A Clear Guide To Social Security Claiming With Real History And Real Numbers

Social Security is one of the biggest levers in retirement income planning, yet most people still make their claiming decision with a rule of thumb and a half-remembered story from a friend. We wanted to fix that. From our brand new studio, we share why we expanded our office and why we went deeper on Social Security training so we can help families make decisions that hold up for decades, not just this year’s budget.

We walk through the real history of Social Security from 1935 forward, because the “why” behind the program explains the “why” behind the rules. You will hear the key moments that changed everything: the arrival of COLA, the addition of disability coverage, the 1983 reforms that raised full retirement age and introduced taxation of benefits, and the 2015 law that shut down certain couple claiming strategies while leaving survivor options intact. We also unpack the latest headlines, including the 2025 Social Security Fairness Act that repealed WEP and GPO for many retirees and surviving spouses.

Then we bring it back to practical claiming strategy. Social Security has thousands of rules, the SSA cannot give personalized advice, and your choice can become difficult to undo after a short window. We explain the “throughout the month” eligibility rule, how benefit payment dates are set, why full retirement age matters so much, and why the “best” age to claim is different for every household. If you want to maximize lifetime Social Security benefits, reduce retirement taxes, and build a more reliable retirement income plan, this is your starting point. Subscribe, share this with someone near retirement, and leave a review with the Social Security question you want us to answer next.

To learn more about Brad Pistole and the Ozark Retirement Group, please visit www.ozarksretirement.com 

Transcript

New Studio And Big Milestones

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to Stink Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Brad is a retirement income and tax planning certified professional, primarily serving clients in the Midwest, but he's sought after nationally for his expertise in helping people secure their retirements. Mr. Pistol is a licensed life insurance professional in approximately 20 different states, and he specializes in working with people who are near retirement and those who have already retired with wealth management, income planning, and asset protection strategies using life, health, long-term care, and annuity insurance products. And now, here to talk with you about securing your retirement, it's your host, Brad Pistol.

