[Wendy]

Does anyone know what are the best resources for discerning how much our social security benefits will be negatively impacted by my spouse’s generous pension?

We are in the state of Ohio.

Obviously the details matter for calculating our numbers, but they are mind-bogglingly elusive.

Is this the sort of thing we’d actually be wise to just hire a fee-based CFP in our state to help us grok?

[Sandy]

Your Social Security benefit will not be impacted. His benefit amount might be if the pension comes from work not covered by SS (in Ohio this is often teachers, police and fire).

If that’s the case, then his SS benefit amount will be reduced by WEP (google a WEP calculator).

This reduction may be reduced if he had many years of substantial earnings from SS-covered work.

There is a very knowledgeable SS Facebook group (Social Security Intelligence Membership).

I would not recommend hiring a random CFP. Most are not well versed in how WEP and GPO is applied.

If you go that route, you would want to go with someone that is very familiar with Ohio pensions and has an additional Social Security designation.

[Gemma]

How much tax you pay on your SS will be impacted. I was able to find a few you tube videos that explain the different methodologies that I cant remember now.

You “basicaly” calculate your total income then apply the %tax brackets (50 or 85% taxable), then put that into your taxable income calc.

You tube explained it better than any other source I found.

[Nicholas]

You can literally call the Social Security office and go through the numbers and questions with them.

My wife and I work in education and have state pensions that were potentially impacted by WEP so we had questions too.

After digging into it further with the Social Security reps I met the thirty year substantial earnings guidelines outside of education too and thus my social security benefits are not impacted.

My spouse won’t be able to get any benefits though due to her generous state pension and no earnings outside of public schools. Good luck.

[Nick]

What if you have a pension but there’s an option to take it as a lump sum in your 50s, before you start getting social security, Are you still subject to WEP in this case?

[Robert]

Get with A good CPA in your state. The good ones aren’t cheap; but they are worth their weight in gold.

[Author]

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