Ep 82: Social Security Update – Solvency, COLA, & Planning Strategies

Ep 82: Social Security Update – Solvency, COLA, & Planning Strategies

Listen Now:

The Smart Take:

The 2021 Social Security Trustee’s Report was recently released and the 2022 COLA is near finalized.  What can we expect for the COLA and glean from the report?
Tune in to hear the important points and key planning implications for your Social Security benefits.
Spoiler alert: Social Security solvency is not as bad as you may be led to be believed by the media and planning strategies remain important and are more key in today’s low-interest rate world.

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The Host:

Kevin Kroskey – About – Contact

Intro:

Welcome to Retire Smarter, with Kevin Kroskey. Find answers to your toughest questions, and get educated about the financial world. It’s time to retire smarter.

Walter:

Well, hey there. And welcome to Retire Smarter. Walter Storholt here with you today, alongside Kevin Kroskey. President and Wealth Advisor at True Wealth Design. Serving you in Northeast Ohio, Southwest Florida, and in the greater Pittsburgh area. You can find us online at truewealthdesign.com. And click the Are We Right For You? button, to schedule a 15-minute call with an experienced financial advisor, on the True Wealth team. Always great to have Kevin with us, to discuss important financial topics and ideas. And Kevin, great to be with you this week. How you been?

Kevin:

Walter, it’s always my pleasure. I’ve been good, a little bit under the weather today. The girls in my family, my two daughters and my wife, are both sick. And I was the last man standing, but it looks like I’m falling down a bit too. So, you’ll have to pick me up today buddy.

Walter:

You held out as long as you could. But whenever the family gets something, it ends up making it cycle through everybody at some point, right?

Kevin:

Yeah, for the most part. I try to do this Jedi mind trick and say that my body won’t be a host to this, and I repeat it five times. It failed miserably.

Walter:

Do you try and load up on a bunch of vitamin C, or what is it, Airborne? Or whatever that stuff is, to try and just stave it off one last chance?

Kevin:

I don’t do, to my knowledge. Just relied on some of the physicians that we serve as clients. There’s no real evidence that that Airborne works. Again, I haven’t done the research, I’m just trusting people that I trust. So, I don’t do that. I drink a little bit of juice every morning, anyway. It’s my first thing I do want to get up. But, nothing special. I just try to drink some fluids, and fingers crossed. Repeat my chant, and walk on my merry way. And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. So there you go, it’s life.

Walter:

You’re a big believer in science, I know. And so, you ignore the Airborne. But you’ll say the chant and the Jedi mind trick.

Kevin:

Right. Hey, there’s proof in positive thinking.

Walter:

That’s right. We all have a little something that we’ll give into there, right? To try to make –

Kevin:

Oh, for sure. For sure.

Walter:

Good stuff. Well, today’s podcast and the one that we release later in the month, might have a little bit under the weather Kevin, recording on them. But I know that you will power through and deliver us some good information. And on today’s show, we’re talking about Social Security and an update in that realm. What’s on the docket today, Kevin?

Kevin:

Yeah, sure. So, some news came out recently, the annual social security trustees report. And it always makes its headlines. If I go back and look at the stuff that I’ve written or talked about over, maybe the last 10, 12 years, social security’s usually one of the most popular topics. So, it makes sense to give an update on that.

Also, we’re getting close to getting the final cost of living adjustment booked, for 2022. So, we have some pretty good data about what that’s going to be. And then, when you’re talking about this stuff, you just don’t want to talk about the stuff, but you want to talk about why it matters, and what to do with it. So, we’ll certainly dip into some planning strategies, and how to think through this as well.

Walter:

I know that’s probably, even more than previous years. Social security and especially that cost of living adjustment will be an even bigger topic. I’m sure this is something you’re going to get into in more detail, over the next couple of minutes. But I know with all the worries about inflation and things costing more, there might be some people out there who indeed, are certainly hoping for a nice bump in social security payments, come a couple months from now.