New Social Security Analyst Designation

Why Social Security History Matters

The 1935 Start And Early Checks

COLA And Disability Benefits Added

1983 Changes And Benefit Taxation

Claiming Strategies End And Survivor Rules

Solvency Concerns And The 2025 Fairness Act

Why You Need Specialized Claiming Help

Social Security As A Major Asset

Eligibility Rules And Payment Schedule

Full Retirement Age And Why It Matters

FRA By Birth Year And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Well, hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today on Safe Money Radio. If this is your first time joining us, we just want to say congratulations. Thank you for joining us. We're super excited that you're listening for the first time. You know, I've been hosting this show for more than 16 years now. There's been over 800 episodes that have aired all throughout Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma. But there's also a podcast now, so people listen to it all over the country. You know, I'm licensed in more than 20 states. We have more than 2,500 clients now. And so we're just grateful to be able to bring this information to you every single week. But I want to tell you this, even if you're listening for the very first time, this is a very special show for us because we are in a brand new podcast studio in our offices in Ozark, Missouri. You know, I've been in the same location for almost 18 years now, but in January of 2026, we obtained double the office space that we've had over the years. We've had six offices inside the same complex, and now we have 12 office spaces. And so in January and February of 2026, we've been busy painting and cutting doors and expanding. And so we have a kitchen, we have a full-size meeting room, which is going to bring about a lot of exciting things for the community, to the Springfield community, and to the Ozarks, because we'll have various events here, just educational events to try to teach you how to maximize your Social Security income, your 401ks and your IRAs, how to convert those over into guaranteed lifetime income streams, tax planning seminars, talking about things like Irma and again, how to file and claim for Social Security, how to make sure you're not overpaying premiums or giving away unnecessary taxes to Uncle Sam. And so it's just an exciting time. But this is the very first show that we are recording inside the new studio. So that's exciting. And I was thinking back as I was preparing for this show, you know, over the years, I think I've recorded in seven different locations. All the way back in 2009 when Safe Money Radio started, I was actually recording in my kitchen at my house on Waterford uh Boulevard in Ozark. Boy, to go back all the way way back then. And then we moved into a studio uh location and started recording there. I was recording in a closet in our office for years because if you've ever been a part of radio or TV, you know having a small, tight location is actually the best way to re-record. That way there's not things bouncing off the walls and making sure you've got carpet and all kinds of things that absorb your sound. And so then I moved into a specialized podcast room that we built, and we built special walls there. And then I moved into a new location. If you've been on YouTube and you've watched our videos, I have this beautiful library in our new home that I've recorded in for the last year and a half. And now we have a dedicated space inside our offices. And so it's so neat to have watched the transition over time. A lot of times when I speak across the country, I talk about the power of being a business owner in the United States. You know, very humbly, I started in in an actually in a room inside an apartment, if you go all the way back to 2008, in one room in an apartment that was actually my son's bedroom. And he was in elementary school, and now he's an advisor on our team and has been for seven years. My how times change. He's a retirement income certified professional. He's an investment advisor representative, he's a third generation financial planner, and all this madness started in his bedroom at a fold-up table back in 2008. And so here we are. And so I'm excited. I'm excited to announce this too. Kinsley, who is our Medicare specialist here at the office, she and I both jumped into a new program through the American College. It actually isn't a new program, it's just new for the American College, but through the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. Now, I know that's a mouthful, but it's the NARSSA. We both jumped into this program because the American College was offering it, beginning to offer it to all of their colleagues. And so I've done so much work with Social Security over the years, and any of you who are our clients know we specialize in this, and we can certainly sit down with you and help you determine what is the best time for you as an individual or for you and your spouse and your specific family dynamic, what's the best way for you to file? And we've been doing that for years, and this was all covered through the Retirement Income Certified Professional Program, through the American College, also the Tax Planning Certified Professional Program. And I've been through both of those, have those designations, but this specifically, the registered Social Security Analyst designation program, is all about Social Security. And so in early 2026, both Kinsley and I individually took this designation program, and I'm excited to announce that we both now hold this designation. We're able to sit down with you. We have very specialized software where we can plug in all of your earnings history and sit down with you and show you why what we would suggest would be the best way, the most optimized way for you to file for your social security. And so while this is exciting to us and it just opens another avenue of ways for us to serve people in the community and all across the country, I wanted to start off this do this first show after having completed this new designation program by talking to you about Social Security because it is such a critical part of retirement planning. So we're gonna just jump right in. Your head may spin a little bit. I have like 17 pages of information that we could cover. I'm not gonna try to cover all of it on today's show, but since Social Security planning is so critically important, I wanted to cover this on this show. And so here's what we're gonna do today. I want to give you a number. Just we'll keep flowing through the show, but I want you to know you can always call this number or you can go to our website. 