Fixed Income

Some Oddball Questions

Here are some answers to some odd social security questions.
Some Oddball Questions
Some of these questions are quite out of the ordinary. Steve Heap/Shutterstock
Tom Margenau
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As I’ve pointed out before, I usually find myself answering the same questions over and over again. But I’ve saved up a couple of oddball questions—and here they are. But first, I want to make it clear I am not calling the people who emailed me the questions “oddballs.” However, I am saying the questions they asked were odd—or at least out of the ordinary.

Q: I recently signed up for my Social Security after working for more than 40 years. I’ve often wondered this. I know that once you have 40 quarters of coverage, you are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. I bet I had those 40 quarters way back when I was maybe 30 years old. Could I have quit working back then and still gotten a Social Security benefit someday? And if so, why didn’t I just do that?

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]