies is a must-haveresource for navigating this complicated (and sometimes confusing)landscape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Mar 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781118240885

Book preview

Introduction

You’re reading this book, so you’re probably thinking about the future — for yourself or your loved ones. You probably want to know more about the Social Security benefits that could go to you and your family one day and how that money will meet your needs. You also may be thinking about the next phase of your life. Will it be financially comfortable? Will it be a struggle? If you’re like many people, you wonder if you’re going to outlive your savings. Will Social Security keep you afloat? Can you count on your Social Security benefits? What should you know about the program? How can you find the information you need?

Despite its significance in modern life, Social Security is rarely explained clearly in one place. Not in a way that lays out the program and explains how you fit in, all the protections Social Security offers, and what they mean for you and your loved ones. Not in a way that empowers you to plan right and face the bureaucracy with your eyes open. Not in a way that tells you what you need to know about the rules that affect benefit amounts and eligibility. But understanding this stuff is important — for you and for those who depend on you.

That’s why I wrote this book. To explain the important protections of Social Security in a way that makes sense to the people who earn them and pay for them. (That means you!)

Social Security is big, and it can be confusing. It has an endless assortment of rules, variations on the rules, exceptions to the rules — and exceptions to the exceptions to the rules. The fine print is a big deal. Decisions you make about retirement benefits can have a financial impact for many years, and in ways you may not recognize today. Certain areas, such as disability, are especially complicated. No wonder you may be uncertain — it’s not like they teach you this stuff in school.

Everybody has questions about Social Security — questions like these:

check.png What’s the best age for me to start claiming benefits?

check.png Can I work and also collect Social Security?

check.png How does my divorce affect my eligibility for benefits?

check.png Will it help my spouse if I wait until 70 to start collecting Social Security?

check.png Is the retirement age changing?

check.png What’s the best way to contact Social Security?

check.png What kind of benefits can go to a spouse or child?

check.png Can I solve my problem online?

check.png What should I bring with me when I apply for benefits?

check.png Will Social Security be there when I need it?

You deserve helpful answers to these important questions and many others. After all, Social Security is your program. You own it through the taxes you pay and the benefits you earn. You should know how your personal finances and your work history affect the benefits that land in your bank account. You should know what to expect from the bureaucracy and how to deal with it effectively. And you can find the answers in these pages.

About This Book

Social Security For Dummies walks you through the basics of this critical program: what Social Security is, how you qualify, when to file, how much you’ll get, how much goes to your dependents, and how to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get the information you need. And it does all this in easy-to-understand plain English.

Above all, this book is a reference, which means that you don’t have to read it from beginning to end, nor do you have to read every word, every chapter, or every part. Keep this book on your desk or kitchen counter, and pull it out when you need an answer to a specific question.

Conventions Used in This Book

This book follows some standard conventions that make it easier for you to find the information you need:

check.png Italic is used for emphasis and to highlight the introduction of new terms, which are defined shortly thereafter (often in parentheses).

check.png Boldface highlights the key words in bulleted lists or the actionable steps of numbered lists.

check.png Web and e-mail addresses appear in monofont. Note: When this book was printed, some web addresses may have broken across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that no extra characters (such as hyphens) have been inserted to indicate the break. So, when using one of these web addresses, just type exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

A few notes on language:

check.png I use plain English throughout this book, with a minimum of jargon (of which Social Security has plenty). I include technical terms when they’re unavoidable, but otherwise I keep things clear and simple.

check.png Social Security was originally designed for families with a male breadwinner and a financially dependent wife. Of course, many households no longer fit the 1930s mold. To avoid stereotypes, I generally use terms like higher-earning spouse and lower-earning spouse rather than husband and wife. I also use terms such as breadwinner and worker to describe the individual who has earned benefits that may go to other family members.

check.png I sometimes use the vague term seniors to refer to people who are 66 or older, having reached what Social Security refers to as the full retirement age. The term is just a convenience and implies nothing else. (In the future, by the way, the full retirement age will rise to 67.)

check.png Older is also in the eye of the beholder, but I use this term to describe workers who have reached their mid-50s and beyond, and who are thinking about retirement and preparing for the next phase of their lives.

check.png Early retirement has a specific meaning for Social Security benefits. As used in this book, the term means collecting Social Security retirement benefits at a reduced payment, before reaching Social Security’s full retirement age.

