The Motley fool has an ad campaign that says you can make $15,978 more per year on Social Security by doing 17 minutes of work using a legal loophole. I don't want to link to their ad (although, you can find it by searching motley fool 15978).
What are they talking about here? Is there any truth to this? If someone could explain it to me without me having to watch the entire ad video or subscribe to their newsletter, I'd appreciate it.
The purpose of this spammy Motley Fool video ad is to sell their paid newsletter products. Although the beginning of the video promises to tell you this secret trick for obtaining additional Social Security payments, it fails to do so. (Luckily, I found a transcript of the video, so I didn't have to watch it.)
What they are talking about is the Social Security File and Suspend strategy. Under this strategy, one spouse files for social security benefits early (say age 66). This allows the other spouse to claim spousal benefits. Immediately after that is claimed, the first spouse suspends his social security benefits, allowing them to grow until age 70, but the other spouse is allowed to continue to receive spousal benefits.
Congress has ended this loophole, and it will no longer be available after May 1, 2016.
