In 2020, I received my Registered Social Security Analyst designation. Even though I had been doing a lot of reading and research on Social Security already (due to the Social Security Seminars we hold) I was surprised at how much there is to this topic. Social Security is most people’s biggest asset. Lifetime benefits can be $300,000 – $2,000,000!
I will start running a short column in our monthly newsletter on Social Security entitled Social Security Hacks. (Hacks is a trending word on the internet and I want to be cool.) My goal is to give concise tips that will help your with the bureaucratic nightmare that is Social Security.
A common trend is grandparents that are raising the grandkids. Instead of spoiling them with cookies and pull my finger jokes, they are getting a second shot at being parents.
If you are collecting Social Security (disability or retirement) benefits and permanently raising a child, your child could be eligible for social security benefits based on your social security benefit and your spouse could be eligible for child-in-care spousal benefits. This will not reduce your social security.
The criteria for Child Benefits is as follows:
• The child is unmarried.
• Is younger than 18 years old or up to age 19 if they are full-time high school students.
• Is 18 years or older and disabled (as long as the disability began before they turned age 22)
Each child is eligible to receive up to 75% of the parents full
Retirement benefits. This is limited by the Family Maximum Benefit (FMB).
Child-in-Care Spousal Benefits requires your spouse be collecting retirement or disability benefits and you must have in your care a child who is under age 16 (or disabled, disability must have begun before age 22) and who is receiving child benefits on the work record of your spouse.2 The benefit is 50% of your spouse’s retirement (disability) benefit. There is not a minimum age to claim. Your child-in-care spousal benefit will be reduced if you are simultaneously receiving a retirement benefit however you are not forced (deemed) to take your own retirement benefit. This allows you retirement benefit to grow while you collect child-in-care benefits.
Here is the rub. To get these benefits it is easier if you adopt the grandchild(en). According to SSA “Under certain circumstances, we can also pay benefits to a stepchild, grandchild, step grandchild, or adopted child.”
I know I said concise but with Social Security nothing is concise.
Non-Fungible Tokens – Something Stupid this way comes.
By Mubashir Subhani, RICP
“Ownership is not limited to material things. It can also apply to points of view. Once we take ownership of an idea — whether it’s about politics or sports — what do we do? We love it perhaps more than we should. We prize it more than it is worth.” ― Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational
What is something actually worth? If you watch Shark Tank, you see people pitching a business get excoriated over the ‘value’ or price they ask for. Additionally, people find out that you can’t copywrite/patent ‘an idea.’ Maybe that is changing?
American Pop Culture icons (Movie Stars, Sport Stars, Streaming Personalities, even video games) get paid big bucks to entertain us and we follow their personal journey. Talent isn’t even a requirement! (I reference the Kardashians) We seem to be transitioning into an age where physical things might not be worth as much as intellectual property or digital (non-existent in the real world) assets.
Admittedly, more than half the reason I’m on Facebook is to ‘like’ cute cat and dog videos. I imagine that might be the case for a lot of you. Despite how fun that might be, I would NOT pay $600,000 for a video of a cat meme.
That’s right, someone paid $600,000 for the Nyan cat video that’s been around for years. (See picture above.)3 What are we talking about? We are talking about the absurd, wild world of NFTs. An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a cryptocurrency like (similar to Bitcoin) encrypted digital certificate or signature to own something no one can physically hold and everyone can copy exactly, and it cannot be traded for a similar item. Because Cryptocurrency is a huge thing now, it seems that people are losing their minds over what it is worth. This has spread to the world of people trading digital sports cards, video clips, online music, and more.
Does that sound insane? It gets worse (or better, depending on who you ask). But can’t anyone download an image? People do it all the time for free!
• On NBA Top Shot, people can buy video clips of iconic basketball plays for sports card of certain players. From October 2020-March 2021, people spent over $338 million on this!
• The digital artwork collection by Beeple sold for around $70 million at a Christie’s auction.
What’s mind-boggling about this is that Beeple has structured a 10% royalty on resale of these images forever in his contract, so not only did he make money selling it at the auction, but people buying the same exact thing significantly cheaper online can resell it for speculative profits and Beeple will still always make a 10% royalty.
Yes, reading this, we’re as baffled as you are.
Sources Citations Bibliography:
www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10085.pdf
⦁ https://articles.opensocialsecurity.com/child-in-care-spousal/
⦁ WSJDigitalNetwork. “NFTs Are Fueling a Boom in Digital Art. Here’s How They Work | WSJ.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Mar. 2021.
⦁ Businessinsider. “Beeple Explains The Absurdity Of NFTs | So Expensive.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Mar. 2021, ⦁ www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTmF26NUZTA.
⦁ Non-Fungible is not in the dictionary, yet. The Merriam-Webster Definition of Fungible is: “being something (such as money or a commodity) of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity in paying a debt or settling an account.” So, the opposite of fungible.
Supplemental Disclaimers:
This article is informational only and is not investment advice. This is not an offer to buy, hold, or sell investments like securities or insurance products.
Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered though Toro Bravo Investment Advisors, LLC. Life Insurance and Annuities sold as an insurance broker are not a fiduciary relationship and are not offered by Toro Bravo Investment Advisors, LLC.
Securities or Insurance are not FDIC/SIPC insured and investments contain risk plus could be subject to loss.
Losses could be short term or permanent. Numbers and figures illustrated are hypothetical in nature and past performance is not a guarantee or indication of future results/performance.
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Do not rely solely on the Legal, Tax, or Financial information presented for it may not be suitable for your individual situation.
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