Finally, the dollar figures I use in benefit descriptions are derived either from official Social Security calculators or from the proper mathematical formulas. The numbers are estimates and meant only as illustrations. Your own benefit reflects individual factors, including your earnings over 35 years, your date of birth, and when you begin receiving benefits.

What You’re Not to Read

Technically, you don’t have to read anything in this book — you won’t be quizzed on it. But if you’re short on time, or your reading style is just the facts, feel free to skip the following:

check.png Material marked by the Technical Stuff icon: Of course, if you have the time, or if you feel really hungry for juicy technical stuff, you’ll find these paragraphs interesting. (For more on this and other icons, turn to Icons Used in This Book, later in this introduction.)

check.png Sidebars: These gray boxes are interesting, but they aren’t essential to your understanding of the topic at hand, so if you just want to know what you need to know, you can skip them.

Foolish Assumptions

This book makes a few assumptions about you, the reader:

check.png You probably don’t know a whole lot about Social Security. You’ve been busy living your life, and you haven’t had time to dig into the details yet. (Don’t worry: If you already have a solid knowledge base, you’ll still find lots to chew on in these pages.)

check.png You may be starting to plan for retirement or already receiving Social Security benefits.

check.png You may be trying to help an older parent navigate the Social Security system.

How This Book Is Organized

Social Security For Dummies is divided into 6 distinct parts, made up of 17 chapters and 3 appendixes. Following is a breakdown of what each part covers.

Part I: The Nuts and Bolts of Social Security

If you prefer to dip your toe into a subject before diving into all the technical details, this is the place to start. In this part, I provide a reader-friendly tour of Social Security and why it matters to you. I fill you in on why Social Security protections are so relevant in the 21st century, and why Baby Boomers and Gen Xers will need Social Security as an economic foundation in old age. I walk you through the basic benefits of Social Security, including retirement, survivor, and disability protections. I explain how you and your employer pay for Social Security through a tax on your earnings and where the money goes after it disappears from your paycheck. I also provide tips on some of the practical know-how you need to be a smart consumer of Social Security — everything from when you should begin collecting retirement benefits to how to keep your card and number secure in today’s era of identity theft.

Part II: Taking the Plunge: Filing for Social Security

Like it or not, filing for Social Security is one of life’s passages. Sooner or later, you make the transition from finding out about Social Security to dealing with Social Security. In this part, I cover some of the most basic details you need to collect benefits, keep them, and deal smoothly with the SSA. Each of the benefits has its own set of rules and procedures, beginning with how to apply. After you’re in the system and getting benefits, your work may be done — or it may not. You still need to tell Social Security about anything that could change your eligibility for a particular payment.

The SSA isn’t perfect — it may make a mistake or reject a claim for benefits that prompts you to deal with the system. The SSA runs what may be the world’s largest system of administrative justice, primarily to settle disputes over disability benefits. In this part, I cover the ins and outs of the appeals process and how to make your case as effectively as possible.

Even before you sign up for benefits, you need a clear idea of how much you have coming. In this part, I go over how to use Social Security statements and calculators to avoid surprises and get a good sense of the payment you qualify for. I also tell you how to safeguard your own interest by making sure that your earnings history on file with the SSA is accurate so you get the benefits you’ve earned.

Part III: Who Benefits and When

When all is said and done, Social Security is about people. It’s about you and those who depend on you and the protections that Social Security provides. This part explains how Social Security is important for families and the special role it plays in protecting certain groups such as lower-earning spouses (often women, but not necessarily), children, and people coping with disability. Social Security may also go to older workers who are continuing to earn money because they need to (or because they like to). An assortment of rules applies to every one of these groups, rules that determine who is eligible and how much they get. In this part, I explain the rules in plain English.

