About the Social Security Guide and Author

The Social Security landscape is changing very quickly. While the financial stability of the program is much safer than the media would have you believe, the Social Security Administration is being forced to make some cuts. Most of these cuts will occur on the service side of the program. The result is longer wait times and decreased availability to those who have questions about their benefits.

Once you make a decision and file for benefits you are locked into those benefits with very few choices for change. The Social Security Administration will not discuss all of the options available to you. Their assumption is you have researched your options for filing, and decided that filing an application is best for you and your own situation.

“A single individual has about 3 filing options, most married couples have 8 options and a surviving spouse has about 4 different options to consider before submiting their Social Security application.”

The Social Security Administration will talk to you about some of the well known options, but you’ll rarely get them to discuss things like the "file and suspend" or "restricted application" options available to married couples.

As more cuts are being made to federal budgets, the amount of staff and office hours are declining while the number of applicants is increasing. This creates a difficult situation for retirees seeking the information needed to make good decisions.

These are some of the key reasons I wrote the Social Security Retirement Guide. I meet people every day who are confused and frustrated with the application process, but are faced to “do the best they can” because of the limited resources available. This is unfortunate considering most of them paid into the program for 40+ years of their life.

As a former Social Security Administrator, I spent over 35 years helping others manage their Social Security benefits, and make claims for retirement, survivors, and disability benefits. Now that I am retired, I run a small consulting firm that helps people make the best long term decisions when applying for Social Security.

Of course I am only one person, so I created this guide and website to reach as many people as possible. Not everyone can afford the $125 per hour I charge for one-on-one consulting, but my hope is this guide will provide an affordable alternative to those who need help.

Inside you’ll find a detailed explanation of each benefit option for individuals, couples, widows, and the divorced. I also cover the many exemptions and special circumstances that can affect your level of benefits. The result is a comprehensive do-it yourself guide to retirement benefits.

Believe it or not, more than half of all retirees are not getting the full benefits they qualify for due to miscalculations and application errors. The majority of my consulting clients increase their monthly benefits by over $100 per individual, $600 per couple, and $400 per surviving spouse.

When you consider this, the cost of my guide is very inexpensive. Click here to get started.

Take control of your future today,

Jim Blair

PS – If you have any questions about the guide you can send an email to help [at] socialsecurityretirementguide.com

***Note that this email is for product questions only. I reserve every available minute of my time for paying customers, so I cannot help visitors with individual case questions. Those who purchase the book get a special rate for one-on-one consulting if they need more help.