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Or always just go to our website, Ozarksretirement.com. You'll see a lot of different videos. You'll find links to our Safe Money Radio podcast. You can read articles that I've written for publications all across the country. You'll see our connections to people like Glenn Beck and to Ed Slott and to Tom Hegnett, Heather Schreiber, Dr. Wade Powell, all these key people in the financial planning world. But let's do this. Let's jump in because there's so much information, and I loved this retirement planning information about Social Security. So, this information that I'm going to share throughout the show today, I'm going to give credit. This comes from the NARSSA, the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. And I want to start off by just jumping into the history of Social Security. Because you probably hear all kinds of wives' tells, you hear all kinds of information about how and why and when you should file. And it may or may not be true. I would suggest that probably 98% of the time what you've heard is not the optimized way to file. You've heard something at the golf course on the 19th hole, maybe after playing around, or maybe after life group at church, or maybe you heard something that a buddy of yours heard on a podcast or on a TikTok. We want to make sure that you're not getting your financial planning advice from some 23-year-old kid on TikTok, okay? So here we go. Let's jump into the history of Social Security and buckle your seatbelt because this is going to be a wild ride, and hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did sitting through this designation course and going through all the exams and the fun stuff that we did to obtain this to be able to serve you better. So here we go. The history of Social Security in this amazing country. The Social Security Act was signed into law on August the 14th, 1935. Upon signing the Social Security Act, President Roosevelt said, We can never insure 100% of the population against 100% of the hazards of life, 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. So there you have it. There was the purpose of the creation of the Social Security. Now a great deal has changed since 1935. Life expectancy at birth in the early 1930s was less than, get this, 65 years old. When Social Security started, there were about 40 workers paying into the system for every Social Security beneficiary. In 2023, it was estimated to be 2.8 covered workers for every beneficiary. And this number is decreasing as the baby boomers are retiring. By 2050, the trustees estimate there will be only two covered workers for every beneficiary. And remember, it was forty workers for every beneficiary all the way back when this started in 1935. Now you probably don't know this, but the original Social Security benefits were actually paid out as a one-time lump sum benefit. Try to wrap your mind around this. This took place from 1937 to 1940. The first applicant was a gentleman named Ernest Ackerman. He applied for benefits after one day, having contributed only five cents, and his lump sum distribution payment was 17 cents. Now just four years after Social Security began, the 1939 amendments made fundamental changes to the program. This included adding dependent benefits for the spouse and minor children of a retired worker and survivor benefits that were paid to the family in the event of premature death of a covered worker. This is when Social Security was transformed from a retirement program for just workers into a family-based economic security program. In 1940, the government cut Ida May Fuller the first monthly Social Security check. It was numbered 00-000-001. She worked and was covered by Social Security for the three years from 1937 through 1939. After paying in a total of$24.75 into the program during those three years, her initial monthly benefit check was$22.40. Now, she went on to live well above the life expectancy to age 100, and she collected almost$23,000 from the system. There's a very famous picture of her from October the third, nineteen fifty, holding her first Cola increase, that benefit check, which increased her check to forty-one dollars and thirty cents. So there you have it. We're going to be talking about this throughout the show today. We're going to take a quick break before we jump into the history from 1940 all the way through 1980. So if you're listening right now, you've never listened to Safe Money Radio before, we are retirement income certified professionals. I'm also a tax planning certified professional, and I'm happy to announce, like I did earlier in the show, we are now designated through the NARSSA. We are registered Social Security Analysts. And if you have questions about retirement planning, tax planning, when and how to file for your Social Security, just call us anytime. We are the experts in this area. We have more than 2,000 clients and we help people all over the United States. Just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, and request a free financial consultation. Now, friends, on the show today, we've been talking about the history of Social Security. And I think it's important to know the history so you can understand where we are today. So let's pick up where we left off before the break and let's talk about some more of the history of Social Security from 1940 to 1980. Now remember, it started all the way back in 1935, but now let's pick up in 1940 to 1980 range. In 1950, the first cost of living adjustment was added to keep pace with inflation, and in 1972, annual colas were made automatic. Now, what's a cola? Cost of living adjustment, the increase in your check from year to year. The Social Security Amendments of 1954 initiated a disability insurance program, which provided the public with additional coverage against economic insecurity. Now, at first, there was a disability freeze of a worker's Social Security record during the years when they were unable to work. While this measure offered no cash benefits, it did provide such periods of disability from reducing or wiping out retirement and survivor benefits. On August 1st, 1956, something really important happened that was probably a benefit to many of you who are listening right