7 Social Security and Medicare Quirks That Trip Up Advisors

It is commonly argued by retirement planning experts that the average American's choice about when and how to claim their Social Security benefit is the single most important financial decision they will make in their lifetime. As noted by Social Security expert Marcia Mantell, the founder and president of Mantell Retirement Consulting Inc. and frequent contributor to ThinkAdvisor, optimizing the claiming decision can result in tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional lifetime wealth aggregation. On the other hand, making mistakes can result in undue financial hardship during retirement, especially in cases where married couples fail to carefully coordinate their claiming strategies. Mantell shared this warning during a recent webinar hosted by the Investments and Wealth Institute, during which she delved into the complexity of the benefits claiming process for both Social Security and Medicare. According to Mantell, even advisors with substantial experience helping their clients navigate the retirement process can get tripped up by rule changes and legislative updates that seem to come on a yearly basis. As such, she urges advisors to regularly revisit the topic of Social Security claiming and how this intersects with Medicare, because there is "always something more to learn." See the slideshow for a list of seven top insights Mantell shared during her presentation. Heeding them should help advisors and their clients avoid any big mistakes, she says, while helping to ensure clients receive all the hard-earned benefits they are entitled to.