Social Security Benefits

[tsap seui]

Of course you of all people should know, there is more than one way to skin a cow... or is that a cat...

Yep cuzin', I had that info, was just hoping you had found something with adoption I had missed. And I have missed plenty, let me tell you. With my SSDI I had no clue they both could have been recieving half (each) of my SSDI until Fengqi reached 16 last year (the timeline when Wenyan's half would have stopped), and on Thursday we will finally get his half started which will run until he's 18.

 

Oh yeah, back to adoption, earlier this month we went in to the SSA to get his SSDI started, the lady told me he had to be my son to get it. I politely explained to her that no, I read in the SSA code that "step children" could get it too. She stepped away form the window and after a couple of minutes comes back and says, Yes, that is right"....that's when she set us up with this appointment on Thursday. The code and rules are so complicated even the SSA workers can't answer every question.

 

I started at 5:15 this morning and downloaded a ton of stuff.....mainly so I could figure out what to ask. I answered some of the questions I had but it's mainly study for asking the right questions.

 

Yes, us old hippies learned a long time ago about the 1,000 ways to skun a cat. I'm always open for 1,001 and 1,002,, should they be needed. At any rate, I'm gonna be a frequent visitor in our local SSA office until I have this survivor's benefit thing nailed firmly down so I can write down all the steps to take for lil' rabbit to take with SS, VA, and IRS should I stumble and kick the can outta sight unexpectedly.

 

Tomorrow morning we're going to the lawyers office to make a couple of changes in my will. It's a living will in many respects, as we grow, so does it...lol

 

Anyhow, it's firstly getting the SSA facts straight, then the VA "DIC" and burial facts, and finally the IRS details (all with the mindset of her living in China should I pass on, and after Fengqi finishes university).

 

Yore posts are a big help with all this.

[Mick]

Tsap, you mentioned the burial benefits. I am not sure of how the procedure works, but I know my Dad already has a plot in the Veterans' Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida, right next to my Mom who was buried there back in 1989. As spouse of a vet, she was also entitled to the benefit. My Dad turns 93 on March 31 and is still going strong (he may well outlast me). Whenever he does pass, however, most of the associated expenses are covered. I recall that when my Mom died, the VA even covered the transportation expenses of moving her body from where my folks lived (Venice, Florida) up to Bushnell, a trip of a little over 100 miles. There are all kinds of benefits if you know where to look. I know one thing for certain, my Old Man deserves it. He was an ambulance driver, went ashore on Day Two at Omaha Beach.

[tsap seui]

Tsap, you mentioned the burial benefits. I am not sure of how the procedure works, but I know my Dad already has a plot in the Veterans' Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida, right next to my Mom who was buried there back in 1989. As spouse of a vet, she was also entitled to the benefit. My Dad turns 93 on March 31 and is still going strong (he may well outlast me). Whenever he does pass, however, most of the associated expenses are covered. I recall that when my Mom died, the VA even covered the transportation expenses of moving her body from where my folks lived (Venice, Florida) up to Bushnell, a trip of a little over 100 miles. There are all kinds of benefits if you know where to look. I know one thing for certain, my Old Man deserves it. He was an ambulance driver, went ashore on Day Two at Omaha Beach.

Goodnight Mick, you come from a line of living dangerously...lol... 93 and still kickin' butt, that's great.

 

I've got lots of the burial and DIC info copied down, just haven't look at it. Any and everything about that VA stuff is over on the VBN bulletin board in it's own forum. I tried doing this stuff all together and only got lost with al the SS and VA rules. So many little details like the SSA giving a onetime $250 when you die, the VA paying out some, like you say giving you many things like a headstone, plots,etc.

 

My head is slow. I have ot take them one at a time, write it all down for She Who Must Be Obeyed and then go to the next one.

[tsap seui]

I was gittin' sea sick readin' SSA rules on a computer, flippin' back and forth from here to there so I printed off about 100 pages of stuff pertaining to my wife yesterday. Can read it like a book now....lol...and got started simplifing it by writin' up the Kicked Bucket List of things for her to do, and when she can do them

 

There are about 10 good pamphlets the SSA has that have most everything a person needs. Pretty interesting stuff.

[Urkidding]

If you have the Publication Numbers, please show them to us. Most govnmt pub. numbers can be looked up on the internet and printed...

 

One more piece of wood for our SS fire!

[tsap seui]

Good point Andrew. I went to the SSA website clicked on Survivors benefits and went from there.

