2024 Social Security & Medicare Facts

Help your clients maximize their Social Security & Medicare benefits! Social Security & Medicare Facts is a one-stop guide for attorneys, CPAs, and retirement and financial planning professionals for advising on tax and policy changes affecting Social Security and Medicare. Organized in a unique and convenient question and answer format, this book helps professionals find exactly what they're looking for quickly and easily to solve clients' important planning issues in a timely manner. Fundamentals of Writing a Financial Plan, Second Edition provides a totally revised and unique approach to helping aspiring financial planners write a comprehensive financial plan. The book outlines how the CFP Board of Standards, Inc. 7-step planning process can be applied when writing a comprehensive financial plan for an individual or family.

The book not only highlights various elements involved in comprehensive financial planning, including estate, tax, cash flow, education planning, and much more—but also introduces important behavioral perspectives and communication techniques. As a way to synthesize these pieces and learn how the plan writing process unfolds, students follow a running case—the Hubble family.

Details Section:

• Updated numbers for 2024
• Updated discussion of Social Security Trust Fund Solvency
• Added information about qualified aliens eligible for Social Security
• Greater coverage of Special Minimum benefit
• Updated retirement and survivor benefits
• Expanded coverage of state rules of Medicaid
• Updated costs and coverages
• A thorough review of the new 7-step systematic financial planning process.
• A description of the regulatory environment in which every financial planner operates.
• An in-depth discussion of client communication and counseling techniques.
• Financial planning approaches that can be applied to a variety of clients and client circumstances.
• A chapter-by-chapter focus on analytical tools and techniques that can be used to evaluate client data.
• An example of a complete written financial plan with explanations about how analyses lead to the recommendations.
• Chapter-based learning aids, including access to a fully integrated Financial Planning Analysis Excel package and other online support materials, including video examples of client communication and counseling strategies.
• Instructions on how to do calculations essential to creating a financial plan.
• Numerous self-test questions to test comprehension of material.

New in the 2024 Edition:

SOCIAL SECURITY GENERALLY

• Updated discussion of Social Security Trust Fund Solvency
• Added information about qualified aliens eligible for Social Security
• COVID-19 updates
• Update of special monthly payment
• Update of earnings for Trial Work Period
• Updated Compassionate Allowance

COVERAGE

• Updates to achieving quarters of coverage.
• Update to becoming fully insured.
• Proof required to file for benefits expanded.
• Right to appeal process expanded
• Expanded coverage of Social Security hearing process and rights

BENEFIT COMPUTATION

• Greater coverage of Special Minimum benefit
• Changes in calculation of AIME
• Update to determining Primary Insurance Amount
• Changes to maximum family benefits
• Expansion of coverage of beneficiaries affected by GPO and WEP
• Update to Retirement Test
• Addition of questions regarding Grace Year/Non-Service
• Expansion of who must file annual report of earnings/who does not.
• New checklist of what events can lead to loss of benefits by type of beneficiary.
  • Retired, Disabled, Spouse, Divorced Spouse, Child Under 18, Child 18 or 19 in school, Disabled Child, Widow/Widower, Disabled Widow/Widower, Surviving Divorced Spouse, Mother or Father, Surviving Divorced Mother or Father, Parent

TAXATION

• Update on changes of state taxation of Social Security benefits
• Payroll tax amount updates
• Taxation of wages changes
• Update to coverage on “de minimus”
• Non-Cash tips as wages
• Current plans to increase payroll taxes for Social Security
• Planned modification of COLA calculations
• Explanation of how R-CPI-E works
• Plans to change PIA.
• Plans to increase special minimum benefits for lower wage individuals.

RAILROAD RETIREMENT

• Updated retirement and survivor benefits
• End of Continued Assistance to Rail Workers Act
• How Military or Reserve service can count as creditable service.
• Expansion of definition of war/national emergency regarding creditable service
• Effect of Merchant Marine duty
• Changes in Tier I and Tier II benefits
• Expanded comparison of Railroad Retirement vs. Social Security
• New Section - Unemployment and Sickness benefits
• Update of RR retirement taxes
• Update coverage of taxation of benefit

BENEFITS TO SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS

• Update to Thrift Savings Plan
• Update in military salaries
• Addition of Appeal process and correction of records
• Elimination of Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance
• New coverage of VA Healthcare including basic VA service
• Addition of PACT Act
• Updated Disability Benefits
• Changes to SGLI
• Changes to Veterans Insurance rates

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

• Update to COLA
• Discussion of Equal COLA Act and Fair COLA For Seniors Act
• Update of CSRS and FERS benefits
• Updated AD&D coverage
• Changes to Section 218 Agreements

MEDICARE

• Updates costs and coverages
• Expanded coverages of Part B
• Changes made to Part D and elimination of 5% copay.
• Changes/modification to Telemedicine coverage
• Costs of Part A
• Costs of Part B
• Costs of Part D
• Updated coverage of assistance under QMB, QDWI
• Updated deductible amounts.
• Expanded coverage of Medicare Advantage
• Addition of new coverage of Mental Health benefits
• Expansion of organ transplant
• Coverages under Part B-ID
• New coverage of Part B Only
• Expanded coverage of ESRD
• Changes in MOOP
• Coverage of Part D Drug price negotiations
• Addition of expanded supplementary benefits until Medicare Advantage
• Updated costs and coverage of Medigap

MEDICAID

• Expanded coverage of state rules of Medicaid
• Expanded coverage of PACE program
• New coverage of Medicare Part E programs

OTHER

• All appendices updated.

Key Topics

• Retirement and disability
• Same sex marriage
• Spousal benefits/ children's benefits
• Parental benefits
• Widower benefits
• Lump sum death benefits
• Railroad retirement
• Service member and veteran benefits
• Government employees
• Medicare and MedicaidCFP Board's 7-step financial planning process.
• Step-by-step guide to formulating a financial plan and presenting it to a client.
• Guides for different types of financial planning such as life insurance planning, long-term care insurance planning, and retirement planning.
• Comprehensive Hubble case.