now. The Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50 to 64 and to disabled adult children. And as you know, this affects a lot of families. In September of 1960, President Eisenhower signed a law amending the disability rules to allow payment of benefits to disabled workers of any age and to their dependents. At that time, almost 560,000 people were receiving disability benefits, with the average benefit being around$80 per month. Now there was another change in 1956 made alongside the creation of disability benefits. And here it was. Meaning workers who retired from work were most likely to immediately start collecting benefits at that time. And they weren't going to collect them for very long because they weren't going to live that long. However, Social Security benefits can sometimes be collected when a person is still working, and alternatively, retirees may stop working but wait several years to start collecting their benefits because they are allowing their benefit to roll up to a higher benefit. The indexing of past earnings was started in 1972. This adjusts all past earnings up to age 60 for inflation. Further changes in 1977, including raising the payroll tax and reducing benefits slightly to extend the solvency of the program took place. Now, something happened in 1983, and this is very, very important for anyone who understands Social Security or the history of Social Security, what took place in 1983 was huge, and it's affecting us still to this day. The bipartisan agreement made between President Reagan and Tip O'Neill, the Speaker of the House, made some of the most significant changes that have ever taken place to the Social Security program. The scheduled rates and payroll taxes were increased, and for the first time, federal employees were added to the plan, including members of Congress. That legislation set up gradual increases in the full retirement age, known as FRA. If you ever hear anyone say, what is your FRA? They mean your full retirement age. And it increased that full retirement age from age 65 for those who were born in 1937 or earlier to age 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. But perhaps the most significant change included the 1983 agreement that for the first time a portion of Social Security benefits could be subject to taxation. Now I know this is a topic that makes a lot of you angry. It should. Your benefits that have already been taxed can be taxed again if you go over certain thresholds of income, and we're going to be talking about that not only on this show, but for several shows in a row, as this is going to be the beginning of a series on Social Security Planning. So, 1983, that agreement is what started the possibility of Social Security benefits being taxed. Ten years later, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, and that's a mouthful, from 1993, increased the portion of benefits that were subject to income taxation, and this became effective in 1994. Now I always say this when it goes back to history. I will say the beginning of taxation of Social Security benefits happened under President Reagan. And then Bill Clinton came along and said, Oh, that was really good. Let's create another threshold. So you have what they consider wealthy Americans, anyone making more than 32,000 married filing jointly as a wealthy American. And those who are extremely wealthy Americans, anyone making more than 44,000. So here's the question. If you make more than 44,000 a year in your retirement years, do you feel like an extremely wealthy person? Well, probably not. But according to the government and to these taxation rules that started in 1983 and 1993, you would be considered wealthy and extremely wealthy if you're married filing jointly making more than$32,000 or$44,000. And that's when your benefits are going to get pulled back in for additional taxation. With the passage of the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act in 2000, the retirement earnings test was eliminated for retirees who were at or above full retirement age. That same legislation opened the door to two couple claiming strategies known as the file and suspend and the restricted application rules. Now many of you will remember these rules, and maybe even some of you use them to increase your benefits. Social Security turned 80 years old in 2015. And in October of that year, with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, known as the BBA, the above two strategies, the file and suspend and the restricted application rules, were phased out. It's known as Section 831, the closure of unintended loopholes. So if anyone talks to you about, oh, you can file and suspend, you can do a restricted application, that no longer exists. That stopped in 2015. Now this is very important. Survivor benefits were not affected by changes made in 2015. Filing a restricted application for survivor benefits is still possible. A survivor can file for survivor benefits and allow their own retirement benefit to continue to grow, or vice versa. Now, with all of this history, and I know it was a lot of history in just the past 20 minutes, now that we've got it, we can understand a little bit better how all this madness started. And we can talk about some more recent history and how it affects all of us today. This is where things get really interesting. The first of the baby boomers, they started retiring in 2008 in the midst of the worldwide financial crisis. And when they started retiring, that's what led to major changes and concerns for the future solvency of Social Security. The Social Security Trust Fund reserves are needed to supplement benefit payments for several reasons. First, the number of workers per retiree is decreasing. So this pays you go. System and ratio of incoming funds versus outgoing payments is no longer balanced, and this is causing major problems for the future. Second, the payroll tax contribution rate that workers and their employees paid into Social Security Act, which was 6.2%, and then Medicare 1.45%, they have not been adjusted since 1990. Additionally, there's been recent legislation, and the changes increased benefit obligations. Many of you were affected by this, you were very happy about this, but in January of 2025, Congress passed the Social Security Fairness Act, repealing what's known as the WEP, the Windfall Elimination Provision, and the GPO, the government pension offset. These provisions previously reduced Social Security benefits for individuals