Dear Rusty: I am now turning 64, and I’d like to know the best time to claim Social Security. 

Signed: Anxious to Retire 

Dear Anxious: First, please understand that there is no one “best time” to claim your Social Security benefit, because when you should claim depends upon several factors. These include your current health, life expectancy, immediate financial need, whether you are married, and whether you are still working. 

When you should claim also depends upon your personal benefit goals. For example, if you wish to maximize your monthly Social Security (SS) benefit amount you can best do that by simply waiting until age 70 to claim. For each full year you delay past your full retirement age (FRA), your SS benefit will grow by 8 percent, up to age 70 when you get the maximum you’re entitled to. If you are married and die first, that will also provide your widow with a higher benefit as your survivor if your wife’s own benefit is less than yours. But waiting until age 70 to maximize isn’t for everyone.

 If you are in poor health and don’t expect to enjoy at least average longevity (about 84 for a man your age now), then claiming earlier would be prudent. But claiming earlier also means a smaller benefit. Your full retirement age (FRA) is when you get 100 percent of the benefit you’ve earned from a lifetime of working. Your FRA is 66 ½ and if you wait longer than that you will earn delayed retirement credits (DRCs) of 0.667 percent for each full month you delay. That means that if you delay until 70, your SS benefit will be 28 percent more than it would be at your FRA. But if you claim before you have reached your FRA, your benefit amount will be permanently reduced by 0.556 percent for each full month earlier than your FRA that you claim. If, for example, you claim your SS to start at age 64, your benefit will be cut by about 17 percent from what you’d get by waiting until your FRA to claim. And, if you are married, that smaller benefit is what your widow’s survivor benefit would be based upon if you die first. 

Anytime SS benefits are claimed before you have reached your full retirement age, you are subject to Social Security’s “earnings test” which, if you are working, limits how much you can earn before SS takes back some of your benefits. For 2021, the annual earnings limit is $18,960 and if that is exceeded, the Social Security Administration will take back benefits equal to $1 for every $2 you are over the limit. The earnings test applies until you reach your FRA, after which there is no longer a limit to how much you can earn. In your specific situation, if you were to claim for your benefits to start mid-year (at age 64), you would be subject to a monthly earnings limit of $1,580 for the remaining months of 2021, and if you exceed that monthly limit in any month, you won’t be entitled to any benefits for that month. Then in 2022 you’ll be subject to the annual limit, which isn’t yet published but will be slightly more than the 2021 limit. 

Exceeding the earnings limit means that the Social Security Administration will make you repay some of your benefits and, unless you make special arrangements to do otherwise, it will withhold future benefits until the agency recovers what you owe. That means going without benefits for some months, and if you have a spouse or other dependent(s) collecting on your record their benefits will also be suspended for that amount of time. So, as you can see there is no one simple answer to your question of when the best time is to claim Social Security. But a careful look at your personal circumstances relative to the above information should help you make that decision.      

Russell Gloor is a certified Social Security advisor with the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.3 million member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: SSadvisor@amacfoundation.org.

Author’s note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.

The rest of society got a taste of what corporate compliance officers go through when the COVID pandemic forced restrictions and requirements on the entire population.

Suddenly, people were told to wear masks, social distance, and wash their hands more regularly and thoroughly than ever before. Plenty of people didn’t like that, trying to dodge the new rules or openly defying them, even as clerks, store managers, police officers, and health professionals firmly reminded them they needed to comply.

In somewhat the same way, compliance officers for a business may appear to act as the resident scolds, reminding people when their plans or actions come into conflict with state or federal rules and regulations that govern their industries.

It doesn’t always go over well.

People often resist compliance because they don’t like to be told what to do. But compliance is about doing what’s right, not just what’s required.

Companies can face hefty fines when they fail to comply with rules that govern their activities, whether the non-compliance was inadvertent or intentional. A couple of examples: In 2020, Capital One was fined $80 million for a data breach that exposed customers’ personal information the previous year. The Cheesecake Factory came under scrutiny and reached a $125,000 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the SEC’s allegation that the company misled investors about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business.

So, whether you are the CEO of the company or a compliance officer, how do you make sure people are doing what they need to do? Here a few tips:

• Listen. If you want people to listen to you and embrace your advice, you need first to listen to them, to understand their fears, their challenges, and their motivations. You need to be able to answer the “why” behind the what, such as: Why do I need to comply? What’s in it for me if I do? When it comes to compliance, the key message is that you have to listen well, hear what they are saying, and then mirror back to people that you understood them.

• Inspire and motivate. Logic alone doesn’t always win out, which may be frustrating for some leaders, but that’s when the art and science of compliance and of leadership must come to the fore. You need to touch both hearts and minds to inspire and motivate people. The trick is to get people to want to comply. Depending on who you are speaking to, you may be able to reach them rationally and sensibly. But sometimes you may need to go deeper and find out what motivates them. For example, if you are dealing with young people fresh out of college, you might show them how compliance connects to a broader purpose, that it’s not just about following some rule, but also about helping people in some way.

• Be tough. Eventually, though, you may need to get tough. You must draw limits. You have to discipline people if they don’t comply and put themselves and others in jeopardy. You must know where to draw the line, but you have to do it consistently and fairly, and you must communicate the limits very clearly.

 At the end of the day, effective compliance boils down to understanding people as human beings and using that understanding as an effective leader to inspire the desired behavior. You have to connect compliance and everyone’s role to a cause greater than any one person, a cause greater than themselves. Connect with their passion and you will inspire their compliance. Fundamentally, most people are good and want to do what is right. Apply that understanding to win them over to start winning with compliance.              

Steve Vincze is author of the upcoming book “Winning with Compliance: Strategies to Make Commercial Compliance Your Competitive Advantage” and president and CEO of TRESTLE Compliance, LLC (www.trestlecompliance.com), a consulting firm that provides compliance, risk, and regulatory services.