Kevin:

Absolutely. I tell you what? We’ll hold that topic for… let’s get through to the trustee’s report. It’s a little bit more boring. It’s just more about the solvency, and hey, can we rely on it? And I’ll even comment on some of the potential fixes. But then, we’ll get into the COLA, and that’ll lead us directly to the planning implications.

Walter:

I know we’ve all read the Social Security Trustees Report.

Kevin:

Yes, I’m sure you have.

Walter:

So, this will be repetition for a lot of our listeners, I’m sure. But I’m glad you’ll take us through it, with your expert eye, Kevin.

Kevin:

I’ll just extract the key information, as a brief reminder. Yes, that’s exactly right.

Walter:

Perfect.

Kevin:

So, this trustee report comes out. And if anybody’s ever read their social security statement, you’ll see on there, that there’s basically a disclaimer saying, hey, laws have changed in the past, and they can change again in the future. Congress can do that. So, it’s this big saying, here’s what you’re promised to pay right now, promised to receive. And then, there’s the disclaimer that’s there. So the reason that that’s on there is, most people know the Social Security Trust Fund is scheduled to be depleted just a few years down the road. It’s actually, 2033 is the new year. It was moved up one year from last year, due to COVID. Fewer people working and paying in for payroll taxes, so there’s a little bit of stress put on in the system.

And so, this solvency was moved up one additional year, to 2033. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to go broke. Insolvent, in these terms anyway, means that with the payroll taxes that would be collected, they would have enough to pay out about, 78% of the benefits. So, 22% reduction there. So that’s at least, where it stands today. And I think, the really important thing to remember about this, and I’ve talked about this before. I think it was maybe, episode 22. I think we commented on the 2019 trustees report. And the solvency, it bumps around a year or two. Certainly, it’s gotten a little worse with COVID as I mentioned. But just to put this in context, good old uncle Alan Greenspan, who I’m sure everybody recalls when they made some changes back when Reagan was in office, in the early eighties, 1982, 1983. The fix that they did back then, said would fix the system for about 50 years, and make it solvent. So Walter, quick math here, buddy. 1983 plus 50, equals what?

Walter:

2033.

Kevin:

And, what year did I say that the trust fund is scheduled to be depleted?

Walter:

Is that right around 2033, right?

Kevin:

2033.

Walter:

Plus two.

Kevin:

So, there you go. So for all the lack of faith and trust that we have in our government institutions and other institutions these days, you can always trust uncle Al. So, uncle Al is right on the dot.

Walter:

Wow. That’s pretty impressive. Yeah.

Kevin:

I think it’s incredibly impressive. So, you’ll see a lot of these media headlines. It’s clickbait, whatever you want to call it. Oh, Social Security Trust Fund. It’s going to be depleted. It’s going to be this, it’s got worse because of COVID. We know this person. It’s there. It’s really getting congress to do something about it. And we’ll talk about this in the next episode too when we go over the Biden tax plan. But some of the social security fixes that were hypothecated by him previously, did not end up in the most recent plan that came out of the House Ways and Means Committee. So, they already have it. In short, again, it’s on track. We know that we’re going to have to make some changes. If you are of retirement age or darn close to it, or really over the age of 50 or so at this point, what you have on your statement, I think, is pretty reliable.

If you want to be conservative and maybe factor in some sort of reduction just in case, that’s not imprudent. The younger you are, the more at risk your benefit is, I would say. Based on past history, and how these changes are phased in overtime. But if you’re listening, and you’re 55, you’re 60 years old, or you’re currently receiving benefits. Candidly, I think you have very little risk. And probably, not worth thinking about. So, that’s the good news there. If we cross over into some of the solvency fixes, I had mentioned this a few years ago. When we had tax reform in 2017, one of the things that got into the tax code, was this concept of chained CPI. All right, Walter. What is chained CPI?

Walter:

Chained CPI? I don’t know. Yeah, you’re going to have to fill me on that one.