who also received a pension from non-covered employment. These rules will be covered more later as I'm going to talk more about it, but just know this the repeal restored full benefits for millions of retirees and surviving spouses, and were paid retroactively back to January of 2024. So last year in 2025, after January, when all this news came through as breaking news, many of you found out you were going to get a check. It was going to be a lump sum paid back all the way to January of 2024, and you got not only this nice lump sum check, but also an increased paycheck. So it's been a great thing for many of you listening right now. Now, while this was great for you to receive these additional benefits, it did change things and it put strain on the system. This legislative change significantly increased the number of beneficiaries receiving higher monthly payments. In some cases, beneficiaries saw an increase of over$1,000 a month. While this change was seen as a major victory for affected retirees, it also added pressure to the Social Security program and to its financial outlook. In response to ongoing solvency concerns, various proposals have been introduced into Congress. They've got to figure out how to fix this. Meanwhile, the SSA has continued modernization efforts and cost controlled measures while also managing the administrative workload of implementing the Social Security Fairness Act. These efforts are critical as the agency works to serve a growing number of beneficiaries with increasingly complex benefit situations. I don't think this is a surprise to anyone listening right now, but Social Security is one of the most complex retirement programs with over 2,700 rules and frequent legislative changes that impact how and when you can claim. From 1983 to the amendments that took place then, all the way through 2015, the Bipartisan Budget Act, and then now the recent repeal of the WEP and the GPO in 2025, shifts in policy create confusion and uncertainty for retirees. Most people don't know where to turn or who to turn to for accurate personalized guidance. This is why it's very important that you work with someone who's a trained professional and expert in this area. And that's why here at the Ozarks Retirement Group, both Kinsley and I went through this designation program through the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. We are so happy to be able to offer this help to you. And you can call us at any time if you want to sit down and see whether or not you're thinking the right things regarding when you think you're going to file, when your spouse might file, you need to make sure this has been run through very extensive software. There's no guesswork. We will take your earnings record, your earnings history, your birth dates, your personal information. We will run it through our software and show you the best options for when and how you should file for your family to maximize your income. Remember, I'm a retirement income certified professional and a tax planning certified professional, and we're here to help. Call us anytime at 866-780-7233. We're going to take a quick break, but before we do, just know you can call in any time and ask for a free financial consultation. We will sit down and run a Social Security optimization report for you absolutely free of charge. Just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, and request more information. We will be more than happy to help you. We look forward to sitting down and meeting with you.ozarksretirement.com. Friends on the show today, we've been talking about Social Security, the history of Social Security, how it all started in 1935, how there were changes made in the 40s and in the 50s, and then 1983, the amendments that came through, the Bipartisan Budget Act, and then again some changes in 1993, and then in 2015. And we want to just continue talking about this on the show today because Social Security is one of the biggest financial planning areas that exist when it comes to your retirement income plan. For about 60% of people, Social Security is the primary source of income. And there's so many different ways to file. 2,700 different rules regarding Social Security. So, again, it's a major part of retirement planning finances. For many retirees, it is their largest asset. In 2026, the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit is$2,071 a month. Thus, a retired worker's lifetime income in today's dollars, not including COLAS, would total$497,040 over 20 years of retirement income, or$745,560 if the retiree lived for 30 years. This is a very, very big deal. Couples in 2026 will receive on average a benefit total combined monthly of$3,208. This means a potential lifetime amount of$769,920 over a 20-year period, or$1,154,880 over a 30-year period. It's a massive part of your retirement income plan. Now, despite the necessity for information on Social Security, the large number of workers approaching retirement, and the lifelong financial importance of these decisions, expertise on Social Security claiming rules and strategies is a service that very few financial professionals offer. You might have your guy, your stock, bond, mutual fund guy, and they're better than everyone else, and they make you more money than everyone else, and you've tried 10 different people. Have they ever talked to you about your Social Security optimization? Have you ever sat down with them and had them run a report for you? Or do they say, well, you need to go talk to someone else about that? I just do stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. This is why you want to be talking to a financial planning team who handles all aspects of retirement planning. That's why here at the Ozarks Retirement Group, Safe Money Radio, we have experts that cover all of it. We've got your stock, bond, mutual fund guy. We've got your annuity and life insurance guy. We've got the person who helps you with your Medicare. We have two people who specialize, who have financial designations regarding Social Security Planning, nationally recognized Social Security Analyst. We do it all. That's why you can go contact us, visit our website anytime at Ozarksretirement.com. It's why it's so important to work with a team of professionals who can help you through this. Because this is something you may not know. You can't go to the Social Security Administration and ask for claiming assistance. They're not able to give it to you. Although