Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
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.
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I intended to address GPO when I wrote:
- 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.
If I understand it correctly, GPO subtracts 2/3 of the amount of your pension from the spousal or survivor benefit you are applying for and gives you the rest. If your pension is 50% greater than the benefit then it would reduce the benefit to zero. So you get either:
- A reduced SS survivor or spousal benefit if it is more than 67% of your pension
- Zero SS because your pension is 50% greater than the SS benefit
Someone who has paid SS their entire career will collect either their own benefit or the spousal or the survivor, whichever is greater. There is no reduction by 2/3 of benefit they are currently receiving, they just collect whichever single benefit is greater.
You paid into your pension without paying SS.
I paid into SS.
Today, you will receive your pension plus that portion of the spousal benefit greater than 2/3 your pension
Today, I will receive my SS OR the spousal benefit, whichever is greater, but I will only receive ONE.
If your spouse passes, you will receive your pension plus that portion of the survivor benefit greater than 2/3 your pension
If my spouse passes I will receive my SS OR the survivor benefit, whichever is greater, but I will only receive ONE.
There is the potential today for you to make out better than I will even with WEP and GPO reductions.
What you would like is to collect your pension PLUS the spousal and later your pension PLUS the survivor.
What I would like is to collect my SS PLUS the spousal and later my SS PLUS the survivor.
If this bill is signed, one of us will get what they want and you will be even better off than I am.