POONWAT
CHARA-AMPHAIW
ANFROM THE EDITOR
Mark Solheim
Antisocial Security
M
y most recent birthday was a signifi-
cant milestone: I turned 62. And as
every American within two decades
of retirement knows, that’s when you can
claim Social Security benefits.
Turning 62 prompted me to dig up my
latest Social Security benefits estimate to
incorporate into my retirement financial plan.
I don’t intend to claim benefits until at least
full retirement age (66 and 6 months for
someone born when I was), when I can lock
in a monthly benefit about 35% higher than
I’d get at my current age. In fact, I may wait
until age 70 so I can earn the 8%-a-year
bonus for three and a half years. But it’s
comforting to
know that if I
need the income
sooner, it’s there.
(We help you sort
out the best time
to file, among
other common
conundrums, in
our collection of
Social Security
FAQs starting
on page 54.)
In 2011, Social
Security stopped
mailing annual paper statements to benefi-
ciaries younger than 60, and a few years
back I signed up for a mySocialSecurity ac-
count at http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount. But when
I went online to retrieve my statement, the
password I had jotted down didn’t work.
And that’s when things got discouraging.Office, phone or online? More than 40
million people visit a field office each
year, and according to a 2018 report
from the Social Security Office of
the Inspector General, the aver-
age wait time is 25 minutes—but more than 4 million visitors cool their heels
for longer than an hour. Trying to get answers
on the phone isn’t much better. In a recent ex-
change in a Facebook group for finances, users
compared notes, and commiserated, over the
frustratingly long times they spent on hold try-
ing to reach customer service. (As a work-
around, go to GetHuman.com and search for
“Social Security.” If you type in your phone
number, you will get a call back when the ser-
vice connects with a live rep.)
The Social Security Administration would
like you to conduct your business online, but
be prepared to navigate speed bumps there,
too. For example, to create a mySocialSecurityaccount online, you have to answer questions
about your Equifax credit history. That isn’t
necessarily a test you’ll easily ace. I’ve re-
ceived questions about who serviced my kids’
student loans that I co-signed a decade ago.
Plus, if you’ve frozen your credit files, you’ll
have to remove the freeze on your Equifax
report temporarily. (You won’t have to lift
the freeze if you go to a Social Security office
to open the account.)
Back to my saga: I followed the prompts
to reset my password, which led me to the
security questions I had set up years before: In
what city did you meet your spouse/significant
other? I knew the answer was Washington,
D.C., but with or without capitals, periods and
commas? Next one: What was the model name
of your first car? Hmm. Did I say Volks wagen
(or VW) Super Beetle? Or perhaps superbeetle?
None of my answers were correct.
I requested a temporary password, and a
letter arrived a couple of weeks later—with
one of the characters of the password illegible
because of an ink problem. I called customer
service, and a pleasant rep named Karen told
me there was nothing she could do short of
mailing another letter with another tempo-
rary password.
For most of the past decade, Congress
reduced Social Security’s operating budget.
But it recently reversed course and increased
the agency’s funding. Most of the customer
service improvements in the works will be for
online operations. So whatever you do, don’t
lose your password.Tax help. Our cover story (see page 42)
suggests plenty of ways you can still trim
your tax bill. And on page 50 are highlights
from a Kiplinger/Barclays Bank poll in which
we asked taxpayers about their experience
with the new tax law. The results may sur-
prise you. ■MARK SOLHEIM, EDITOR
[email protected]
TWITTER: @MARKSOLHEIMSOCIAL SECURITY
WOULD LIKE YOU
TO CONDUCT YOUR
BUSINESS ONLINE,
BUT BE PREPARED
TO NAVIGATE SOME
SPEED BUMPS.6 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 03/