the SSA provides access to the rules included in their program, the ability to apply for most benefits online and information about Social Security and disability, they'll give you all of that. But their Social Security employees are prohibited by law from providing personal advice or giving an individual analysis of claiming options. You're not going to get it at the Social Security Administration. As the first baby boomers began collecting benefits in 2008 and they reached their full retirement age in 2012, news about Social Security became so much more prevalent in the media. During these years, a number of software programs were developed to analyze the complexities involved in applying the correct rules to personal circumstances to help you maximize your Social Security benefits. But you didn't get those from the Social Security Administration. You had to go get that help through financial professionals who offered it, and very few do that. You see, at first, there was a focus on the ability to take advantage of the many different claiming strategies that were available to couples. But then 2015 came along. We talked about that earlier, the Bipartisan Budget Act. And when it was passed, it phased out the use of two claiming strategies that resulted from the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act in 2000. Since that time, there has been an increasing awareness in the tax and financial industry that retirees want and need information about education regarding their Social Security benefits and choices. The most recent change are the two pension-related rules that we talked about earlier, the WEP and the GPO. These two rules were repealed in January of 2025 with the passage of HR 82, the Social Security Fairness Act. Now this was signed into law by President Biden, and the repeal of these two rules is now retroactive back to January of 2024. For over a decade, the past trustees' reports have indicated that Social Security's old age survivors and disability insurance, known as OASDI, that the trust fund reserves would become depleted between 2033 and 2035 under the immediate set of assumptions that were provided in the report. Now I'm sure you've heard about this. This is the big topic. This is what's being talked about on TV, on radio, at the golf course, after church, in homes and families, everyone's saying Social Security is going bankrupt. They're going to stop paying our benefits. There's going to be mass chaos in 2033. But just so you know, while this is a major concern for all current and future Social Security recipients, there's a lot of misinformation out there about it. So we want to address it today. Maybe you've heard about this, you've read about it, you've seen something online, and maybe this is what you read. If no legislative change is enacted, scheduled tax revenues will be sufficient to pay between 80 and 85% of the scheduled benefits after trust fund depletion. Now I want to repeat that. Since you've heard that it's going bankrupt and all your checks are going to stop in 2033, let me repeat. This is why we have a need in this country for expert advice, someone who keeps up with this information all the time. Informed retirees realize that making the best decision possible about claiming their Social Security benefits will have a significant impact on their lifelong retirement finances. Retirees want to understand how these changes are going to affect their personal circumstances. Transitioning into retirement can be an uncertain time for a lot of you listening right now, especially financially. And decisions that you're going to make will have a lifelong effect on your standard of living, both now and in the future. And that's exactly why my team decided to get our registered Social Security Analyst designations. We are experts in this key area of retirement income planning, and we are here to serve you with all of your financial planning needs. Know that you can contact us anytime. If you have questions about your Social Security planning, just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, and schedule a free financial consultation. When we get together, I will give you a copy of my number one best selling book, Bulletproof, The Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan. You can call us at 866-780 SAFE 7233, or simply go to Ozarksretirement.com. Now we're going to take a quick break before we come back for one more segment in the show, and this would be a great time to go to Ozarksretirement.com. Make sure that you write that down and just request a free Social Security analysis. Friends, I've really enjoyed sharing with you today about the history of Social Security, why it's so important to work with an expert when it comes to your retirement planning, because there are millions and millions of people who are relying on their Social Security income to provide the majority of their retirement income benefits, especially if you're married. The average benefits over$3,000 a month in 2026. And for most people, a cup$3,200 a month is the majority of your retirement income. You may be taking distributions from an IRA or a 401k, but the majority of it, normally about 60% of your retirement income, comes from your Social Security claiming decisions. And since you can't change them after 12 months, it's very important to get them right the first time. That's why we're going to be talking about on this show. That's why Kinsley and I both decided to jump in with the American College and go through the NARSSA, the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. We both got our designation, and we're happy to sit down with you and walk through our extensive software and help you and your family make the right decisions for you. There's so many incredible things that we learned. Whether a person is single, whether they're married, whether they were married and divorced, and maybe divorced for more than 10 years and then remarried, or maybe they were married and divorced more than once for 10 years, more than once. There's so many different claiming strategies. There are age differences. There are disability issues. There are minor children in the home. There are so many different things that can affect why you should file the way you should, when and how to file, in order to maximize your benefits. And so we're going to be spending several weeks in a row talking about Social Security Planning because it's such a huge part of retirement income