Suze: March 23, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast,
Suze: as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Suze O here.
Suze: And for those of you who are new and you're
Suze: wondering what is this podcast all about?
Suze: It's very simple. It's a podcast that tackles your fears
Suze: and puts you in control of your financial future, just
Suze: that simple. And on Sundays, which today happens to be,
Suze: we have Suze School. So if I were you, I
Suze: would definitely get out my pen and paper, or you
Suze: can do a pencil if you want.
Suze: Because you're going to have a quiz today, 35 questions
Suze: on a topic I've picked for you.
Suze: But before I do that, I do want to talk
Suze: to you about one of your greatest questions lately, or
Suze: should I say your greatest fear, which is Suze, are
Suze: they going to cut Social Security? What's going to happen
Suze: to Social Security? Suze, I can't afford it. They can't
Suze: cut my Social Security. It's all the money that I have.
Suze: Slow down and relax.
Suze: Everything that's happening currently
Suze: with Social Security is about them cutting people working for
Suze: Social Security, cutting staff, closing offices. There has been no
Suze: talk at all
Suze: about cutting benefits. Now, does that mean in the future
Suze: there won't be some talk about rearranging benefits just like
Suze: they did, I think it was in 1983 when they
Suze: raised the full retirement age from 65 to 67. Do
Suze: you remember that? But all of you already receiving benefits,
Suze: your benefits weren't cut. It was for future years, future people.
Suze: So I would imagine that that is a probability. I
Suze: have no doubt that they're going to raise the full
Suze: retirement age, possibly to 70 from 67.
Suze: And that you have until 73 with delayed benefits to
Suze: collect Social Security.
Suze: I'm sure that they'll probably raise and they should, the
Suze: income that everybody pays because right now there's an income
Suze: limit and after that limit you don't pay Social Security
Suze: tax anymore. They should just make that unlimited, that you
Suze: all pay Social Security tax no matter how much money
Suze: you make and that way that would help fund the system.
Suze: But stop worrying about it right now anyway, OK. However,
Suze: a few suggestions, which is they are obviously going to
Suze: make it more difficult for you to call into the
Suze: Social Security office. You're going to have to either go
Suze: online or go in in person. So if you're older
Suze: and you need to contact them
Suze: and you're not online savvy. Do you have a little
Suze: niece or nephew or grandson or daughter or somebody who
Suze: has a little portable computer that when you want to
Suze: contact Social Security, maybe they can come over to your
Suze: house and then you can just ask what you want
Suze: or make a claim or whatever that may be.
Suze: So I would be making plans for that right now
Suze: if I were you, especially if you haven't claimed Social
Suze: Security yet.
Suze: Next, I would all ask for or get my Social
Suze: Security statements. I would want to know exactly where I stand,
Suze: what is projected. I would want to have a record
Suze: of it, not just online. I want a printed record
Suze: of it cause you just never know, not that I'm
Suze: being paranoid, but you never know when records will disappear.
Suze: And all of a sudden all that information is gone
Suze: and then what happens? It's just that you need to
Suze: protect yourself in those ways. The other way, everybody, you
Suze: really need to protect yourself is to truly know and
Suze: understand how Social Security works, because more important really,
Suze: than what they're doing, cause they don't know what they're
Suze: doing right now and everything, it's your own knowledge. I've
Suze: told you this forever. It's your own knowledge and your
Suze: own actions.
Suze: That will keep you safe and secure as best you can.
Suze: But the problem is most of you do not have
Suze: an idea how Social Security works or the little intricacies
Suze: of it. So I have 35 questions that I have
Suze: prepared for you, all true or false, on Social Security.
Suze: The first 15 are questions that kind of apply to
Suze: everybody that you should just know.
Suze: And the next 20 is really all about spousal and
Suze: survivor benefits, cause that's where most of you get confused.