Kevin:

Okay. This is good. It’s actually good that you didn’t know that because you’re proving my point and you didn’t even know it.

Walter:

Cost price index, or something like that?

Kevin:

So CPI, everybody’s heard of the consumer price index or CPI. There are all kinds of different ways to measure it. There are all kinds of… the one that’s most commonly cited I would say is CPI-W. And it looks at the prices for people in an urban setting. It doesn’t factor in any substitution effects, which we probably all have done that, over the last year or so. You go to the market, I remember beef was costing quite a bit. And so, fish was much less so. Chicken was less so. So, people were substituting their beef consumption, for chicken and poultry. Oops, chicken… I just said the same thing there, didn’t I Walter? At least I caught myself. But, the chained CPI, factors in substitution effects that people make. Day to day, normal decisions like that.

So, the chained CPI made it into the tax code, in 2017. And I think, the ground was laid then legally, for it to go ahead and be pushed further into the tax code. And from a social security solvency fixed standpoint. If the CPI measurement is just changed from what it’s currently, CPI-W, to this chained CPI, that would fill about 20% of the gap.

And nobody knows what the heck this is unless you listen to what I just said. And Walter, you listened to it before. And granted, it was two years ago. But even you, the great Walter, didn’t recall it. And it’s a funny little math thing, that is a nice slide in the back door. It’s already in the tax code. And I would be willing to pretty much bet the farm that whenever the fix comes around for social security, that chained CPI is going to make it in there. Because nobody’s going to understand it. It’s going to be something that’s going to be easier to slide in. And, it’s math. And, we should have our messy math section going here today. But that’s going to be one of the things that I would bet, is going to end up fixing social security, whenever the time comes.

Walter:

You just don’t know how bad my memory is, first off. Good short-term memory, very bad long-term… actually, good long-term memory. Very bad midterm memory. So 2019, yeah. Pre-COVID, especially. We’ve forgotten all about that.

Kevin:

Yeah.

Walter:

BC, before COVID. New BC now.

Kevin:

Yeah. We’ll get rid of the politically correct, and just call it pre COVID.

Walter:

There you go.

Kevin:

So, we’ll see. I mean, eventually, some changes have to be made. It’s probably going to be last minute, the way congress acts. This gap is probably going to get a little bit larger, over time. But you get more retirees, people living longer, fewer people coming into the workforce to support them. I don’t want to say fewer. Some of the… I’m a Gen-Xer. You’re a millennial, there are more millennials than there are Gen-Xers. And there’s, I think, more Gen-Zers too. So, you still have people. But, people are living a lot longer. And obviously, you have this, people are receiving benefits longer. Not as many people supporting the number of retirees, that are receiving these benefits. Or at least, I won’t say the number, but the more the ratio that people that are retired, to the people still working and paying in, is not what it once was. That’s probably a better way to frame it.

And we’re going to have to make some changes. So, we’ll see what the changes are. I’m not going to speculate on all the other changes. The one fix that was made by Biden, was that the payroll taxes were going to start being paid for people over $400,000 of earned income. And that did not end up into the tax plan, or the tax proposal, I should say. But, we’ll see. So, that’s the trustee’s report in a nutshell. It’s news, and it’s nothing really new. So, there you go. So, nothing to get all worked up about. Have some peace of mind, particularly if you’re 55 plus. If you are below that, maybe you are a little bit, maybe factor in a reduction. And if you are Walter’s age, maybe it’ll buy you a six-pack, when you get into retirement.

Walter:

Oh, man.

Kevin:

Sorry buddy. It’ll do more than that, Walter.

Walter:

Hey, one six-pack’s better than no six-packs, I guess.

Kevin:

Hey, there’s that optimist I like and enjoy so much.

