Jeremy Keating, Capital Investment Advisors
Our Wealth Design Process incorporates every Social Security maximization strategy available that fits the individual’s retirement objectives
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (PRWEB) December 29, 2015
Jeremy Keating of Capital Income Advisors has announced plans to offer retirees and pre-retirees individual advisory services on the new changes to Social Security rules. Keating, who says that although understanding social security guidelines just got easier, the new rules will impact millions of Americans and how they plan their retirement.
Capital Income Advisors has always provided customized Social Security guidance to clients as part of its trademarked Wealth Design Process, which they customize to each individual client. But the new rule changes caught many people off guard, and few understand exactly what the changes mean to them.
“Actually, even before the changes, we found that many clients had little understanding of how Social Security will work into their retirement plan,” Keating says. “You know who has a Social Security plan in place? No one.”
When the U.S. government passed The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 in October, they passed some of the most significant changes to Social Security benefits the country has seen in years and added them onto an emergency measure to avoid a U.S. debt default, catching many by surprise. Since Social Security is a primary driver of U.S. debt, some saw it as long overdue progress for the country’s unceasing financial issues.
According to Keating, the new rules should alert people to the importance of planning ahead for retirement.
The most significant changes dismantle the “file and suspend” and “restricted application” strategies for everyone younger than age 62 after Dec. 31, 2015, strategies unintentionally created by a law passed in 20000 to encourage older Americans to continue working during retirement. These technicalities may never have been discovered if not for new software and books divulging how to use the loopholes for seniors’ advantage.
Essentially, the old laws allowed one spouse in a working couple to file for Social Security, giving the other spouse access to their “spousal” benefit at full retirement age. This other spouse could then collect their spousal benefit for up to four years, until age 70, while suspending their own retirement benefit, thus allowing it to grow by eight percent annually. Upon reaching age 70, the spouse who had suspended their benefits would be able to switch to his or her full benefit, now worth eight percent more than it would have been if they had begun drawing on it four years earlier, and gain up to four years of spousal benefits in the meantime.
The new law has extinguished the ability to collect spousal benefits while still earning delayed retirement credits. These new “deeming” rules prevent anyone from filing for just spousal benefits while leaving their own benefits untouched, even beyond full retirement age. In addition, new “suspension” rules prevent people from suspending their own benefits without suspending the benefits to others based on the same earnings record.
Other rules have been changed, and divorcees have been hardest, since the rule allowing them to draw spousal benefits from their ex-spouses have been eliminated altogether. For individuals who will be affected by the new law, no loopholes for claiming spousal benefits will exist, which makes deciding when to claim much simpler.
Some things, however, have not changed.
- For married couples, the high-primary insurance amount (PIA) can still take advantage of delaying benefits, which can result in a higher benefit as long as either spouse is still alive.
- For married couples, the low-PIA spouse can also take advantage of delaying, which results in a higher benefit as long as both spouses are still alive.
- For those people who have never married, delaying can still be beneficial (though not as beneficial as it is for a high earner in a married couple), since it works out well in if the person lives for a long time in retirement.
- People who decide to continue working but provide a spousal benefit can still file for their own retirement benefits first and then suspend payments to allow their benefits to grow until age 70.
However, Keating says there are still strategies in place for maximizing Social Security, beginning with simply delaying a claim for as long as possible—preferably to age 70 for those who can afford to. In fact, Keating says this strategy is more important than ever, now that the loopholes for enhancing spousal benefits are gone. The real payoff has always been to delay claiming benefits.
“Our Wealth Design Process™ incorporates every Social Security maximization strategy available that fits the individual’s retirement objectives, and we are specialize in calculating the most beneficial strategies for each of our clients,” Keating says.
“This is why it’s so important to plan ahead.”
As fiduciaries, Keating and all Capital Income Advisors financial planners are responsible for walking clients through the entire process, especially since it is so complex.
“A lot of people don’t know what they don’t know,” he says.
For more information, visit the Capital Income Advisors website, email jkeating@capitalincomeadvisors.com, or call (800) 875-1986.
About Capital Income Advisors:
The primary focus at Capital Income Advisors is retirement planning. Jeremy Keating and the CIA team of advisors treat their clients as they would treat members of their own family. CIA strives to help create sound retirement income strategies for men and women in or nearing retirement, thereby instilling confidence that their retirement income will last as long as they do.
Capital Income Advisors serve all of Northern and Southern California, all across Texas including, Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Midland, and the New York Tri State area. CIA offers retirement income strategies, wealth accumulation, asset protection, annuities, life insurance, tax minimization strategies, long-term care, IRA and 401(k) rollovers.
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