Social Security: Get It Before It's Gone?

Glossary

• Full Retirement Age (FRA) - The age at which a worker, spouse, or survivor receives his/her full retirement benefit.  An individual's FRA varies based on his/her year of birth.
• Initial eligibility - The earliest age at which a person is able to receive a benefit (typically age 62 for worker or spousal benefits and age 60 for survivor benefits).
• Employment record, work record, account - When filing for Social Security benefits, a person may have a choice of filing on his/her own account with the Social Security Administration (SSA) -- i.e. filing based on his/her own work history -- or filing on someone else's account (e.g. a husband filing for spousal benefits based on his wife's account). 
• Worker benefits, retirement benefits, Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) - The benefits received by a person filing for benefits on his/her own SSA account.
• Spousal benefits - The benefits received by the spouse (and/or in some cases, the ex-spouse) of a worker, when filing for spousal benefits on the worker's account.
• Survivor benefits - The benefits a widow or widower -- and, in some cases, children or dependent parents -- is eligible to receive based on his/her deceased family member's work record.
• Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) - An amount determined by the SSA that represents a worker's anticipated monthly benefit if he/she claims at FRA.  Also known as the Full Retirement Age (FRA) benefit.
• Delayed Retirement Credits - The increases a worker receives when delaying his/her own benefits after FRA.  He/she will receive increased benefits for each month he/she delays up to age 70.  These do not affect spousal benefits based on the worker's account but improve survivor benefits.  

Click here to view & download the complete Social Security 101 handout.

Questions and/or interested in how this applies to your financial life?

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