 

As Randy and I talked earlier, one of the Pamphlets is named Your Payments While you are Outside the United States Publication 05-10137

 

What you need to know when you get retirement or Survivors Benefits. Publication No 05-1077

It is about 28 pages

 

Survivors Benefits Publication 05-10084

 

What Every Womna Should Know Publication 05-10127

 

And I downloaded several planners and other one or two page articles that address various issues with survivors benefits.

 

All of them came from the Survivors benefits link on the SSA website. There is some small tidit of important info on each one. I'm taking teh tidbits and putting them into english for the rabbit.

 

tsap seui

 

 

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[tsap seui]

Well, we went to the local SSA office today and spent an hour and a half with a helluva nice guy SSA worker. The appointemnt took us 28 days to get and it was for our son's, and possibly Wenyan's portion of my SSDI benefits. As well I had a list of questions to ask for Wenyan's survivor benefits, and her being a LPR, and living in China. Sorry Randy, the guy did a fantastic job on a very lengthy application for Wenyan and Fengqi's SSDI payments....but he had no clue as to my pointed questions.

 

I congratulated him on his tedious work for those benefits for my family. He laughed and said he had come in early this morning and spent hours studying up for our case.

 

When it came to the questions I was asking....well, he honestly had no clue, turned out my studies gave me more knowledge than he had on a subject that the average SSA worker would rarely get asked. I saw that when he told me Wenyan had to be a US citizen to live in China and recieve survivor benefits. That is absolutely WRONG, but I didn't tell him that. I asked 2 more questions and he threw his hands up, smiled and admitted he had no clue. Told me he didn't even know who I needed to talk to. Said he thought someone in Pittsburgh, in another federal office he couldn't think of was who I might need to talk to.

 

The guy was tired and very relieved to have gotten through the two applications for 2 LPR's for SSDI submitted and finished up with no hitches...lol

 

I've got most of the info for what Wenyan would need to do should she move back to China sometime after my death, and I'll study up on the rest, figure how she can best work within the system so she can communicate (or have an agent in America....might have to go that route) and recieve communications from the SSA. Getting the actual money doesn't appear to be a problem as we talked earlier....it all gets direct deposited into an account. Just get an account with the right bank in the US that a Chinese bank will deal with. Our guy today had no clue's about our wives going to US consulates for anything. Any really, why would he? How many people ask that question each week....LOL

 

One thing he told me that was new to me. We know that our wives can start getting survivors benes at age 60 (at around 71.5% of the total) and we knew that our wifes could start drawing on our regular SS at age 62 (again at 70 something percent).....he told me that even if our wives wait until "their" FULL retirement age which is going to be 67 for a woman born 1960 or 61 and later, he said, and I qoute..."they will still only draw 82% of what we were, or are paid.

 

I never knew that, and never read it anywhere....anyone else know that? Not that I am all that up on SSA code by any means. He could be wrong, but I highly doubt it, this was more within his scope of SSA facts and knowledge.

 

So, I am telling my wife to go ahead and start drawing her survivors benefits at age 60, at the 71/5% rate. No need for her to wait 7 years to get another $210 per month. Same thing with if I am alive when she turns 62....we'll start her on my benefit then instead of waiting 5 years to collect another just over $150 per month. Our wives would lose thousands of dollars by waiting 5 or 7 years for a pretty meager larger amount. It would take almost 7 years at the increased amount to make up what she lost by waiting 7 years for the higher rate...lol And these figures for my benefits are at the higher rate because SSDI is paid as if I had retired at 66, even though it stared at 57 in my case.

 

Well, an interesting day, got a lil' bit smarter. Got some more to study. In December I found out I had missed the boat on not collecting SSDI benefits for Wenyan and Fengqi....had no clue about them being able to collect anything. Lucky us, the guy took us almost back to the day they landed in America in 2011...we only lost a few months and they are not only starting Fengqi's benefits in February, they are back paying those two to the tune of just under $10,000. I thought the date we filled out the applications (TODAY) was gonna be the start date for them. Well pop my suspenders and slap me silly, Bubba!!!! It wasn't a total loss at the SSA today. The eagle is gonna a decent ca-ca in our account soon. I swear, if'n I wuz still a drinkin' man, I'd light up a doobie....I mean....hoist one to ol' Unka Samuel. I never gave something like that a thought when I drove up to Altoona today. I feel like Forrest Gump hisowndamnself, I keep walkin' around stoopid as a dadgum rock and they keep givin', us money.

