I Am Thankful for My Social Security Retirement and the Supplemental Social Security They Give to Keira

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I turned 62 in November 2015 and I decided to start drawing my Social Security Retirement benefits now rather than to wait until I turned the full retirement age of 66 years of age.

My reasons are simple. I figure if I draw the benefits now they cannot take it away from me but they can reduce the amount I receive. I would rather take the chance that they might reduce my benefits some time down the line rather than to never receive the benefits at all.

The other reason is because of what happened to my sister in-law Carol. At the time the early age to draw Social Security Retirement benefits was 59.5 years of age. Carol turned 59 in the middle of July and she was so excited and she was telling us that in the middle of January next year she will turn 59.5 years of age and she can draw her Social Security Retirement.

What happened was when January 1^st came around Congress changed the Law for Social Security and they changed the early retirement age to 62. Carol missed out drawing early Social Security Retirement benefits by two weeks.

I didn’t want that to happen to me so I applied for my benefits and I started receiving Social Security Retirement in January 2016.

I cannot reveal the amount I receive each month for my Social Security Retirement but I can give you the basic idea that my combined Social Security & Military Retirement pays me more per month and per year than my last full-time employment which was from November 2008 to May 2009/.

Additionally Social Security approved supplemental benefits for Keira since she is under the age of 18 years of age. They determined that based on my Social Security Retirement, and the fact that I am unemployed, they are giving me a very reasonable monthly amount for Keira’s benefit.

My requirements are simple. I had to open a Savings Account in her name to put her Social Security benefits into. I have to do a monthly accounting of what I received from Social Security for Keira. Then I have to account for what was spent for housing and food and other items such as personal expenses for Keira. These personal expenses could be medical expenses, school expenses, clothing, etc.

As long as I keep accurate accounting, and I assure you that I will do so, she will continue to receive this Social Security supplemental benefits. Our intention is to save as much as we can so that when Keira wants to attend college she won’t have to borrow money to do so.