Part IV: Social Security and Your Future

If you want extra insight into Social Security’s role in a world of rising healthcare costs for retirees, this part is for you. I discuss what you need to know to sign up for Medicare (the SSA handles that), and how you may qualify for extra help with the cost of your medications (the SSA handles that, too). I also explain how the SSA deducts your premium for Medicare Part B straight out of your Social Security benefit.

I wrote this part to help you plan for the day when you live on a fixed income from Social Security and perhaps a pension or annual withdrawals from a 401(k) or individual retirement account (IRA). When that time comes, healthcare costs may have a direct impact on your standard of living, and Social Security may be the one source of income you can count on.

For older workers who are starting to think about that next phase of life, I take a step back and suggest ways to plan for a retirement of economic security, in which your Social Security payment is the bedrock.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This wouldn’t be a For Dummies book without a Part of Tens. In this part, I dispel ten myths about Social Security, offer ten reasons why young people should care about Social Security, and suggest ten choices the country faces about Social Security. These chapters may be brief, but they pack a powerful punch!

Part VI: Appendixes

I wrap up this book with three appendixes: Appendix A is a glossary of widely used Social Security terms. Appendix B is a collection of suggested resources where you can find more information. And Appendix C gives you a chance to think like a member of Congress and decide how you would keep Social Security strong for your children and grandchildren.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, I use the following icons to draw your attention to certain kinds of information:

tip.eps The Tip icon draws your attention to information that can save you time and money, or just make your life easier as you navigate the Social Security system.

remember.eps You don’t have to commit this book to memory, but when you see the Remember icon, you’ll want to pay attention because it flags information that’s so important, it’s worth remembering.

example_socialsecurity.eps Sometimes illustrating a point is easier with an example. I flag these examples with the Example icon.

warning_bomb.eps The Warning icon signals important information that helps you avoid potentially costly or time-consuming pitfalls.

technicalstuff.eps I use the Technical Stuff icon when I veer into highly technical information — information that adds insight but isn’t critical to your understanding of the topic at hand.

Where to Go from Here

You can skip around this book any way you want. If you’re the sort who reads every word of every book, you can start with Chapter 1 and read all the way through to the end. If you’re looking for information on a particular topic, use the table of contents and index to find what you need. For example, if you’re not sure when you should start collecting Social Security retirement benefits, turn to Chapter 3. If you’re disabled and need information on Social Security Disability Insurance, turn to Chapter 11. Or, if you want to know what the future may hold for Social Security, turn to Chapter 17. No matter where you dive in, this book has you covered.

You’ve earned your Social Security benefits. Knowing what you have is always a good idea, and this book has the information you need.

Part I

The Nuts and Bolts of Social Security

9781118205730-pp0101.eps

In this part . . .

This part gives an overview of the Social Security program and the protections that go to practically everyone: retirees and their dependents, surviving family members and disabled workers, as well as those who rely on them financially. Social Security provides benefits to people of all ages, including millions of children.

This part also lays out in simple terms what you need to know to file for various kinds of benefits. It walks you through the factors that can affect when you should begin collecting retirement benefits. And it provides guidance on protecting your card and number from identity thieves.

Chapter 1

What Social Security Is and Why You Need It

In This Chapter

arrow Knowing what Social Security means for you

arrow Looking at the value of Social Security

arrow Considering where your contributions go

arrow Getting all you can out of Social Security

arrow Contacting the Social Security Administration

Social Security is the foundation of long-term financial support for almost every American. If you’re like most people, you’ll depend on Social Security to help you survive in your later years (if not sooner). In fact, its protections are becoming even more important, as an answer to growing insecurity in old age.

Look around you. If you’re in the workforce, you know that jobs are hard to come by. Own a home? The equity is precious, but in most places it isn’t going up — you may even have to sell your home for less than you paid for it. Have you been able to set aside money for the future? Saving is essential, but many Americans save little if anything. Maybe you contribute to a 401(k) at work, if your employer offers one, but who knows how much your investments will be worth next week or next month, let alone many years in the future?

