The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1323379
B-6 Wednesday, December 30, 2020 The Press-Dispatch Social Security Matters By Rusty Gloor When should I claim Social Security? Down on the Farm By Hans Schmitz, Purdue Extension Educator COVID relief package includes ag relief DOUBLE J COLLISION • TOWING We're over owing with gratitude for all the folks we have served this year, and want to wish you much health, happiness and success in the year ahead. Your friendship is important to us and we look forward to seeing you again next year. CARRYOUT ONLY 8123542606 350 W. MAIN, PETERSBURG WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, 4 P.M. 7 P.M. FRIDAY & SATURDAY, 4 P.M. 8 P.M. 8123549670 350 W. MAIN, PETERSBURG HWY. 57, SOUTH OF TOWN Joe Mama's PIZZA SPORTS CALENDAR *Bold = Home game SATURDAY, JAN. 2 ❚ Boys' Varsity Wrestling — Salem Super Six — 9 a.m. at Salem TUESDAY, JAN. 5 ❚ Coed Varsity Swimming — Southridge — 6 p.m. at Southridge ❚ Girls' Sixth Grade Basketball — South Spencer — 6:30 p.m. at South Spencer ❚ Girls' JV Grade Basketball — Heritage Hills — 6:30 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Boys' Sixth Grade Basketball — South Spencer — 6:30 p.m. at South Spencer ❚ Girls' Varsity Grade Basketball — Heritage Hills — 8 p.m. at Pike Central WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6 ❚ Boys' Seventh and Eighth Grade Basketball — George Rogers Clark — 6 p.m. at George Rogers Clark ❚ Varsity Wrestling — Vincennes Lincoln and Jasper — 6 p.m. at Pike Central ❚ Girls' Seventh and Eighth Grade Basketball — Boonville — 6:30 p.m. at Boonville ❚ Boys' Varsity Basketball — Green County International — 6:30 p.m. at Eastern Greene Dear Rusty: I'd like to get advice on when I should begin taking my Social Security benefit. I turned 66 in October of 2020. Signed: Ponder- ing Retirement. Dear Pon- dering: De- ciding when to claim your So- cial Security benefit is a per- sonal choice which should consider several factors, most importantly: • Your need for the money at this time. • Your current health and expected longevity. • Your marital status. Since you have already reached your full retirement age (FR A) for Social Securi- ty purposes, you are no longer subject to the "earnings test" which limits how much you can earn. So, working won't affect your monthly SS benefit amount in any way. But it could influence your de- cision on when to claim, because if working enables you to delay claim- ing Social Securi- ty until after your FR A, your benefit amount when you eventually claim will be higher. In October 2020 you started earn- ing Delayed Retirement Cred- its (DRCs) at the rate of .67 per- cent for each full month you de- lay past your FR A. That means that for each full year you de- lay claiming, your benefit will be 8 percent more. You can earn DRCs until you are 70, at which point your Social Secu- rity benefit would reach maxi- mum and be 32 percent more than it would be at your FR A. But delaying only makes sense if you don't urgently need the money now, and if you expect to enjoy at least average lon- gevity (which is about 84 for a man your age today). If you de- lay until age 70 to claim, your "breakeven age" (the age at which you will have collected the same amount of SS mon- ey as if you claim now) will be about 83. And if you live lon- ger than that, you'll continue to enjoy that higher SS bene- fit for the rest of your life, and you'll collect more in cumula- tive lifetime benefits. A higher benefit at an old- er age can be quite beneficial to offset inflation and is espe- cially helpful if you're married and your wife outlives you. If you are married and you pre- decease your wife, she will get 100 percent of the benefit you are receiving at your death, if that is more than her own ben- efit from her own lifetime work record and if she has reached her own FR A when she claims her widow's benefit. So, for ex- ample, if you claim now at your FR A, your widow later will get your FR A amount when you pass. But if you delay past your FR A to claim, when you pass your widow will get the higher benefit amount you are receiv- ing because you delayed claim- ing. In other words, when you claim your Social Security ben- efits, if you are married, can af- fect the benefit your widow will get if you die first. So, the bottom line is this: In deciding when to claim your Social Security you should con- sider your current financial needs, your health and expect- ed longevity, and your marital status. Carefully evaluating the above factors will help you to decide the best age at which to claim your Social Security benefits. To submit a question, visit our website (amacfoundation. org/programs/social-securi- ty-advisory) or email us at ss- advisor@amacfoundation.org. AREA HAPPENINGS Celebrate Recovery–Will meet every Monday at 6 p.m. at the River of Life Church, 342 E. CR 300 N., Petersburg. For more information, contact Pastor Jim at 812-354-8800. Pike County History Center—Will meet the fourth Monday of each month at the History Center, 1104 Main Street, Petersburg at 6:30 p.m. New members welcome. History Center