On Thursday, we had decided I should call Social Security to ask a couple of questions we had been wondering about. I stopped at the mail box, on the way to the office, as I do each day. Right there on top was a personal letter from Social Security - suggesting that it was time to apply for benefits, since I was approaching 70, and the extra credits I have been earning would be complete. Was that a sign, or what?
Calling in to the Social Security office by phone is "an interesting" task. It uses voice recognition software that is extremely "a nuisance" when you just want to talk to someone. ...worse than "if this, touch 1, if that, touch 2," in my humble opinion. I did have the "benefit" of my letter in hand, however, so I finally figured out that if I used a key phrase from the letter, someone would finally talk to me. They did ask key personal information, so when the nice lady did finally come on the line, she knew who I was and did have my information on her screen in front of her. Whew! How nice!
I found that since we want our checks to start coming in June, that I need to put in our on-line application to be "May eligible" which means we can apply after February 1. We will apply on-line, since we had already gone into the local office and got "signed up" when we were 65 - just did not apply for benefits, at that time, since I have continued to work full time, with full benefits. We did get Medicare cards, at that time, but will not use them until June, of course. I will need to fill out a form for the University to confirm to Social Security the actual end date of my current contract so that they can make medical coverage "seamless" - we hope! ;-)
This was another step to remind ourselves that retirement is actually getting pretty close!
It was a very good day! ;-)
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