Some of the people who read this book will live to be 100. Maybe you’re one of them. Many people will make it into their 80s and even their 90s. Those years cost money. In a future of risks and unknowns, Social Security is one thing you can count on. Your benefit is guaranteed by law and protected against inflation. But that doesn’t mean it takes care of itself or that you should be a passive participant in Social Security. You have decisions to make, and you can make them better if you have some working knowledge of the benefits you’ve earned. You also may have actions to perform, such as informing the Social Security Administration (SSA) about things that could affect your benefits.

This chapter provides an overview of Social Security and a broad-brush description of benefits. Here, I explain why Social Security was created and why those reasons are highly relevant to Americans today.

Understanding What Social Security Means for You

So, what is this U.S. institution that so many people have strong opinions about?

You can think of Social Security as a set of protections against things that threaten your ability to survive financially — things like getting older and retiring, or having a serious accident or illness that leaves you unable to work. When such things happen, family members who depend on you may not be able to pay for the basic necessities of life.

That’s why Social Security offers a range of benefits. These protections can provide crucial financial security for workers, their immediate family members, and even divorced spouses. For example, Social Security benefits may go to:

check.png People who retire and their dependents, typically spouses, but potentially children and grandchildren

check.png People who are disabled and the immediate family members who depend on them

check.png Spouses, children, and even the parents of breadwinners who die

remember.eps Social Security’s guaranteed monthly payments, set by legal formulas, stand out in a world of vanishing pensions, risky financial markets, battered home values, and rising healthcare costs. Although the program faces a potential financial shortfall in the future, its most fundamental features are not expected to change.

In the following sections, I look at specific groups of people who benefit from Social Security.

Benefits for retirees

More than 37 million retirees and their spouses get retirement benefits every month. These benefits help millions of people stand on their own two feet, instead of relying on their kids or charity or scrambling every month to pay the bills. For about one-quarter of older Americans, Social Security provides at least 90 percent of their income. But even for people who don’t rely so heavily on Social Security, it provides a solid floor of income in later life.

Although Social Security benefits are generally modest, they help keep 14 million seniors above the poverty line, including many hardworking, middle-class Americans who otherwise would have little to fall back on in old age.

remember.eps Social Security isn’t intended to be your sole source of income. Instead, it gives you a foundation to build on with personal savings and other income.

If you’re already retired (and not rich), you understand the role these payments play in your monthly budget. If you’re still in the workforce but thinking about that next phase of life, here are a few things to reflect on:

check.png Social Security is reliable. Its payments don’t rise and fall with the markets on Wall Street or depend on how your company is faring or how well you selected investments. Social Security income lasts a lifetime.

check.png Social Security is accessible. Almost all workers are covered. To put this in perspective, just half of workers are covered by an employer retirement plan.

check.png Social Security is protected against inflation, a crucial safeguard. Rising prices can slash the value of fixed income over time, driving down your standard of living in retirement.

check.png Social Security is especially important for older women. Women tend to live longer than men do, and they have less income to draw on in old age. Elderly widows are exceptionally vulnerable to poverty.

check.png Social Security gives a boost to the least affluent. That’s because the benefit is progressive. Poorer individuals get back a larger share of earnings than their higher-paid peers. Social Security benefits replace about 40 percent of the earnings of an average worker.

Benefits for children

Social Security pays more benefits to children than any other government program. More than 4 million children qualify for their own benefits, as dependents of workers who have retired, died, or become disabled. A total of 6 million children live in households where someone gets Social Security.

The program’s definition of eligible children may include stepchildren and, in some cases, grandchildren and step-grandchildren. Typically, children who qualify may be covered until age 18 — or 19, if they haven’t yet graduated from high school and are not married.

The roots of Social Security

You may think of Social Security as part of life in the United States, but it wasn’t always this way. Social Security was a foreign idea — literally. Americans by and large never expected their national government to rescue them in hard times. This was a country shaped by pioneer culture, a society that expected people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Back on the farm, extended families took care of their own and struggled together. But as more Americans migrated to cities for work, traditional supports of family and close-knit communities began to unravel.

