When I started writing here I thought everything was going to focus on divorce property valuations and division. But a blog or any web site has to mold itself to the needs of its readers. A majority of my search engine visitors and a majority of the visitors who stay and read more than a single page are looking for much more basic retirement planning questions.
As so frequently happens, very complicated issues like a persons’ Social Security eligibility and benefits can be broken down, step by step, if one takes the time to start at the beginning. here’s the first place to start fining out about your (or a client’s or spouse’s) benefits:
The Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) is a tool that you can use to find out if you could be eligible for benefits from any of the programs Social Security administers. This tool will give you eligibility information based on answers you give to the questions on the following pages; however, BEST is not an application for benefits and:
- will not give you an estimate of benefit amounts.
- does not know, or ask for, your name or Social Security number.
- does not access your personal Social Security records.
If you have Medicare and want to find out if you might be eligible for extra help with your prescription drug costs, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp.
- What benefits will BEST screen for?
- How much time will it take to answer all the questions?
- What types of questions will BEST ask?
- Do I have to answer all of the questions?
- What if I already get benefits from the Social Security Administration?
- Who will see the answers I give?
- What if I don’t understand a question?
- What if I am helping someone else?
- What happens when I finish answering the questions?
Happy Searching. Next time we’ll look at quantifying and estimating benefits.
