"Learn the secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits and earn up to thousands of dollars more each year with expert advice that you can't get anywhere else. Want to know how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits? You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules), but Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman explain Social Security benefits in an easy to understand and user-friendly style. What you don't know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some individual retirees tens of thousands of dollars in lost income every year. How many retirees or those nearing retirement know about such Social Security options as file and suspend (apply for benefits and then don't take them)? Or start stop start (start benefits, stop them, then re-start them)? Or--just as important--when and how to use these techniques? Get What's Yours covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples, by divorced retirees, by widows and widowers, among others. It explains what to do if you're a retired parent of dependent children, disabled, or an eligible beneficiary who continues to work, and how to plan wisely before retirement. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments. Many personal finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the thorough, authoritative, yet conversational analysis found here. You've paid all your working life for these benefits. Now, get what's yours"--

• Financial planning is more important than ever: The recession has demonstrated that lifetime financial planning is essential if we are going to survive and overcome the shocks and bruises that the economy brings.. • Takes on the financial-planning establishment: Economist Laurence J. Kotlikoff and syndicated financial columnist Scott Burns criticize major financial institutions such as Fidelity, Vanguard, and other mutual funds and insurers for offering what they call “rules of dumb,” financial planning information that is inadequate for most people’s needs.. • Unconventional, economics-based advice: You might be better off waiting until age seventy to take Social Security; you may be overestimating the tax benefits of your mortgage; you might be scrimping, saving, and struggling to fund your retirement when you could be spending and enjoying your money..