The Great Depression of the 1930s transformed attitudes. Unemployment rocketed to 25 percent. People’s life savings vanished in a tsunami of bank failures. More than half of older Americans were poor. In desperation, people turned to Washington for help, and Washington looked overseas for ideas. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisors, including Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, considered an idea known as social insurance, which had gained popularity in Europe. The idea was that governments could adapt insurance principles to protect their populations from economic risks. Unlike private insurance arrangements, which are supposed to protect individuals, social insurance programs are supposed to help all of society.

In 1889, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck pioneered the idea with a system of old-age insurance that required contributions from workers and employers. By the time of the Great Depression, 34 nations had launched some sort of social insurance effort. U.S. leaders, eager to ease the economic pain engulfing the nation, took a more serious look at social insurance from Europe. Others viewed social insurance as radical and un-American.

After a lengthy debate, Congress passed the Social Security Act, and President Roosevelt signed it into law on August 14, 1935. The law provided unemployment insurance, as well as help for seniors and needy children. Title II of the act, Federal Old-Age Benefits, created the retirement benefits that many people now see as the essence of Social Security.

We can never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, Roosevelt said at the bill signing, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.

Benefits for survivors

The death of a family breadwinner hits everyone under the same roof. That’s why Social Security provides benefits for dependent survivors. Not to overwhelm you with statistics, but this is a significant program with more than 6 million beneficiaries, including children, widows, and widowers. These dependents qualify for benefits if the deceased worker or retiree met certain basic requirements of Social Security. In Chapter 2, I cover the rules, including technicalities that affect widows and widowers.

Benefits for the disabled and their dependents

More than 8 million Americans get Social Security’s disability benefits, a protection that extends to more than 2 million dependent family members. Social Security’s disability program is very complicated, and it can be difficult to meet the standards required for benefits. I devote Chapter 11 to examining the program, as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for beneficiaries with the least income.

Many applicants for Social Security disability benefits are turned down, but these decisions may be reversed in the appeals process. In Chapter 8, I go over your options if Social Security makes a decision you disagree with.

You may not like to think about the risks you take walking out the door, but they may be higher than you realize. Almost four in ten men entering the labor force will become disabled or die before reaching retirement age; the same fate awaits more than three out of ten women.

Table 1-1 provides probabilities of death or disability for young workers (people born in 1985, in this example).

/Table 1-1

Appraising the Value of Social Security

The amount you get in Social Security retirement benefits is based on your earnings history and when you start to collect, factors I examine closely in Chapters 2 and 3. The average retirement benefit is about $14,750 per year, and the maximum benefit is more than $30,000 if you claim benefits at full retirement age. You can increase your benefits by taking them after your full retirement age, up to 70, and you reduce them by taking them earlier (typically, as early as 62).

The survivor’s benefit of Social Security is really a life insurance policy worth $476,000 for a 30-year-old worker who’s married with two children and has a median salary. The long-term disability protections are valued at $329,000 in coverage for that same family.

Social Security combines other distinctive features that you usually don’t find all in one place. These traits are worth keeping in mind when you’re trying to get a handle on what the program is worth to you:

check.png Benefits are earned. After you meet the requirements for eligibility — generally ten years of earnings for retirement, but less than that for certain protections such as disability — you’ve established your right to a guaranteed benefit, which also may extend to your dependents.

check.png Benefits are portable. You can change jobs with no penalty, unlike traditional pensions. Your benefits reflect earnings in various places of employment during your working life. They aren’t typically reduced when you change jobs, because most jobs are covered. (Exceptions include most federal employees hired before 1984, various state and local government workers, and many railroad employees.)

check.png Benefit levels are guaranteed. Unlike 401(k)s, for example, Social Security benefits are paid under legal formulas and don’t rise or fall based on your luck with investments, the fortunes of your employer, the direction of interest rates, or other forces over which you have no control.

check.png Benefits are universal. Social Security covers the rich, the poor, and — most of all — the middle class. Social Security is a kind of social insurance for the benefit of individuals and society. This makes it very different from a welfare program.

check.png Benefits are protected against inflation. Private pensions generally don’t have this feature. But without such protection, rising prices can take a huge toll on fixed income.