planning. And as we wrap up this last section, we're going to jump in and talk about one more part of Social Security Planning. Here we go. There's some very interesting facts about Social Security that you probably don't know. To begin, Social Security has a very unique rule referred to as the throughout the month rule. For initial eligibility, Social Security requires that someone is age 62 throughout the month. Thus, only people born on the second of the month can claim Social Security for the month that they turn 62. As a general rule, the first month someone can collect Social Security is the month after their 62nd birthday, because this is the first month they will actually be 62 years old for the entire month. In other words, if you turn 62 in June and you triggered your Social Security benefit, the first benefit would pay out the following month in July. And just in case you're wondering, the day of the month that your benefit will be paid to you depends on your actual birth date. So let me give you an example. If your birthday falls between the first and the tenth of the month, your benefit's going to be paid out to you on the second Wednesday of the month. If your birthday falls between the 11th and the 20th of the month, your benefit will be paid out to you on the third Wednesday of the of every month. If your benefit falls between the 21st and the 31st of the month, your benefit will be paid out to you on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Now, if you're listening to this right now and you're thinking to yourself, well, that's not true in my case. Remember, this date is based on the person whose earnings record you're using to receive your benefit. So in many cases, a spousal benefit is not paid to you based on your birth date, but rather your spouse's birth date. And it's using their earnings record. That's why you may be thinking, well, that doesn't apply in my situation because your birthday falls on a certain date, but your check comes in on a different day. That's because you've received a spousal benefit and it's based on your spouse's birth date. You see, everyone wants to know this one magical thing as we close the show today. When is the magical date for maximizing my Social Security benefit? There's all these break-even points, all these graphs and charts. What is the magic time? Well, here's the difficult part. The answer is different for every single person. In order to know the perfect date to trigger your benefit, you need to know the day you're going to die. And you need to know the day your spouse is going to die. That's the only way to know. And since no one knows this, there are several factors that come into play. So let's talk about one of the important ones. Your full retirement age, known as FRA. A very common misconception is that a person's full retirement age begins at age 65, but this isn't true. For most people, this is when Medicare begins, but it's not your full retirement age for Social Security. Full retirement age is a critical component of Social Security income planning since certain rules and strategies apply. Things like the earnings test, maximum spousal and survivor benefits, and the suspension of benefits that are based on age. Perhaps most importantly, the monthly Social Security retirement benefit amount being 100% of the primary insurance amount at full retirement age is decreased if it's claimed prior to your full retirement age, and it's increased if you claim it after your full retirement age. Additionally, the spousal benefit reaches the maximum amount at full retirement age and is decreased if claimed prior to full retirement age. Therefore, it is so critical for retirees to know what their exact full retirement age is. It's important to note the FRA for survivor benefits can be different for the FRA for other benefits. So, real quick, as we close the show, let's find out when your full retirement age is. If you were born in nineteen forty-three through nineteen fifty-four, your full retirement age is sixty-six. If you were born in nineteen fifty-five, it's sixty-six and two months. If you were born in fifty-seven, it's sixty-six and six months. If you were born in nineteen fifty-eight, your full retirement age is sixty-six years and eight months. If you were born in nineteen fifty-nine, it's sixty-six years and ten months. And finally, if you were born in nineteen sixty or beyond, your full retirement age is sixty-seven. Despite the increase in life expectancy and the number of people working later in life, there has not been a change in the full retirement age since 1983, over 40 years ago. Now there's a proposal to increase this age as maybe one of the ways to help with the shortfall that's projected for 2033, but that has not happened yet. So, friends, there you go. A lot of information on today's show, just the beginning of our talks about Social Security and retirement income planning in the coming weeks. That's history from 1935 all the way through 2026, and we hope this has been helpful and beneficial to you today. If you're a history buff, you loved it. If you're not, you probably didn't, but you need to know this stuff anyway because there is so much misinformation out there regarding Social Security, when and how to file for maximum benefits. And that's what we want here at Safe Money Radio. That's why I've been doing this every single week for more than 16 years, recording more than 800 shows to help you protect and maximize your retirement income. Friends, I I love all of you listening right now. I thank you for joining the show. It's always an honor and a blessing to be with you. And remember, we are retirement income certified professionals. I'm a tax planning certified professional. And I am a nationally registered Social Security Analyst. If you want our help, just call us anytime. 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Or simply go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, and we will get back in touch with you. Well, I'm about out of time, and I would like to thank you for listening to Safe Money Radio. If you're serious about your financial future, give me a call, and together we'll get your retirement savings on the fast track to accumulation while reducing exposure to market losses. Thanks for listening, and until next time at the same time, I'm Brad Pistol, reminding you to stay safe so you can step into a secure future.

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