Retirement or SSI, Social Security Options and Choices

This article is about the different choices or options that you get with social security. This was written June 26, 2016. This is a socialist government activity where the government puts away money for your retirement. They could have left it to you but you may spend it due to lack of discipline or lose it due to poor choices or unforeseen circumstances.

If you are not eligible for social security you can get SSI that stands for supplemental security income when you are 65 years old or older. That amount is currently $674 monthly. See Elder Care Directory (This link is good) for more information!

Senator Bernie Sanders wants the billionaires to pay their share of taxes so we can increase social security and senior citizens can live with dignity. Some billionaires pay no taxes. On average social security replaces 40% of the income that you have received. This information is the most recent from the Social Security Administration with the acting commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin.

This is the time when the largest segment of the population, the baby boomers, get their social security and retire. Now I heard that you needed to work 10 years to get social security. But people hear a lot of things that are not true or are inaccurate. To retire with social security you need 40 credits. You can earn up to 4 credits per year. To quote them:

To qualify for benefits, you earn "credits" through your work — up to four each year. This year, for example, you earn one credit for each $1,260 of wages or self-employment income. When you've earned $5,040, you've earned your four credits for the year. Most people need 40 credits, earned over their working lifetime, to receive retirement benefits."

For people born during the years 1943 to 1954 the full retirement age is 66. After that it goes up to 67. This will tell you what happens if you choose to retire early which is one of your options or choices that you can make.

Your full retirement age is 66 years old in this example. You can start receiving Social Security benefits at age 62. Your benefits are reduced by the months that you start before the full retirement age. If you start receiving benefits at age 62, your benefits are reduced by 25%. If you retired at age 63, the benefits are reduced by 20%.

If you retire at age 63, your benefits are reduced by 13.5%. If you retire at age 65 then you get a reduction of 6.66%. So that is what happens if you retire early. If you are willing to delay retirement until age 70, you can get more benefits. This is for people born in 1943 or later. For every year you delay retirement you get 8% more. That means that if you wait until age 70 then you can get 32% more. Now I will not give you any advice on this, but you can decide for yourself. At least you know that you have options and choices.

I write mainly about health but I also write about self-improvement and this would come under that. I have a good understanding of the law and a love of the law so that helps with writing about this. Also you can give up something that you eat daily and is not even a food and live a lot longer. So what is it? WebMD has many MDs go over an article to make sure there are no mistakes since many MDs count on them for accurate information.

They have an article making it clear that consuming salt is worse for your health than smoking cigarettes. An MD., Dr. Michael Greger, proves with the latest research on a 5 minute video that consuming salt causes all high blood pressure and kills over 1,000 Americans a day. See How to Live 30 Years Longer. Some doctors say that salt is good for you but 4 ounces of salt taken at one time will kill them also. It is not in any unprocessed food but is added by man in processed foods.

If you are married and die before your spouse, he or she may be eligible for a benefit based on your work record. If you retire early or late it will affect your spouse if the above happens. Of course the person who lives the longest is going to get the most money from them. My brother was a manager of a Pizza Hut and died at age 52. You can say that stopping cigarettes killed him.

He smoked a lot starting as a teen. At age 49 he had heart failure. That is a lack of blood to the heart. The doctor told him that he has to stop smoking otherwise it will kill him. So he stopped smoking and gained a lot of weight. Then he died of emphysema at age 51. Mayo clinic says:

Emphysema gradually damages the air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs, making you progressively more short of breath. Emphysema is one of several diseases known collectively as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Smoking is the leading cause of emphysema.

Your lungs' alveoli are clustered like bunches of grapes. In emphysema, the inner walls of the air sacs weaken and eventually rupture — creating one larger air space instead of many small ones. This reduces the surface area of the lungs and, in turn, the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream.

When you exhale, the damaged alveoli don't work properly and old air becomes trapped, leaving no room for fresh, oxygen-rich air to enter. Treatment may slow the progression of emphysema, but it can't reverse the damage.

When you receive disability it turns into Social Security in the same amount when you become 66 years old. To read about getting that see How to Get Disability in the U.S. This is a good link for more information. 5 Social Security Rules You Should Know by Heart.