Get What's Yours - by Laurence J Kotlikoff & Philip Moeller & Paul Solman (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In 2016, Social Security rules changed radically. Do you know how - and how these changes might apply to you? Americans have left literally billions of Social Security dollars on the table - benefits we have earned, are eligible to take, but simply aren't aware of. Fully revised and carefully updated in light of the new law, Get What's Yours is the indispensable guide to collecting the maximum Social Security benefits possible."--Page 4 of cover.

Book Synopsis

Social Security law has changed! Get What's Yours has been revised and updated to reflect new regulations that took effect on April 29, 2016.

Get What's Yours has proven itself to be the definitive book about how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits. It is an engaging manual of tactics and strategies written by well-known financial commentators that is unobtainable elsewhere. You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules), but academia's Kotlikoff, the popular press's Moeller, and public television's Solman explain the Social Security system just as comprehensively, and a lot more comprehensibly. Moreover, they demonstrate that what you don't know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost individual retirees tens of thousands of dollars in lost income every year. (Some of those people are even in the book.)

Changes to Social Security that take effect in 2016 make it more important than ever to wait as long as possible (until age 70, if possible) to claim Social Security benefits. The new law also has significant implications for those who wish to claim divorced spousal benefits (and how many Social Security recipients even know about divorced spousal benefits?). Besides addressing these and other issues, this revised edition contains a chapter explaining how Medicare rules can shape Social Security decisions.

Many other personal-finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the full, authoritative, yet conversational analysis of Get What's Yours.

Get What's Yours explains Social Security benefits through basic strategies and stirring stories. It covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples; by divorced retirees; by widows and widowers. It explains what to do if you're a retired parent of dependent children; disabled; an eligible beneficiary who continues to work. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments. It does all this and more.

There are more than 52 million Americans aged 54 to 69. Ten thousand of them reach Social Security's full retirement age of 66 every day. For all these people--and for their families and friends--Get What's Yours has proven to be an invaluable, and therefore indispensable, tool.

Review Quotes

"I love this book! Seriously! Who could ever guess that reading about Social Security could be this entertaining? And if you think you know enough about the subject, you would be wise to think again. Smartly written by an all-star, financial expert dream team, the engaging, down-to-earth prose makes Get What's Yours the definitive guide to maximizing what is, for many, the most important retirement asset by far. From determining the best age to claim (hint: it's not what you've been told) to figuring out the intricacies of spousal benefits to avoiding the 'gotchas' that can reduce your checks, this must-read guide is truly that. And don't be surprised if you actually enjoy it!"--Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life

"An indispensable and surprisingly entertaining guide for anyone who is retiring or thinking of retiring with all of the Social Security benefits they've earned."--Jane Pauley

"Choosing when to take Social Security is one of the biggest decisions of your life. By doing it right, you can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your lifetime income and leave more money for your spouse as well. This great book tells you how . . . and it's funny, too!"--Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of your Money NOW

"Getting smart about Social Security can put tens of thousands of extra dollars in your pocket. With that in mind, start by reading, Get What's Yours. . . . The book translates--into often-entertaining English--the many convoluted rules that make up the Social Security program. . . . [Does] a great job of helping you make sense of, and get the most from, Social Security. . . . Invaluable."--Glenn Ruffenach "The Wall Street Journal"

"This practical guide to navigating the Social Security system cuts through the fat (there are more than 2,500 rules associated with the benefit) and covers everything from how to file for social security to the strategies for claiming the highest possible income. . . . Useful for anyone approaching retirement."--Concepción de León "The New York Times"

About the Author

Laurence J. Kotlikoff is a professor of economics at Boston University and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. His company websites are ESPlanner.com and MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com. To learn more, visit GetWhatsYours.org.

Award-winning journalist Philip Moeller coauthored the New York Times bestseller Get What's Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security and is the author of the companion volumes, Get What's Yours for Medicare: Maximizing Your Coverage, Minimizing Your Costs and Get What's Yours for Health Care: How to Get the Best Care at the Right Price. He wrote the "Ask Phil" feature for PBS NewsHour and has also worked for Money and US News & Report as well as several newspapers. He writes the Get What's Yours newsletter on Substack and provides updates on Medicare and Social Security at his website, GetWhatsYours.org.

Paul Solman is the business and economics correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and is a Brady-Johnson Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at the International Security Studies department at Yale University.