Not only am I a Noticer (Ludwig, let me know if this is a word) but I also am Persnickety.
If you just thought to yourself that I am again making you look up words, I’ll save you the trouble…
Persnickety…Overly attentive to detail and trivia.
I was looking at my Social Security Benefit Letter for 2020 and I was overcome with relief when it dawned on me that I did not have to worry about Social Security running out of money while I am still around to worry about it running out of money.
Here is the money trick that caught my Noticing Eye today…
1. My (yours does to) letter told me that my Total Social Security Benefit for 2020 was $x,xxx.xx.
2. It then told me (yours does to) that the Social Security Administration (SSA) was deducting from my Total Benefit the amount that I have to pay for Medicare Part B (you do too).
>>>I wonder how many of our fellow citizens don’t know that they pay for Medicare.
3. Then it says my Monthly Social Security Payment is the remainder after subtracting Medicare Part B from my Total Benefit.
Here is one of the points in this saga where my Persnickety Self raised its curious head.
4. I looked at my deposited benefit in my checking account and saw that Actual Monthly Social Security Payment was less than what the letter said was my Monthly Social Security Payment was supposed to be.
5. Here is where I panicked. I saw that I was getting $23.30 less in my checking account than what the SSA said my Monthly Social Security Payment was supposed to be. This meant I would have to call the SSA Office and wait on the phone for an hour while I listened to the worst music you or I have ever heard in our entire lives (they do this on purpose hoping you will give up and hang up). Then a crack SSA Agent who does not care a whit about what your problem is and who sounds like she was hired 20 minutes before she accepted your call and who is mad at you because you did not get mad at the terrible music and hung up the phone says, “May I help you?”.
6. The good news is I was so traumatized by the fear of having to call the SSA that I kept working the numbers and I figured out the $23.30 mystery.
7. What they don’t tell you is the Monthly Social Security Payment they tell you is your Monthly Social Security Payment is not your Monthly Social Security Payment because before they get to the Actual Monthly Social Security Payment they have to deduct your Medicare Part D Payment which, in my case, is $23.30.
>>>I wonder if there is an App that can tell me how many Persnickety Man Hours are wasted each year by people like me trying to figure out why their payment is not what the SSA says their payment is.
I bet you are thinking to yourself, what does this have to with have to do with the SSA using tricks to not run out of money?
Here is the trick…
There is a line in the letter where it says, “Your Regular Monthly Social Security Benefit is $x,xxx.xx”.
Right below that line is the Trick in parentheses which reads, (We must round down to the whole dollar”.)
Don’t ya like where they say they must round down.
>>>It’s like they are saying, it’s not us it’s them.
They don’t must round up if over $0.50 and round down if $0.50 and under.
This means if a Monthly Social Security Payment is $0.01 they round down and if it is $0.99 they round down and they round down for all numbers in between.
Are you saying to yourself, “Self, why is Fella being so Persnickety? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
I’ll tell you what difference it makes. If we use the average Round-Down Number of $0.50 (in my case it was $0.60) it means the SSA saves $32 Million A Month!
I told you your SSA was Tricky!
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