Suze: And for those of you who are younger and listening
Suze: to this right now, listen to me. Your parents may
Suze: not know what they're doing. Your grandparents may not know
Suze: what they're doing, so you need to know all this
Suze: so you can help them just in case. All right,
Suze: everybody ready?
Suze: Number one:
Suze: Your monthly Social Security benefit increases by 8% each year
Suze: you delay claiming it beyond your full retirement age up
Suze: to age 70. So currently, full retirement age for most
Suze: people happen to be 67.
Suze: So you get an 8% increase every year of that
Suze: benefit up to the age of 70, true or false.
Suze: So the answer to that is true, and you better
Suze: keep track of how many you get right and wrong. Again,
Suze: these are called delayed retirement credits.
Suze: 2:
Suze: Social Security benefits are never taxable regardless of your income.
Suze: The answer to that is false. It is possible, everyone,
Suze: that up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable
Suze: depending on your income or combined income if you happen
Suze: to be married. All right.
Suze: Next, cost of living adjustments, COLA are guaranteed every year
Suze: on your Social Security.
Suze: True or false, are your Social Security benefits guaranteed to
Suze: go up every year by the cost of living adjustments?
Suze: Believe it or not, that is false. COLA is not guaranteed,
Suze: and it depends on inflation. That's what it depends on,
Suze: but it's not guaranteed.
Suze: Your benefit amount is based on your highest
Suze: 35 years of earned income adjusted for inflation.
Suze: True or false.
Suze: That is true.
Suze: Only earnings on which you paid Social Security taxes are counted,
Suze: but it's based on your highest 35 years of earned income.
Suze: If you continue working after claiming Social Security and you
Suze: are under full retirement age, remember, full retirement age is
Suze: currently about 67.
Suze: Your benefits might be reduced.
Suze: True or false
Suze: And the answer to that is true. Remember, everybody, there's
Suze: an earnings test before your full retirement age that if
Suze: you keep working can reduce your payments. They don't know
Suze: what it is yet for 2025, but in 2024, if
Suze: you made more than $22,320 a year
Suze: and you were under your full retirement age 67, then
Suze: they will withhold $1 for every $2 of earnings above
Suze: that amount.
Suze: And then they do this crazy thing if you're still
Suze: working one month before your full retirement age, then you
Suze: can make this was 2024 again $59,200 something like that,
Suze: and they will withhold $1 for every $3 that you've earned.
Suze: Once you turn full retirement age, you can make as
Suze: much money as you want, and there are no deductions whatsoever.
Suze: The next question has to be,
Suze: do you get that money back and you do, but
Suze: not in a lump sum. They prorate it over your
Suze: lifetime Social Security benefits, and I don't think you get
Suze: back quite as much as they withheld, just so you know.
Suze: All right.
Suze: Once you start receiving Social Security, your benefits are fixed
Suze: for life and will never increase.
Suze: True or false,
Suze: That's false. Remember they can increase through COLA,
Suze: or it's possible you might be able to switch to
Suze: a higher benefit like a survivor benefit. Just know that.
Suze: If you never worked or paid Social Security taxes.
Suze: You are completely ineligible for any benefits, true or false.
Suze: That's false, cause you might just qualify for a spouse's
Suze: or ex-spouse's record. It doesn't matter if you didn't make
Suze: any money at all. If you were married at least
Suze: 10 years, then you can remember that, all right.
Suze: The earliest age that you can begin collecting retirement benefits
Suze: is 62.
Suze: True or false, and that's true, but you got to
Suze: remember the benefits are going to be permanently reduced if
Suze: you take them before your full retirement age. I would
Suze: not do that if I were you, all right.
Suze: Now if you were born in 1960 or later, your
Suze: full retirement age is 67.
Suze: That is true.
Suze: So, again, I mentioned that over the years, the full
Suze: retirement age went from 65 to 67, and now everybody
Suze: born after 1960, full retirement age is currently 67.
Suze: You can suspend your Social Security benefits.