 

Mick, I axe uwe again....did you have any idear when we wuz over yonder in ah Vietnam that we uz workin' on one CRAZY retirement plan? Agent orange hearts n' PTSD brains. Life is like a box ah chocolates I tells ya...or better yet, Forrest's momma told ya.

 

 

tsap seui

Edited February 1, 2013 by tsap seui (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Thanks for thinking of me there. Sounds like you did a good job of finding out what you wanted to within the limits of his knowledge.

 

the next step for us is to apply for my own benefits in December, then I expect we'll stay here in Yulin for at least another year after that, until I can get my 5-year card (whatever that is). Hopefully, the GUZ-stapo folks will have more direct knowledge of how situations like mine are handled.

 

I'm not familiar with the numbers, but I'm a believer in getting your money NOW (barring any penalties, fees, reductions, or whatever), rather than later. The actuaries do a pretty good job of crunching the numbers for you, but my feeling is you can do better than to let them keep your money for a few years.

 

Thanks again.

Edited February 1, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Thanks for thinking of me there. Sounds like you did a good job of finding out what you wanted to within the limits of his knowledge.

 

the next step for us is to apply for my own benefits in December, then I expect we'll stay here in Yulin for at least another year after that, until I can get my 5-year card (whatever that is). Hopefully, the GUZ-stapo folks will have more direct knowledge of how situations like mine are handled.

 

I'm not familiar with the numbers, but I'm a believer in getting your money NOW (barring any penalties, fees, reductions, or whatever), rather than later. The actuaries do a pretty good job of crunching the numbers for you, but my feeling is you can do better than to let them keep your money for a few years.

 

Thanks again.

Randy, I have found from talking to 3 different agents in our local SSA office that the questions you and I have are so far off the range that it is not their fault they can't answer them. This guy yesterday humbly admitted it, and he was scratching his head trying his best to think of who we could even ask. While those folks are very intelligent about the average sections of SSA code, our particular questions are questions that almost never get asked...like I told the guy yesterday...."Why would you even know this, who has ever come into this office and asked about getting American SS benefits while they live in China?" and we both laughed.

 

I'm gonna keep reading code and will wind up calling their 800 number to see if I can get to the bottom of it if I can't find a solution that fits. We know they WILL pay benefits, as is pointed out in the publication "Your payments while outside the United States". Your case is a little different in your being a US citizen collecting regular SS, compared to our wives being legal aliens collecting regular then survivor benefits. It looks like an address for SSA comunications needs to be addressed. I can't picture an SSA agent writing down both the pinyin address, and the Chinese characters on end of the year 1099's, or other mundane communications we get each year. But there is a way to skin that cat. You mentioned your broker or something. We may need to designate an "agent" of sorts. Just gonna have to be innovative and use our imaginations.

 

Lastly, when I wrote the figures down last night and tried to see at what point waiting 5 years from age 62 on regualr SS or 7 years from age 60 on survivors

benefits would even come into play....in my mind it looked like it would take 14 years (7 of waitng and 7 more to catch up to the point of what you had made by taking an earlier, smaller payout) to even out. Yes, one would get more money after those 14 years...but $200 a month more. You're only talking a 10.5 percent difference in pay as they have some weird schedule of rate of pay that comes into play where the most they'll get is 82% of your payment (this may be for survivors benefits only). Be something if they were gonna get your full amount.

 

It's too complicated, we aren't gonna wait either...take the lower rate with cash in hand TODAY....lol... not 5 or 7 years later.

 

tsap seui

[Fu Lai]

7 little-known Social Security benefits

That FICA guy won't be your buddy

In the first season of "Friends," Rachel Green looks at her first paycheck as a waitress and asks, "Who's this FICA guy, and why is he getting all my money?"

That's one hard lesson about Social Security. Another is that when it's time to claim, you can't depend on the Social Security Administration to be your personal adviser.

In an effort to save time and cut costs, Social Security employees generally don't give case-specific advice. So that means you are on your own to make the most important financial decision of a lifetime. You have to read the rules and do the research yourself.

William Meyer, whose website, Social Security Solutions, gives Social Security advice for a fee, says you also can't depend on Social Security to follow instructions you give them electronically. If you have a request that is not the most common choice, you'll need to go to the Social Security office and make the request in person, he says.

Read on to brush up on Social Security benefits that are not commonly known.

Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/7-social-security-benefits.aspx