hours Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. until further notice. DAR—Local chapter of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution meet the second Monday of each month September through June at 6 p.m. at the History Center in Petersburg. Free Clothing Bank–Oak Grove Church in Oakland City offers a free clothing bank each Tuesday 9 -11 a.m. (Oakland City time) for everyone. They carry new and used clothing. Location is on Morton Street, just past Chuckles. Come to the gymnasium door located at the back of the church. Winslow Alcoholics Anonymous – will meet every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Call 812-789 -8535 for location of the meeting. Al-Anon meeting – Meetings are each Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., located at 424 W. 7th St. in Jasper. For more in- formation, call 812-887-0349. Narcotic Anonymous – Every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at River of Life Fellowship Church. Odd Fellows IOOF Pacific Lodge #175 meeting–the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. All area members are encouraged to attend. Otwell Ruritan–will have its monthly meetings the sec- ond Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Pike Lodge #121 F&AM regular stated meeting–the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. All area Masons are invited to attend. Amid the year end scram- ble for gift giving and trying to stay away from each other while COVID infection rates continue to be impressive, Con- gress got together and passed a 1.4 trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill and a 900 -mil- lion-dollar COVID relief bill. While most news surrounds the COVID relief bill and the 600 dollars coming to some of us soon, the spending bill has significant agricultural impli- cations along with certain as- pects of the relief bill. The omnibus spending bill is a large-scale budgetary kind of bill that keeps the government running. Recent continuing resolutions that kept the gov- ernment open for anywhere from 24 hours to a week were necessary to pass this bill. The COVID relief bill was a sticking point in negotiations, but the omnibus bill literally keeps lo- cal folks at the National Weath- er Service, Farm Service Agen- cy, and Natural Resource Con- servation Service reporting to work and receiving a salary. Short-term continuing resolu- tions cause these people a lot of stress and to lose a bit of work time. If Congress is unable to agree on terms to keep the gov- ernment running, no amount of certainty exists that Congress would agree to pay employees for time they were unable to work or forced to work with- out pay due to being an essen- tial employee, because the gov- ernment was shut down. Focusing more on the COVID relief bill, the House Agriculture Committee re- leased a brief detailing agricul- tural benefits from the bill to- taling around 13 billion dollars. There will be a third Coronavi- rus Food Assistance Program payment to farmers. For row crop farmers, Hoosier Ag To- day suggests a flat 20 dollar per acre payment, while livestock farmers also receive payments based on species and situation. Specialty crop farmers suffer- ing crop losses due to market- ing or weather also benefit. Ag researchers also receive additional funding through in- creased grant funding in vari- ous ways, one notably being to study the relationship between ag production and human nu- trition and health. Dairy farmers have been hurting for some time. Re- member when milk was being portioned at the grocery store while farmers were dumping milk due to inability to market their gallons? Two sections of the relief bill target dairy, one giving additional dairy margin coverage payments and anoth- er paying for 400 million dol- lars of milk to be processed and donated to food pantries and like entities. Meat processors have al- so been significantly impact- ed over the last year. The ex- pansion of the meat process- ing industry is needed, but sig- nificant hindrances lie in the USDA inspection process re- quirements and expansion re- quirements. A study is funded to review new processing facil- ities' availability for financing in the relief bill. Nutrition is covered in any agricultural provision, along with child nutrition provi- sions. The agricultural as- pects of nutrition are covered in the relief bill, with Supple- mental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children ( WIC) benefits being funded in var- ious additional ways. The bill includes relief for childcare fa- cilities to provide food as well as schools. Outside of the agricultur- al aspects of the COVID re- lief bill, farms often act as small businesses. The Pay- check Protection Program is making a comeback in this bill, and farms would be keen to note that their employees may be protected by this pro- gram, wherein the business is organized in a way that would be applicable to receive forgiv- able loans or loans with excel- lent interest rates. Consult with your lender for more in- formation. For more informa- tion on agriculture programs, contact Hans at hschmitz@ purdue.edu or 812-838 -1331.