Bummer! New law does away with Social Security’s “File & Suspend” strategy
November 5, 2015 3:32 amI just wanted to share some important news which may affect your Social Security planning. For those who haven’t heard by now, the recent “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015” (effective Nov. 2, 2015) made significant changes to some Social Security rules, and the end-result is a loss of a very popular Social Security strategy – “File & Suspend.” What is File & Suspend? File & Suspend allowed someone, upon reaching full retirement age (FRA), to file for Social Security retirement benefits, and then immediately suspend them. This allowed the filer’s spouse to claim spousal benefits WHILE the original filer could delayed retirement and thus receive a credit for delaying benefits, to the tune of 8% increase per each year of delay. The new rules in recent “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015” did away with that. Under new rule, when the original filer suspends their benefits, that will also suspend any/all benefits payable to... View More