Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill14564
With 109 posts it is hard to read them all but here is a short recap...
- While you were paying into the pension you WERE NOT paying into SS. Your wife paid into her pension AND SS. THAT is what is different. She paid into SS her entire career, you did not.
- Your pension was intended to replace SS and that is what it is doing. Whatever pension you are receiving is replacing $547 of the SS you would have received IF YOU HAD PAID INTO SS DURING THOSE YEARS.
- I paid into SS for 40 years. Can I divide that by two and ask for two full SS checks? Of course not, I get ONE SS check for the entire 40 years. You worked 40 years (or so) and are receiving a full pension for the time you DID NOT PAY SS plus a partial benefit for the time you did pay SS - you are already receiving more benefits than your wife or me.
- The math behind WEP is based on the way replacement salary is calculated for SS. 100% of the lowest $X of salary is replaced followed by a lower percentage of higher amounts. Your pension is replacing at least 100% of your lowest salary so WEP recalculates your benefit taking that into account. Again, this is because you did not contribute to SS while you were earning your pension.
- You should be grateful WEP left as much as it did. With most straight-SS calculations, benefits like spousal or survivor aren't reduced, they are completely eliminate - you receive 100% of one benefit and 0% of the other.
But in the end, all the above is moot if the bill gets signed. (perhaps it has been already)
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Nice recap, but you only addressed half of the bill, the WEP. The other half is the GPO, or Government Pension Offset. Since I retired, I have received no Social Security "spouse" benefit because my Government pension totally offset any spouse benefit that other spouses are receiving. Also, I receive no SS benefit for work I performed because I did not have a 40 quarter SS work record. With the new law, I will be able to apply for a spouse benefit based on my former spouse's income. I will receive an amount equal to half of her SS monthly benefit, and if she dies before me, my monthly benefit will double. This benefit will be retroactive for the entire year of 2024. This could be thousands of dollars in income per year because she was a high-income earner.