Understanding How You Pay for Social Security

Social Security is paid for through taxes. (No surprise there.) But you’re not the only one paying into the Social Security pot: Your employer also pays a portion of your Social Security tax. All that money that’s taken out of your paycheck today goes to pay the benefits for today’s retirees.

For the lowdown on how much you pay into Social Security and where it goes, read on.

How much you pay

If you’re a wage earner, you pay into the Social Security system straight out of your paycheck. This payroll tax is dubbed FICA, which stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. The Social Security portion of your payroll tax is typically 6.2 percent of earnings up to a certain amount, which is adjusted annually (in 2012, the cap was set at $110,100). Employers also pay 6.2 percent for each employee. In addition, workers and their employers each pay 1.45 percent of all earnings for Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.

Social Security grows up: Some key developments

Since President Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935, the program has evolved. Here are some key milestones:

1939: Congress added benefits for retirees’ spouses and minor children, as well as dependents of workers who die.

1950: Coverage was extended to farm workers, domestic workers (such as housekeepers and gardeners), employees of nonprofits, and self-employed nonprofessionals.

1954: Coverage was extended to self-employed farmers and certain professionals, such as accountants, architects and engineers.

1956: Benefits were added for disabled workers ages 50 to 64 and adult disabled children of workers who earned benefits. Social Security introduced early retirement benefits for women only.

1960: Benefits were added for dependents of disabled workers.

1961: Men were given the option of early retirement benefits, which were granted to women in 1956.

1965: Congress approved Medicare, a program of federal health insurance for people 65 and older, long sought by advocates of Social Security and social insurance.

1972: Congress approved annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security, linked to the rise in consumer prices. (It had previously approved some benefit hikes on an ad hoc basis.)

1977: Congress approved wage indexing, which adjusts retirement benefits upward to make sure that they reflect the long-term increase in wages that took place during a worker’s lifetime.

1983: Congress agreed to gradually raise the age for full retirement benefits from its traditional level of 65 to 67. That increase is still being phased in. The full retirement age has reached 66 for people born between 1943 and 1954. It will gradually move up to 67 for people born 1960 or later. The 1983 law also introduced taxation of Social Security benefits for higher-income retirees, a shift that is causing growing numbers of people to pay income taxes on part of their Social Security income.

In recent years, politicians have been increasingly willing to ease the payroll tax burden in response to economic conditions. In 2011, for example, Congress approved a payroll tax holiday to boost the economy; it lowered the worker’s tax rate to 4.2 percent instead of the usual 6.2 percent. Employers still paid the usual 6.2 percent. The self-employed paid an overall rate of 10.4 percent. (In early 2012, politicians extended the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year.)

Most workers pay Social Security taxes on all their earnings, because most workers don’t earn above the cap for Social Security payroll taxes. Well more than half — maybe three-quarters — of U.S. households pay more in Social Security taxes than in federal income taxes. Although no one enjoys paying taxes, people tend to accept the Social Security tax, because it enables them to earn important benefits.

Where your money goes

The taxes you pay in your working years pay for the benefits for retirees and other

Reviews for Social Security For Dummies

[detailmuse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Social Security {...} has an endless assortment of rules, variations on the rules, exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions to the rules.I'm not yet at retirement age but my oldest siblings are, and I've grown interested to know the basics of Social Security both for my own financial planning and so I can benefit from my siblings' experiences as they enroll.This is a typical "for Dummies" book in terms of layout (outline organization, section headings, graphics, sidebars). Its content is accessibly written -- with lots of repetition, but that allows you to dip in and out of chapters at will rather than needing to read from beginning to end or needing to read the chapters about benefits that are not relevant to you.There's more content here than I'd expected. This second edition (c2015) covers not only Social Security's retirement benefit but also its benefits for worker disability or death AND Medicare's health-insurance benefit. I'm in a male/female/two-income marriage and came away with a good grasp of the basic rules, and a better-than-expected grasp of the variations and exceptions to the rules (e.g. for divorced, or same-sex married, or single-income, or foreign-residing couples), plus a trove of resources and contact info for estimating my specific benefits and planning when/how to file for them. I feel I've gotten a good start.(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.)