Given its significance to the retirement safety of thousands and thousands of working Individuals, the U.S. Social Safety Administration will get lots of consideration in each common media retailers and in specialist finance business publications, together with ThinkAdvisor.
However that doesn’t imply this system is completely properly understood by monetary advisors and their purchasers. Removed from it, actually.
From worrying headlines in regards to the Social Safety program’s funding hole to painful questions about incapacity profit claiming delays, there’s loads to unpack — to not point out the dazzling nuance concerned in optimum Social Safety claiming. This system can also be frequent fodder for political debates, even when the candidates’ positions typically lack substance.
Fortuitously, there are some extremely knowledgable impartial specialists who know the SSA, its strengths and its challenges inside out. Amongst them is Jason Fichtner, the previous chief economist for the Social Safety Administration who’s now vp and chief economist on the Bipartisan Coverage Middle and a senior fellow with the Alliance for Lifetime Earnings.
Earlier this 12 months, I had the prospect to take a seat down with the previous SSA official to speak all issues Social Safety, and Fichtner had an abundance of perception to share in regards to the interior workings of the Social Safety Administration — from how its representatives are educated to how the company defines key phrases and ideas in its public-facing instructional supplies.
Fichtner additionally addressed his retirement-focused testimony on Capitol Hill about stunning profit clawbacks, the evolving function of assured earnings for retirement savers, advisor compensation, battle of curiosity questions and extra.
Take a look at the podcast episode right here, and please take into account sharing it with a shopper or colleague who worries about this system’s future.
Pictured; Jason Fichtner
