Social Security and Retirement Planning

Depending on the extent of your resources it may well take some careful planning to be able to enjoy your retirement years to the utmost. Simply maintaining the lifestyle that you have in mind is probably going to be your first consideration, but the reality is that there are many unknowns that have a significant impact on your finances. People are living longer and longer and statistics indicate that approximately 4 out of every 10 senior citizens will spend some time in a long-term care facility. And of course how well your health holds up and what your medical expenses may or may not be will certainly be a factor.

Many people will rely on Social Security and Medicare as the foundations of their retirement sustenance, and the number of Social Security applicants that are lining up on a regular basis these days is really stunning. The baby boomer generation is now reaching retirement age, and as a result, there are some 10,000 applicants for Social Security benefits every day. This is a pretty remarkable statistic, but what makes it all the more profound is the fact that this is expected to persist for the next 20 years.

With so many people reaching retirement age at the same time you have to wonder what the state of the system will be three, five, 10, or 20 years from now when you consider the fact that 10,000 people will be joining the rolls every single day.

At the time, the full retirement age varies depending on the year during which you were born, but it is somewhere between 65 and 67 years of age. You can however retire when you are as young as 62 and accept a reduced benefit, or you can go the other route and delay your retirement to earn delayed retirement credits which would increase your monthly benefit when you do retire.

As you may imagine there are many intricacies to the Social Security regulations. To better educate yourself, visit the Social Security Administration website where you can utilize their various tools and even apply for Social Security online if you wish.

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Timothy P. Murphy

Timothy P. Murphy is an estate planning and elder law attorney whose practice emphasizes helping people to build, preserve and pass on their wealth. He works with his clients to accomplish their goals while avoiding unnecessary court proceedings and minimizing or eliminating exposure to death taxes.

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