Suze: After full retirement age to allow them to grow.
Suze: Remember, full retirement age is 67.
Suze: The answer to that is true.
Suze: You can suspend your benefits all the way until you
Suze: are age 70. That is those delayed retirement credits, and
Suze: you will make 8% from 67 to 70 on those benefits.
Suze: Social Security benefits are protected from garnishment under all circumstances.
Suze: So can student loans come after you? Can federal debts
Suze: or taxes? Can they be garnished everybody?
Suze: Or are they protected?
Suze: False. They can be garnished for things like federal debts, taxes,
Suze: student loans, all those kinds of things. So don't think
Suze: you're going to get out of it. Once you reach
Suze: age 70, your Social Security benefits will automatically increase each
Suze: year you delay filing.
Suze: So here you are 70 and you decide not to file,
Suze: but the delayed retirement credits will go on till you're 71, 72, 73.
Suze: Is that true?
Suze: That is false. Delayed credits stop accruing at age 70.
Suze: No reason to wait longer, so it absolutely drives me
Suze: crazy for those of you who write in and you say,
Suze: I'm 74. I haven't started collecting my Social Security benefits.
Suze: I'm just letting them increase. I'm like, Are you crazy?
Suze: They don't increase after the age of 70, so it's
Suze: just something that you should know about. All right.
Suze: You can only collect Social Security if you are a
Suze: US citizen.
Suze: True or false
Suze: False, everybody, certain non-citizens with legal status and work history
Suze: may absolutely qualify.
Suze: Once you... now this one's important,
Suze: all right? Once you claim benefits, you have up to
Suze: 12 months to withdraw your application and reapply later.
Suze: If you repay what you received, so you started claiming
Suze: benefits at 62.
Suze: You've only claimed them for let's say 11 months. You
Suze: call in to the Women and Money podcast and you
Suze: tell me that you did that, and I scream at
Suze: you and I say, Are you crazy?
Suze: And you go, well, what should I do? What can
Suze: I do now? You have up till 12 months after
Suze: you started
Suze: to withdraw your application, pay back every cent that they
Suze: gave you.
Suze: And then you just start all over as if you
Suze: had never claimed. So if you made a mistake and
Suze: you claimed before full retirement age.
Suze: And you haven't passed the 12 month mark yet, you
Suze: might want to think about it. Just remember this is
Suze: only a one time option that you can undo the claim.
Suze: And the last one in this category is.
Suze: You can receive Social Security benefits even while living abroad.
Suze: So many of you ask me this.
Suze: And you think, OK, I'm moving abroad. Are they gonna
Suze: give me my money when I'm over there?
Suze: And the answer to that is true. US citizens and
Suze: eligible non-citizens can receive benefits in many, many countries. So
Suze: that's kind of the basics that you need to know
Suze: about Social Security, where most of you have total confusion, however,
Suze: is with the spousal and survivor benefits. So are you ready?
Suze: If your own Social Security benefit
Suze: is higher than 50% of your spouses,
Suze: you can still collect a spousal benefit in addition to
Suze: your own benefit.
Suze: So if the Social Security benefit is higher, yours than 50%
Suze: of your spouse's, you can still collect a spousal benefit
Suze: in addition to your own true or false.
Suze: That's false, everybody.
Suze: You can only receive the higher of your own or
Suze: the spousal benefit, not both. Do not make that mistake
Suze: in planning for income. A lot of you make that mistake.
Suze: A spouse cannot claim spousal benefits unless the other spouse
Suze: has already filed for their own Social Security benefit.
Suze: All right, so your spouse has claimed. Can you claim
Suze: a spousal benefit?
Suze: That's true. Spousal benefits are not available until the primary
Suze: worker has claimed.
Suze: So you just need to remember that just because you
Suze: turn a certain age you cannot claim on your spousal's record.
Suze: If he or she hasn't already claimed all right.