Walter:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Kevin:

So, that’s the trustee’s report. But back to probably, content that more people are interested in is, that cost of living adjustment. So, this cost of living adjustment, or COLA for short, it’s measured basically, at the end of the third quarter. So, we’re recording this just a couple of days after the close of the third quarter. The official CPI numbers will be released probably about 10 days, or so. So we don’t have the final data just yet. But if you just look at where things are ending up, and you look at, say, the fourth quarter of 2020 to, say August, which we have data for. We’re looking at about a 6% increase to social security benefits.

I mean, you’ll have all kinds of things that are tied to this. Our tax brackets will inflate and increase at this rate. If you’re in retirement and on Medicare, the Medicare income-related adjustments, at least some of them, will be increasing at this rate. So, this call is a big deal. And it doesn’t affect, just social security, but many other things in our tax code and our benefits. So we’re looking at about a 6% change, which is quite high. I didn’t look this up, but I’m speculating that it’s probably the highest since, oh, certainly, the early nineties or so, I would guess. It’s been quite a time that we’ve had. Low inflation and low-interest rates. So, we’ve talked a lot about inflation. Over the last several months, it’s been one of the main stories in the media. You’re seeing it show up in different prices. But even as we sit here today in early October, even though we’re having it, I’m still personally, on the mindset that it is more in that “transitory camp”.

So, as things do get back to normal… so, we have PC. Maybe PC one, and PC two. We need pre-COVID, and then post-COVID. But when we get back to post COVID normality, supply chains are working. Ships are able to come into docks and get things unloaded. Prices are more normalized. People are back to work, and not being subsidized to stay home. So on and so forth. Then, I really think it’s just going to temper out and be more in line with what it’s been, really, over the last few decades. We’ve talked about that in a prior episode, I won’t go into details here. But, I gave some reasons why that’s likely to be the case. So, we’re looking at about a 6% increase year over year, Walter.

Walter:

That sounds significant to me. And that sounds like a decent bump, right? If you told me I was getting a 6% raise, I’d be like, all right. Sweet. That sounds pretty good.

Kevin:

Sure. And we have some clients that are getting, I’m just trying to think here. Probably, around maybe 70 grand in social security benefits, on the high side. A lot in the fifties, maybe $60,000. So, if you’re looking at $70,000 at 6%, that’s 350 bucks a month more, that you’re going to be getting on a gross basis. Now, the thing that we didn’t mention is if you’re on Medicare, which the majority of social security recipients are. Because on balance, the average age is more than 65. But, the Medicare premiums are also going to be going up. So, those haven’t been announced just yet. But, that’s going to eat up some of that. But, that’s part of the reason why these two work together. You have the COLA, to offset the cost to live adjustments that we have and are experiencing.

So 6% is nothing to sneeze at. I think it’ll be welcomed by most people. It’ll be great from a benefit standpoint. We’ll be able to put more money into our 401(k)s, probably our IRAs too next year. HSA accounts. Again, it’ll help with that IRMA, and avoid some of that. And maybe, do some additional tax planning. But I think all good stuff all the way around, as far as the COLA goes. So to transition a little bit, into planning implications. So, some of this is a little bit more of a recap. I wouldn’t say necessarily that just because you have a 6% COLA, or just because the trustee’s report comes out and says, hey, solvency is one year less than the year before, that we really need to think incredibly different. So, think of this as a bit of a recap on some, I think, key and often underappreciated, or often overlooked aspects, of social security planning.

In preparation for this, I actually listened to a couple of other podcasts, that are somewhat similar to this. And candidly, I didn’t hear this stuff in either one of them. And these are guys that started many years before me and have a pretty big listenership. So, I think I can add something to the collective content that’s out there, in podcast land. But there are a few different problems with social security, that actually create opportunities. So if we think about this, and if you think back to your social security benefit statement. And you’ll see on there, it says, hey, here’s your benefit at 62. Here’s your benefit at your full retirement age, maybe as late as age 67. And then, here’s your age 70 benefit. So, under the social securities assumptions, all of those are supposed to be what they call, actuarially equivalent. Meaning that it doesn’t really matter economically or financially, which one you pick. Because, they’re all assumed to be the same, as long as you live to life expectancy.

