Opinion

Dear Rusty: I’m 64 and my wife is 62. If my wife starts her own benefit now, she will get about $700 on her own at 62. I will retire next year and claim Social Security when I am 65. SSA says my wife can draw $1,100 under spousal benefits, so if she claims now will they give her spousal benefits of $1,100, or does she need to wait until I claim at age 65 to get the $1,100? Signed: Trying to Understand Dear Trying: If your wife is now 62, then her full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security purposes is age 67, and if she claims any SS benefit before reaching her FRA, the amount will be reduced for early claiming. If your wife were to claim now (before you), she would get only her own SS retirement amount (the $700 amount), and that would be a reduction of about 30% from what she would get if she waited until her FRA to claim.

Dear Rusty: In your answer to the retired U.S. Navy veteran about why he is forced to enroll in Medicare, you focused on military TriCare’s requirement for the member to enroll in Medicare. But you said nothing about regular VA health care. If a non-career veteran is eligible for VA health care, couldn’t that be used in place of Medicare?

August, a month that starts us thinking about the coming of Autumn. Maybe it is the dry and the heat that makes us relish the thought of cooler days. Or maybe it is a time that sees schools starting, bringing the promise of Friday Night Lights and that pastime called football. Maybe it is getting us prepared for mornings with just a tad of a cool touch that stirs the slumbering strings of a hunting trip across fields ripe for the harvest and we relish the thought of our ancestors that set the pattern for us. We are at a time when a lot of girls and boys and young women and men will be starting a new year at school. And for all of these students the “new year” brings the stress associated with dealing with an unknown ingredient. Most of these students will welcome the challenge, though they may experience a feeling of trepidation. I see an analogy of the challenge these students will experience and my Mom’s biscuit making! I am sure she had to wonder if everything would work out, just as students wonder about their “new year.” Yes, she knew how to make biscuits, but Mammy left nothing to chance. Her day would start early, usually before daylight and when she had the coffee ready, she poured a cup, sat at the table with her Bible open to her reading for the day and said a prayer to her Lord, asking that He guide her through the day. You see, Mammy’s biscuits were really good, because one of her main ingredients was “the touch of the Master’s Hand.” Yes, her prayer time was one of the ingredients that she always used. In the same way, students. teachers, and school officials might find a smoother start to their school year if they let their stress and worries be touched by the Master’s Hand. If they would find the time to have a quiet moment and ask God to prepare their path, to guide them along the way. My prayer for all students, teachers, and school officials is to find a moment in their day to get quite, thank our Lord for their blessings, and pray for “the touch of the Master’s Hand” to help them make good decisions and to guide their paths. This poem is not about biscuit making or starting to school, but in anything you do, you are never wrong when you start out by putting the current situation in “The Right Hand!”