Suze: A widow or widower can begin receiving survivor benefits as
Suze: early as age 50 if they are disabled.
Suze: And the answer to that is true. Otherwise, survivor benefits
Suze: everybody begin at the age of 60.
Suze: Next, remarrying before age 60 makes a widow or widower
Suze: ineligible for survivor benefits based on a deceased spouse's record,
Suze: true or false.
Suze: That is true. So be very, very careful if you
Suze: want your deceased spouse's Social Security. Do not get remarried
Suze: before the age of 60. However, unless that later marriage ends.
Suze: Cause if it does, then you can collect. All right.
Suze: If a deceased spouse delayed claiming Social Security past full
Suze: retirement age, so they went past the age of 67,
Suze: maybe it's 70.
Suze: The survivor can receive the full delayed benefit amount.
Suze: Notice I said the survivor, right, these are survivor benefits,
Suze: not spousal benefits.
Suze: That's true.
Suze: Survivors get the benefit the deceased was entitled to, including
Suze: delayed benefits.
Suze: Please know that that is not true for spousal benefits.
Suze: It's only true for survivor benefits.
Suze: A divorced person can receive survivor benefits from an ex-spouse
Suze: if they were married for at least 10 years.
Suze: And that is true.
Suze: 10 years is the minimum required for divorced survivor benefits.
Suze: So if you're with somebody and you've been with them
Suze: 9 or 9 and a half years and you want to file for divorce,
Suze: can you just wait another 6 months? Just, just wait, OK?
Suze: A person cannot receive both their own Social Security benefit
Suze: and a survivor benefit at the same time.
Suze: That is true. Remember you can only get one Social
Suze: Security check, and you will get the higher of the
Suze: two benefits. That's what you will get. So if your
Suze: benefit is higher than the survivor benefit, you will have
Suze: to take your benefit. If the survivor benefit is higher
Suze: than yours, you will get the higher the survivor benefit.
Suze: Know that.
Suze: If somebody is receiving spousal benefits and their spouse dies.
Suze: They automatically begin receiving survivor benefits, true or false.
Suze: That's false. You have to apply for survivor benefits separately.
Suze: Do not think that it will automatically happen cause it won't.
Suze: A surviving spouse can collect survivor benefits and delay their
Suze: own retirement benefits to grow until age 70.
Suze: Think about this one now.
Suze: A surviving spouse can collect survivor benefits. The spouse died,
Suze: and now he or she is collecting survivor benefits, but
Suze: they can delay their own retirement benefits to grow until
Suze: age 70.
Suze: True or false, that is true, and it's a very
Suze: strategic way, everybody, to maximize lifetime benefits.
Suze: A widow or widower who was married to more than
Suze: one
Suze: deceased spouse can collect benefits from multiple spouses.
Suze: That's false. They can choose only one. Typically, the highest
Suze: survivor benefit is the one that they choose, OK.
Suze: If your survivor benefit is higher,
Suze: than your own retirement benefit.
Suze: You can switch to it even after claiming your own benefit.
Suze: So this was a reverse of one that was just
Suze: done earlier.
Suze: What do you think if your survivor benefit is higher
Suze: than your own retirement benefit?
Suze: You can switch to it even after claiming your own benefit.
Suze: So you're claiming your own Social Security, and your spouse
Suze: dies and the survivor benefit is higher than yours. Can
Suze: you switch to it? You absolutely can. That's true. You
Suze: can switch to whichever one is higher. Do not forget that.
Suze: Next, delaying Social Security benefits past full retirement age increases
Suze: both your retirement benefit and your spousal benefit.
Suze: That's false. You have to remember that only your own
Suze: retirement benefit increases. Spousal benefits do not. So if you
Suze: are married and your spouse is waiting till the age
Suze: of 70 to collect his or her Social Security.