Well, here’s the problem and the opportunity. So, when you think about life expectancy when the social security looks at it, they’re looking at the US as a whole. However, if all the people that are listening to this are clients, people with means, tend to live longer than people that are less than average, in terms of wealth and income. So, you’re able to better buy healthier food, get better medical care. There’s a several-year gap between the haves and the have nots when it comes to life expectancy. Not making any statement on that, just observing a fact.

So, wealthier people that delay social security… well, I won’t even say that just yet. Wealthier people in general can extract more from social security because they’re more likely to live longer and continue to receive those benefits. So if I go back to that social security statement, and you’re looking at age 62, your full retirement age, or age 70. You see that increasing up through those later ages, and there’s a benefit for delaying. And if you’re wealthier and healthier, then on average, it’s going to push you more towards delaying. Because, you’re going to be able to live longer and receive those benefits longer, and benefit from that deferral decision. So the first problem is, the life expectancy is just for the average American. The average American family is making about $60,000 a year. If you’re above that, then you are above average. And on average, somebody in that above-average group is going to live longer than average. There’s a lot of averages Walter, but you get me?

Walter:

It is. Yeah. But if you average them all together… no, I’m just kidding. That makes sense though. I never really thought about that. You’re able to drill in a little bit more on the data. And then thus, get a better prediction. And this problem that affects even that average of the whole population actually gets worse as we use, I guess, technically more accurate data. Or at least, if the input is more accurate, the problem actually compounds a little bit.

Kevin:

It is more accurate data. As a matter of fact, I will then join this to something that we just talked about, I think, in the last episode, when we talked about populations. And people making bad comparisons from certain population data, or sample size data. And here really, the Social Security Administration is using the US population as a whole. Whereas, we are really concerned of about the life expectancy statistics for us individually. But candidly, we don’t know that. So, we look more towards a group of people that are like us, that are higher than income average earners. That are getting better health and better food, and things like that. That are highly correlated to living longer. So we’re really more concerned about a sample size population that is more like us, and not the US as a whole.

And so if you do that, then social security deferral starts making even more sense. Of course, you have to be pragmatic. I mean, if somebody’s had a major health issue or something of the sort, then throw out the averages, and just look at what information we have. But in absence of that, playing probabilities is the best information that we have. So, it definitely makes sense to think a little bit differently. And if you’re above average, which I haven’t met anybody or talked to anybody yet that listens to this podcast that is below average, in terms of where the average American family is, just is what it is. So, you need to think a little bit differently in that regard.

The second problem is, it ignores survivor benefits. So if you’re looking at, again, that actuarial equivalency, 62 for retirement-aged 70, they’re all supposed to be the same economically. Well, not exactly.

If you’re married, either of the two benefits pays out, as long as either one lives. So, a base case oftentimes for a healthy, married couple is, defer the larger of the two benefits to as late as age 70, which is when it stops increasing. Because not only does that make sense, based on the first premise I stated about, hey, you’re above average for wealth, you’re likely to be above average for health and life expectancy. But also, now that you layer in the second one, that actuarial equivalency completely ignores the survivor benefit aspect of it. So, that’s two.

And then thirdly, and then finally, and this is just the beauty of government. I mentioned uncle Al, earlier. Well, guess what? The social security system is still using interest rate assumptions from 1983. Interest rates were quite different back then, versus today. And this gets a little wonky. Basically, the real interest rate assumption that they used was about 3%. Just a smidge less than 3%. Let’s just call it 3%.

And I said, real interest rate. In effect, that is your yield after inflation. So, let’s just say that for 2021, say you could go out, and this is pretty much true. You buy a bond today, 10 year US treasury bond, for about 1.5%. Hold it for the year, you get 1.5%. Well, inflation as we’ve talked about, is higher than that. So, maybe it ends up at 4% for the year. So, if we’re at 4%, but we own that 1.5% 10-year government bond for the year, Walter, what did we end up net, after inflation?

