Dummies books are a great start for a novice, and will help you step-by-step to secure benefits for you and your family.

If you want to (and if it fits in with your finances), you can wait until 66 and then apply for 1/2 of your spouse’s benefit.

Atchley pleaded guilty in March to violating the Social Security Act for his “failure to disclose an event affecting entitlement to Social Security Benefits”, court records showed.

Atchley is required to repay the government $465,000 for fraudulently cashing his mother’s Social Security survivor’s benefits between July 21, 2001, to August of 2012, Dorschner wrote in the news release. But, even if Social Security as a whole were in crisis (it’s not), cutting the benefits that people can collect before age 70 wouldn’t even be a particularly effective way of closing any budget gaps: Increasing the retirement age from 67 to 68 would erase 12 percent of the deficit that Social Security is expected to face 75 years from now.

Earnings limits end with the month you reach FRA.

For 2015, the earnings limit is $15,720. Retirees can start taking benefits as early as 62, but the benefit increases 8% per year in delayed retirement credits (DRC) plus any cost of living adjustment until age 70. Living arrangements may change how much money you receive. On Tuesday, September 8 at 6:30pm we are offering “Strategies for Social Security and Retirement Income”. We also need to know if you receive any payments from other sources, and if you have savings that go over the SSI resource limit ($2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple). Details about benefits when working are in the SSA retirement planner at www.socialsecurity.gov/planners/retire. You can also notify us 1-800-772-1213 or contact your local Social Security office. But that’s not what raising the retirement age would entail-the fact is, raising the Social Security retirement age represents a reduction in benefits: Because the monthly payments a person receives grow bigger the later in life he or she retires, raising the age cutoff reduces the total amount of money paid out.

When confronted a year ago by agents from the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, Atchley admitted to the fraud.