Suze: And you are going to claim a spousal benefit. You
Suze: do not get 50% of what your spouse would get
Suze: at the age of 70. You only get 50% of
Suze: what they would have gotten at their full retirement age,
Suze: probably 67, OK.
Suze: You need to know that.
Suze: You must be married for at least 10 years to
Suze: an ex-spouse to qualify for either spousal or survivor benefits,
Suze: true or false.
Suze: That's true.
Suze: 10 years, 10 years, everybody remember 10 years.
Suze: A widow or widower must wait 5 years after their
Suze: spouse's death,
Suze: before applying for survivor benefits.
Suze: True or false.
Suze: That's false. They can apply as early as age 60
Suze: or 50 if disabled.
Suze: Now that was a repeat of an earlier one cause
Suze: some of you get so, so confused with spousal benefits
Suze: or survivor benefits or any of that you just get
Suze: so confused, but now you hopefully know.
Suze: A person claiming spousal benefits,
Suze: cannot later switch to survivor benefits.
Suze: That's false, and many of these are repeats because I
Suze: really want you to get them. I want you to
Suze: look back and see if you missed it when I
Suze: asked it earlier. Did you get it right this time,
Suze: because this is the number one question that I am asked, OK.
Suze: And I'm just going to ask two more, so I
Suze: don't know how many that makes, but survivor benefits include
Suze: delayed retirement credits earned by the deceased. So,
Suze: your spouse,
Suze: claimed at 70,
Suze: And therefore he got delayed credits, delayed retirement credits. When
Suze: he or she dies, do you get the full amount
Suze: that your deceased spouse was receiving?
Suze: True or false.
Suze: You do remember survivor benefits are very, very different.
Suze: Then spousal benefits, they are not the same, and they
Suze: do not follow the same rules. So they have different
Suze: eligibility rules and payment structures. So just know a survivor,
Suze: your spouse has died.
Suze: Spousal benefits, your spouse is still alive and you are
Suze: claiming a benefit based on your spouse's social security.
Suze: So last question then, spousal benefits include delayed retirement credit.
Suze: By the spouse
Suze: So here you are, you are married and your spouse
Suze: claimed Social Security at the age of 70, so he
Suze: or she has delayed retirement credits.
Suze: Do you get 50% of that amount at the age
Suze: of 70 if you are the spouse?
Suze: And the answer to that is false. You do not.
Suze: So you have to see there the difference between spousal
Suze: benefits and survivor benefits.
Suze: All right.
Suze: Did you like that little test?
Suze: You know, you might have to listen to it over
Suze: and over again.
Suze: I hope I didn't go too fast for you, but
Suze: in these questions are all the questions that you ask me.
Suze: You ask me, my spouse died, Suze, if I collect
Suze: my own benefit, and then will I get my survivor
Suze: benefit like so many times you're asking me the same questions.
Suze: So now these are the things that you need to
Suze: know about Social Security. There's a million other things you
Suze: need to know about children's benefits and all of that,
Suze: but I thought that was probably enough for you to
Suze: take for this Suze School.
Suze: And it was also enough for my voice for now anyway,
Suze: I hope you enjoyed that. I hope you learned from it.
Suze: It's just something you need to know cause every penny
Suze: you have earned.
Suze: In Social Security and you've earned it. You paid for it.
Suze: You have to know what you have coming to you.
Suze: You have to know how it works, and you have
Suze: to not be worried about what the government's going to do.
Suze: You have to be worried about what you are going
Suze: to do and what you know. All right, until Thursday,
Suze: when Ms. Travis will join us again, there's only one
Suze: thing that I want you to remember when it comes
Suze: to your money. You should go to my YouTube channel,
Suze: youtube.com/SuzeOrman and play there. Try the Can I Afford It segments.
Suze: They're gamified now. Look at other things that we have
Suze: coming up. We're posting new every single week, so go on,
Suze: go there and see what you can find.
Suze: But remember people first, then money, then things. Now you
Suze: stay safe. Bye bye.