If you are turning 70 at any time from March through January 1, 2024 and have never claimed Social Security benefits of any kind there may be an opportunity for you that you didn’t know about or expect. Drilling down a little further: are you currently married or widowed? If not, were you divorced after a marriage that lasted at least 10 years?

Depending on how many of those boxes you were able to check, there is a real possibility that you might be eligible for some unexpected but meaningful benefits.

Even if you have received some Social Security benefits, and especially if you began receiving those benefits recently, there is still some chance that you could qualify.

After reviewing your Earnings Record and your answers to a few questions the Social Security Maven can usually determine pretty quickly if you are eligible for extra benefits. Sometimes a few additional pieces of information are required. If you do qualify for extra benefits, the exact dollar amount will depend on your individual circumstances, but it typically runs into the thousands. Here is an example of what I’m talking about.

On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, I received an email from a person named Bob, who had a simple question. “When I claim my benefits this coming December at age 70, they will be more than twice as much as my wife is receiving. I’ve heard that she can get half of mine, and I would like to set up an appointment to confirm my thinking.”

I asked for and received a few additional items of information, but then had to tell Bob that his wife would not be eligible for any benefits on his record while he is living. But then I realized:

1. Bob will turn 70 between now and the end of 2023.
2. He has never received any Social Security benefits.
3. He is currently married.

That opened up a whole new way of looking at Bob’s situation. By the time we finished our conversation, in less than an hour, it became clear that Bob could get an additional $15,000 in benefits by using a different strategy. He walked away with a short list of action steps, and less than 48 hours later his online application had been submitted, with his extra benefits scheduled to begin arriving in April.

The question that prompted Bob to contact me did not turn out to be the highlight of our discussion, but our conversation was easily the financial highlight of Bob’s week. Sometimes the simplest questions or most obvious conclusions turn out to be neither simple nor obvious when viewed by an experienced eye.

Call or email today to see if the Social Security Maven can make a difference for you.