Social Security Fairness Act passes the Senate
- Thread starter LVSteve
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I have no idea…
…of how much I will gain but suspect a little bit based on the above posts.
Actually have just over 40 credits; most were in much, much lower paying jobs before and after my l.e. career during which I did NOT pay into social security. e.g. I was a substitute HS teacher post-my crime fighting days.
Claimed SS benefits at age 62. Got $219./month til age 65 when Medicare kicked in.
Now get nothing and PAY $33.50/month plus $870.or so every November.
Sure hope I don't have to figure it all out.
Be safe.
…of how much I will gain but suspect a little bit based on the above posts.
Actually have just over 40 credits; most were in much, much lower paying jobs before and after my l.e. career during which I did NOT pay into social security. e.g. I was a substitute HS teacher post-my crime fighting days.
Claimed SS benefits at age 62. Got $219./month til age 65 when Medicare kicked in.
Now get nothing and PAY $33.50/month plus $870.or so every November.
Sure hope I don't have to figure it all out.
Be safe.
I got most of my quarters after I retired from my full time government job. OTOH, my wife got most of her quarters before and during a hiatus from her teaching job. Said hiatus was due to being laid off due to budget cuts.
We both will benefit from this law being passed, as well a lot of other people I know who worked in the private sector for many years.
We both will benefit from this law being passed, as well a lot of other people I know who worked in the private sector for many years.
Depends on how much you make. Your SS benefit is based on your 35 highest earning years (indexed for inflation). If what you make now is more than the lowest of those 35 years, then your monthly benefit could increase. If you are making less than the lowest of those 35 years, then your monthly benefit will not change.
Retroactive to Dec 2023 if it's signed
My understanding is that it will be in effect for everyone on Social Security and will be retroactive to December of last year.
Which means we might be getting a year's worth of "adjustment." Which we'll have to pay taxes one.
Which means we might be getting a year's worth of "adjustment." Which we'll have to pay taxes one.
charlie sherrill
Member
I've got a bunch of stuff going on here. My wife was killed 40 years ago leaving with two small children. I got a small payment fro SS on the kids, but nothing for me. She made a little less money than I did. The first LE agency I worked for we had our own retirement system and did not pay SS. The next two LE agencies I worked for I paid SS at both of them for 24 years. I got the 10 quarters and a total of 26 years paying into SS. MY SS payments are about half what friends of mine receive who paid more than 30 years I think I fit in here somehow, but have no ideal what the final result will be. If we are entitled to this will we have to apply for it or will it be automatic?
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Charlie I believe it will be automatically adjusted because they have all the figures and just need to use the regular formula instead of the WEP one.
If you have your 40 quarters, and it sounds like you do plus some, there should be a bump for you.
With having 24 years under SS your bump may not be as much as if you had less than 20 but since you are under 30 years it should go up some.
If you worked part time stuff during your non SS paying department years you might get a bump for that as well.
If you have your 40 quarters, and it sounds like you do plus some, there should be a bump for you.
With having 24 years under SS your bump may not be as much as if you had less than 20 but since you are under 30 years it should go up some.
If you worked part time stuff during your non SS paying department years you might get a bump for that as well.
For what it's worth, the WEP repeal bumped my SocSec $68 for January, or so says the SocSec website. That's for my 2 years less than 30 outside my non-SocSec pension. ROME Survey Page | SSA
I'm not holding my breath. I did geta letter from SS, I get 47 bucks in crease next year.
The bill was signed by the President this afternoon.
Nice raise for me and the bride.
Nice raise for me and the bride.
OP
LVSteve
Member
Should be for me, too.
OP
LVSteve
Member
There's a notice to that effect on the SSA website.
An insightful analysis of the changes by someone who will benefit from them, and who was an employee of the Social Security Administration for many years...
The Social Security Fairness Act: A $200 Billion Boondoggle, by Tom Margenau | Creators Syndicate
The Social Security Fairness Act: A $200 Billion Boondoggle, by Tom Margenau | Creators Syndicate
I will be very curious to see how this all shakes out. I won't be affected directly, I always paid in to SSA. I do know several Teachers and State or Fed employees that didn't pay in, but always had part time jobs that did pay in. I was always told it took 40 quarters pf paid in SSA to be fully qualified. I'm not sure if this is still correct or not.
Still 40 quarters at a qualifying total of pay. I worked part-time occasionally in the NMSP and never made enough for a qualified quarter. Right now it's $6920 annually to qualify. Low qualification amount = very low benefit.
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OP
LVSteve
Member
I note that the author carefully avoided mentioning any dollar amounts. Hmmm.
The key with WEP and GPO is that not all government (I mean all levels) and private retirement plans have the same term and conditions. Some are very generous, and you can claim them the minute you quit. Others are less generous and then double whammy you by not allowing you to draw on it until you are 60 or more. Been there, done that.
This is a prime example of why "one size fits all" government solutions are so lousy.
Person A with a great government pension plan - that already pays them more than they would have ever received from SS - get even MORE income from the SS plan, while Person B who gets much less from their government pension plan will get the same benefit out of SS as Person A.
There should be some kind of formula applied to make it more fair across the board.
I paid into SS for over 45 years and will only draw around $25k per year out of it. Under this new change, people who barely paid in enough to qualify for a SS benefit, but who are drawing much more than $25k per year from their government pension will also get several thousand bucks a year from SS on top of their pension.
I wish I had been given the opption for my contributions to go into a private plan instead of SS. I'm sure I'd be getting much more out of it.
The worst part of the whole deal is that it puts even more financial pressure on the SS system and will hasten the point at which it becomes insolvent. What happens to the folks who REALLY need it then?
The cynic in me says that this change was made solely so our congress-critters can keep getting votes and contributions from their union supporters.
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My PD pension, while decent, does not pay me more than I could have received in SS had I worked a higher paying private job.
I have almost 20 years into SS without counting what I paid in on part time jobs, while at PD, and may get $1500 if I am lucky.
I worked the PD job not to get rich but I should get what I earned.
I have almost 20 years into SS without counting what I paid in on part time jobs, while at PD, and may get $1500 if I am lucky.
I worked the PD job not to get rich but I should get what I earned.
