Resource Directory

Attorneys

• KKOS Lawyers

CPAs

• Kohler & Eyre

Self-Directed Retirement Plan Custodian

• Directed IRA
• Directed IRA (Get Started)

Company Compliance Services

• Main Street Business Services 

• 2024 Key Financial Data Guide
• 2024 Q1 Winter Key Financial Deadlines
• 2024 Q2 Spring Key Financial Deadlines
• 2024 Retirement Calendar Checklist
• 2023 Federal Tax Calendar (for Small Business Owners and Self-Employed)

General information on Social Security retirement benefits

• Social Security Retirement Benefits
• SSA Publication No. 05-10035
• A “Snapshot.” SSA Publication No. 05-10006
• Social Security Retirement Planner
• Learn About Social Insurance

How benefits are calculated

• How You Earn Credits. SSA Publication No. 05-10072
• Understanding the Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10024
• Your Retirement Benefit: How It Is Figured. SSA Publication No. 05-10070
• Social Security Benefit Amounts
• Full retirement age and benefit reductions by year of birth
• Maximum taxable earnings, 1937-present
• How To Correct Your Social Security Earnings Record. SSA Publication No. 05-10081

Benefit calculators

• My Social Security: Create an Account
• SSA benefit calculators
• Retirement Estimator
• Full retirement age calculator based on year of birth
• Early or late retirement calculator
• Retirement earnings test calculator
• Windfall Elimination Provision online calculator

When to claim benefits

• When To Start Receiving Retirement Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10147
• Delayed retirement credits
• Other things to consider
• Boost Your Social Security Payout By $100,000 – CBS MoneyWatch.com
• Planning Your Retirement: How to Take Spousal Benefits – CBS MoneyWatch.com
• Center for Retirement Research: Trends in Social Security Claiming 2015

Working and Social Security benefits

• How Work Affects Your Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10069
• How the Earnings Test Works

Coordinating spousal benefits

• Benefits for your spouse
• Benefits for your divorced spouse
• “Strange But True: Claim Social Security Now, Claim More Later,” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Survivor benefits

• Survivors Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10084
• How Social Security Can Help You When A Family Member Dies. SSA Publication No. 05-10008.
• Survivors Planner

Dependents benefits

• Benefits For Children. SSA Publication No. 05-10085
• Benefits For Children With Disabilities. SSA Publication No. 05-10026

Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)

• Overview of COLAs
• Latest COLA
• Application of COLA to a Retirement Benefit
• COLA estimates by Social Security trustees
• Historical COLAs going back to 1975
• CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) going back to 1974
• City cost of living calculator
• Automatic Determinations in Recent Years

Taxation of benefits

• IRS Publication 915, “Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits.”
• IRS Publication 554, “Tax Guide for Seniors.”
• Social Security: Calculation and History of Taxing Benefits
• IRS Publication 963, “Federal-State Reference Guide”

Women and Social Security

• What Every Woman Should Know. SSA Publication No. 05-10127
• “Women and Social Security,” American Academy of Actuaries Issue Brief
• “Social Security: Why Boomer Women Need More,” by Heidi Hartmann, excerpted from Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not?

How to apply for benefits

• Apply Online For Social Security Benefits, SSA Publication No. 05-10032
• Social Security Forms
• What You Need To Know When You Get Retirement Or Survivors Benefits. SSA Publication No. 05-10077
• A Guide For Representative Payees. SSA Publication No. 05-10076
• Overpayments. SSA Publication No. 05-10098
• What You Can Do Online. SSA Publication No. 05-10121

Special situations

• If You Are Self-Employed. SSA Publication No. 05-10022
• If You Work For A Nonprofit Organization. SSA Publication No. 05-10027
• Windfall Elimination Provision. SSA Publication No. 05-10045
• Government Pension Offset. SSA Publication No. 05-10007
• How International Agreements Can Help You. SSA Publication No. 05-10180
• Military Service And Social Security SSA Publication No. 05-10017
• Special Payments After Retirement. SSA Publication No. 05-10063
• Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States. SSA Publication No. 05-10137
• Social Security International Programs: International Programs and Resources

Trust fund financing and reform proposals

• Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs: A Summary of the latest Annual Reports
• Recent Trustees Reports
• Social Security Trust Fund Data
• Trust Fund FAQs
• Provisions that Could Change the Social Security Program
• Updated Long-Term Projections for Social Security, Congressional Budget Office

Other references

• Social Security Program Fact Sheet
• Fast Facts and Figures About Social Security
• SSA Release on the Closure of the Social Security “Interest-Free Loan” Loophole
• If You’re Disabled… How to Get the Social Security Benefits You Deserve -; Wealth & Retirement
• Social Security News
• Center for Retirement Research: Squared Away Blog
• Center for Retirement Research: Special Projects
• Annual Retirement Confidence Survey – EBRI
• “Behavioral and Psychological Aspects of the Retirement Decision.” Office of Retirement and Disability Policy.
• “6 Tricks to Make the Best Retirement Decisions,” by Robert Powell, MarketWatch. June 2014.
• How to Safelist an Email Address

Medicare

• Medicare. SSA Publication No. 05-10043
• Trustees Reports – Medicare
• Medicare Eligibility, Requirements – AARP Bulletin
• Medicare Rights Center – Home