Walter:

Oh, you threw out too many numbers.

Kevin:

We lost two and a half percent.

Walter:

Okay.

Kevin:

So, if I just take 1.5 minus four…

Walter:

Oh, we’re in the negatives.

Kevin:

We’re negative.

Walter:

That’s not good.

Kevin:

So, on a real return basis…

Walter:

That’s all I need to know is, we’re negative.

Kevin:

We’re negative, yeah.

Walter:

Yeah. That’s good.

Kevin:

That’s bad, actually. But it’s simple to know that it’s good. So you’re losing money, or you’re losing purchasing power. It’s said another way. So again, that 1983 assumption was, the real interest rate was about 3%. Interest rates were way higher back then, inflation was way higher. But the difference between the two basically is, where this real interest rate comes from. They’re saying, it’s about 3%. Well, you can go out and you can buy a bond today, that adjusts for inflation, it’s called a TIPS bond, or Treasury Inflation-Protected Security. And the real yield on it today is almost minus 1%. This is one of the first times in history, just in the recent past, that we’ve had negative real yield. Europe has had it for a while, Japan has had it. It’s come to the US too.

So, there’s about a 4% spread there, between the ’83 assumptions, and where we are today. And even though this is a little wonky, just think of it this way. If you could have a hundred dollars and I gave you the hundred dollars today, or say 10 years from now. And in one scenario, there was 0% inflation per year. And the other scenario, there was 4% inflation per year. Certainly, we would all like to have the hundred dollars today. You could go do whatever you want with it. But if you’re just looking at it from a pure investment standpoint, you can pretty plainly see that, that hundred dollars less worthy in 10 years at a 4% per year inflation rate, because it’s going to buy less goods and services down the road. Whereas, if it was 0% inflation, you could buy the same stuff today, as you could in 10 years. Your purchasing power is the same.

So, if you’re using a higher interest rate to discount these future dollars, then the dollars in the future must be larger, to offset that higher rate of inflation. Now, if I sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher, again, just the key thing to remember is, that social security is using outdated assumptions that are actually in your interest, for deferring the benefit. If an insurance company used these assumptions, they would become insolvent. Because it’s just not practical.

But the government isn’t an insurance company, and they can print their own money. And they’re a bit antiquated and slow to change. So you can use that potential negative, as a positive. So, there are three key things I just mentioned about the life expectancy, survivor benefits, as well as the assumptions underpinning social security, that still make deferral quite a significant benefit for many people. So, it’s really important to consider this. Make sure that you get it right. People that read up on this or… we’ve even gone over examples before in the podcast. Where good social security planning, literally, can add six figures to your plan over time. So the larger your benefit, the more that you earned over time. The more you paid in, the more potentially impactful this sort of information is.

Walter:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Kevin:

All right. I know that’s you, Walter.

Walter:

It’s going to be in my head all day now. I didn’t have fast enough fingers to pull up a YouTube clip of Charlie Brown’s teacher, so that’ll have to suffice. All right. So the planning implications, good breakdown of social security and those three problems. So, what else? Does it depend on our age? How we should start reacting or implementing social security into our plans?

Kevin:

The way I think about it is, if we start working with somebody who’s 55 and getting serious about their retirement planning, I don’t think it matters so much just yet, to go ahead and dive into the details of social security claiming. Certainly, we need to make an assumption… if I just take a step back for a moment. You think about the planning process, what we call our Retire Smarter Solution, I discussed in episode 45. Step one is, really visualizing where the retirement’s going to be. Looking at these financial assets that you already accumulated, that you’re still contributing to, projecting them forward. Looking at some projected social security benefits, pension benefits, if applicable. Evaluate what sustainable spending that you have.

