John, good to see you really big social security news, millions of public workers are set to get an increase in their Social Security benefits. A new bill called the Social Security Fairness Act was just signed into law and will increase payments for nearly 3 million current and former public employees. Can you walk through what exactly is changing and how much more these workers can expect to see in their benefits?

Yeah. So for decades, these workers had two things they had to deal with, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. And essentially both of these provisions would greatly reduce their Social Security benefit. So for 3 million plus people, they're going to see hundreds, if not 1000s, of dollars increases into their into their annual Social Security benefits. Now, Erin, I do want to clarify something. There's there's really two categories that people have to understand of, does this apply to them or not? The first one is, you had to have had some type of social security, covered employment, some and by that, I mean they you paid into Social Security in addition to your non covered employment, which didn't pay into Social Security. And this is where the Windfall Elimination Provision was always a big issue. As long as you had that now your Social Security benefit based on on your covered employment will no longer be reduced if you never had covered Social Security employment where you had a job that paid into Social Security, this isn't going to apply to you. The other thing is, the Government Pension Offset, this was specifically for spousal and survivor benefits, like the Windfall Elimination Provision, you would see a huge reduction in your benefits. Now that is no longer going to happen.

What if someone has already filed for their Social Security benefits? What steps should they take? Yeah, well, if you haven't, if you've already filed, then the easy answer is, you don't have to do anything, right? You just sit back and let the government do the job for you, which is so kind of a scary statement there. Erin, I do recommend that you log on to ssa.gov double check everything and just be aware of it and and make sure the benefits are going to are hitting your bank account the increased benefits, I will tell you, exercise some caution or some patience, because there's 3 million people affected. So this can take a long time.

What if they haven't filed yet? Well, if they haven't filed, then you're just going to go about the normal filing process when you do decide to claim, and then the increased benefit will automatically, you know, be put into your Social Security benefits. Going forward, forward you brought up, sorry, go ahead.

Well, yeah, so the one thing I do want to clarify is, for spousal benefits. You can do this online. You can claim spousal benefits online. However, for survivor benefits, just be aware that you need to call Social Security. Okay, I was going to ask about claiming strategy, because I know this is something you specialize in. John. Does this change? Should it affect our overall claiming strategy? Yeah, so that's a maybe, as I've said, with everything, when it comes to financial planning, it's based on your individual DNA improvement you know, your your financial DNA. So a couple things that you know don't make this a slam dunk is, you know you real. The the real things that you need to consider are, do you really need the money? What's your health like? And you know, if once you satisfy that, if you can delay, then you should delay, because, as we said in past videos, income in retirement is expensive money, so we want to maximize it, and remember, the more you maximize your Social Security, the better it could also potentially be for your spouse or survivor benefits. Absolutely, if more people are going to see an increase in their benefits, shouldn't we then be concerned about the program solvency?

Yes. So the experts say that this should not have much of an effect on the Social Security solvency. So with that, I say, celebrate today's win. Take your extra extra income. However, you know it's not going to do anything to help the solvency issue. So celebrate today's win, but be mindful of tomorrow's issues, which you know, is still the solvency issues of social security, and what is, you know, only about seven to 10 years away. And what else do we need to be aware of them with this change? Because it's very significant. Yeah, well, like anything, if you're getting, you know, extra income, you're also going to have extra taxes. So you want to be aware of what this is going to do to your taxes, specifically Medicare. Because remember, you know, your your modified adjusted gross income, Social Security can play a role in that. And you go over Medicare by $1 you move into the next bracket, which could mean 100 to $200 a month for an individual or a couple. The other thing is, with every great benefit also comes an opportunity for scammers. So I want to put this word of caution out. 3 million people are getting their benefits adjusted. It's going to take the time to do this. The Social Security government or the Social Security Administration never asks for money to expedite your application. So please, if you have someone you know claiming to be from Social Security saying, hey, will I expedite this application for you for X amount of dollars. It's a scam. Don't do it. Yeah, that's a really good reminder. John, thank you. We have so many wonderful resources on your YouTube page about Social Security, claiming strategies and taxes, many topics that we've covered in this video. But if somebody wants to walk through this change with you, what's the best way to reach you? Yeah, well, you can always visit our website, www.gosecurus.com, and while on the website, we have tons of videos of you, as you mentioned, Erin. We also have the retire happy podcast that you can find on our website. And while you're on the website, you can go ahead to the contact us tab, where you can schedule a 20 minute complimentary phone call or answer any general questions for you. Or you can schedule a complimentary vision and clarity consultation. Or if you like doing things the old fashioned way, give us a call at the office. 858-758-9889, and they will get you on my schedule.

John, thank you. Thank you. Erin