The Carr Report: Social Security Pop Quiz

How much do you know about social se­curity? MassMutual recently gave a social se­curity true/false quiz to 1,500 individuals ages 55 through 65. According to the re­sults, 65 percent of people either failed or got a D grade, 18 percent of respondents earned a C, 12 percent got a B and 6 per­cent received an A. Only 1 percent of re­spondents got a perfect score. I went onto the MassMutual website and took the quiz. I’m happy to report, I got a perfect score. Below are some true and false social security questions followed by the corre­sponding answers. Take the Social Securi­ty Pop Quiz to test your knowledge. Q: Social security retirement benefits are based on my earnings history; I’ll re­ceive the same monthly benefit amount whether I start collecting before or after my full retirement age. False: If you collect social security re­tirement benefits before reaching full re­tirement age, you effectively lock in a low­er monthly benefit amount. If you wait to begin collecting until after you reach full retirement age, you become eligible for delayed retirement credits. These credits increase your monthly benefit amount by up to 8 percent each year that you delay collecting, up to a...