So, we’re picking up social security there. Now, as we get closer to actually claim and in retirement, modeling the social security strategy that you’re likely to take, becomes much more important. Some of it is time-dependent. And what I mean by that is, today with interest rates near zero. Well, by proxy, what you can expect from most bond returns is also close to zero. It’s just very low. So social security, sometimes people will look at it as, hey… the deferral is more of, I have to live so long. I frame it as an insurance benefit in it sense. Because if you too long, it’s going to keep paying and paying at this higher rate, because you did defer. And it’s going to increase with the cost of living adjustment, every year.

It’s almost like a built-in insurance plan, to a certain degree. Some people think of it from an investment standpoint. So I would say, from an investment standpoint, you’re going to have an opportunity cost to using your own money. Taking it out of your account, if you’re deferring social security. To go ahead and meet your retirement income objectives, and meet your lifestyle goals. So, with bonds in year zero, in many parts of the stock market, predominantly in the domestic US market, being pretty expensive. That means you can expect fairly low returns, moving forward. So your opportunity costs for using your money and deferring social security is not that great today. So, I think that’s important to know. That’s also situationally dependent. When we were going through COVID in March last year, I mean, we were running those fire drills about all the different things that we needed to execute.

And for anybody that was doing social security deferral, well, we weren’t really looking at that. Because the market had sold off by a third. This was before a bounce back and we had no foresight to what was going to happen, or if it was going to get worse. But we did know that the way that the markets work, they tend to oversell. They went on sale, they discount. And then, the forward-looking returns, look a lot more favorable. Now, you’re never going to be able to really time it. But, the returns for the market were higher. So, we were considering, for clients that were using a social security deferral strategy, maybe we need to re-think that. So my point in sharing that is, it is really situationally dependent. Today, the opportunity cost is very low for deferral. If the market’s sold off a lot, and now the opportunity cost becomes a lot more, well, then you have to recompute the math.

Walter:

So many moving parts to try and figure out there. And so, I know that a lot of people have additional questions about this stuff. Kevin, do you have any additional resources or directions you can point people in? To let learn a little bit more about the implications of all this, and just where we’re going?

Kevin:

I would say, it’s a couple of things. I think this is probably our third or fourth social security episode that we’ve done. So, if you want to learn more, that’s probably a good place to listen. And sometimes, I mean, and I don’t know if you ever had this experience as well. But, even just re-listening to something. A lot of times, I’ll get some new information out of it. Maybe I didn’t get it all the first time through. So, if you’re really interested, that’s maybe not a bad place to start.

If you have questions. I mean, we’re certainly here. We’re happy to help. Social security, just like most things financial, should not be done in a vacuum. It really needs to be done in the context of everything else that you have. It’s the domino effect. The whole retirement plan goes together. So, while we’re happy to answer a question about social security if you reach out to us, the answer may be, it depends. And it depends on the other things you have going on too. So, we’re here to help. We’re certainly happy to help. Wal, I know you always mentioned that, hey, we have to contact us, Are We Right For You? on our website, truewealthdesign.com. That’s a great way to reach out, and we’re always happy to help.

Walter:

Again, that’s the way to get in touch with Kevin Kroskey, and the True Wealth Design team. You can go to truewealthdesign.com, click that, Are We Right For You, button. Or, you can call 855-TWD-PLAN. That’s 855-TWD-PLAN, and get in touch via the phone, if you prefer that method. Well Kevin, thank you for the help on in today’s program. We’ve got a really good episode coming up next time on the show, we’re going to be talking about taxes and Biden’s American family’s tax plan. Some details and information about that.

Kevin, I can’t wait for your breakdown on one of the bigger pieces of news, over the course of 2021. Know a lot of eyeballs and ears have been listening out and watching for information on that. So, can’t wait to get your perspective on that. And we’ll do that next time here, on Retire Smarter. Until then, Kevin, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Kevin:

Thanks, Walter.

Walter:

I’ll talk to you soon. And for Kevin Kroskey and Walter Storholt, we’ll see you next time. Thanks for listening to today’s show here, on Retire Smarter.

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