Credit goes to Jim Blankenship, a financial planner who has a very informative financial blog.

Here’s the provision.

Of course, you could die before you get those higher benefits or get to enjoy them for long.

Gay women, listen up.

That said, employers have discovered that one of the most effective ways of getting this and other generations into retirement plans is to enroll them automatically. That’s a scary revelation that should encourage all of us to begin thinking a lot more about our expectations for retirement and how we can achieve our retirement goals.

Prior to learning about this provision, I thought that marriage eliminated the ability to collect divorcee spousal benefits. You could have gotten a reduced amount as early as age 62. The amount you have saved in your retirement accounts during your working years needs to be turned into a stream of income you can use to pay your bills. If you’re Donald and Melania Trump, sure it won’t matter; however, the vast majority of Americans count on their Social Security benefits. Should I slowly try to pay down my debt? I was not divorced from my second husband then, but I am now as of December of 2014.

The article 3 Surprising Reasons Social Security Is Vital to Your Retirement Dreams originally appeared on Fool.com. What should I do? You may also want to seek out a financial advisor who has special expertise in Social Security. Now, that’s a far cry from the maximum $2,640 you would get if you delayed filing till 70. But it may be that the second person you spoke with was wrong too. There is now extremely precise and cheap commercial Social Security software, which can be used to calculate what your widow’s benefit is based on your first husband’s work record.

Given the financial state of Social Security and Medicare, the Urban Institute’s analysis likely overstates the future benefits and understates the taxes to be paid by millennials, Steuerle said. That you’ll be on the hook for required minimum distributions: Wealthy retirees may find themselves in the enviable position of not needing their IRAs; they can draw their income from other sources and continue to take advantage of tax-sheltered compounding that the IRA wrapper affords.

Stress test your retirement finances.

Obviously, though, no calculator can promise to give you the flawless date for when and how to take your Social Security because no one (and certainly not an algorithm) can tell you exactly how long you’ll live or what your health will look like over the next several decades.

Larry Kotlikoff: The quick answer is that you have just nine trial months over a five year period in which you can earn more than $780 per month before losing any benefits. But it’s 32% higher than the $1,500 you would have otherwise received. Social Security gives you a break for some work-related expenses. This Social Security website is reasonably clear about these provisions. My husband was 52. Besides, nearly anything would be an improvement over Social Security.

Larry Kotlikoff: I’m terribly sorry to hear about your husband’s death.

“If you’re a primary earner, not only do you get higher benefits for the rest of your life, you pass on higher benefits to your widow if you die first”, says Sita Slavov, a professor of public policy at George Mason University. If you don’t qualify for your own benefit, you can still file for a spousal benefit at age 62, but that will also be permanently reduced. This is an important decision, so take the time to review your alternatives. Go to www.socialsecurity.gov/retire/apply.html to start that new season in your life today. Importantly, that figure does not include long-term-care expenditures. They might think Social Security is a system on the brink and they don’t want to take the chance to wait. What is the best strategy to maximize our benefits?

Here’s the breakdown: In 1960, a married couple in which each spouse earned average wages over a career beginning at age 22 and retired on his or her 65th birthday would receive about $300,000 in health and retirement benefits.

Philip – Elkhorn, Wis.: My husband is 68, and I’m 67. Do I have a problem? My question is this: He was a vet and was in served during Vietnam. As of 2012 there were more than 2,700 rules governing how much individuals are entitled to receive from their promised government Social Security. After you have an account, you can check your Statement anytime, day or night.

Know where your income will come from. Yet as much as many people try to save up a retirement nest egg for their golden years, the risk of outliving your money is hard to overcome.