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RETIREMENT PLANNING

Social Security: Planning and hosting successful educational events

 

Social Security is an essential part of most retirees’ long-term financial plans — yet many clients and prospects are unsure how to make sound decisions about their benefits. This provides a great opportunity for advisors to step in and help. This course is designed to help you boost your own Social Security knowledge while providing you with strategies for hosting educational events that showcase your ability to guide individuals through this complex topic.

What you’ll learn

  • Understand the value of Social Security events and their role in helping you build your practice and serve more investors.
  • Integrate knowledge about Social Security benefits into your retirement income conversations with clients.
  • Adapt the information in this course to help you engage and educate prospects, clients and centers of influence in a way that helps your practice stand out.

What you’ll get

  • Event planning workbook with activities and practical ideas to help you build your Social Security event around the needs of clients and prospects.
  • A Social Security presentation providing answers to questions in simple terms, which you can use in your own event.
  • Worksheets you can use with event attendees, featuring critical Social Security concepts and how they may relate to attendees’ planning goals.

Who can benefit

Financial professionals looking to deepen their understanding of Social Security and use that knowledge to demonstrate the value they offer clients and prospects through engaging, memorable educational events.

Introduction

2 MIN VIDEO

 

As something that’s important to most investors, Social Security is an ideal topic for events designed to educate existing clients and attract new prospects at once. It starts with integrating Social Security events into your engagement strategy, according to Capital Group Advisor Practice Management Consultant Leah Ryan, who holds the Registered Social Security Analyst (RSSA) designation.

Lesson 1: Hosting an event

5 MIN VIDEO

 

Event planning, much like Social Security, can be complex and doesn’t come naturally to everyone. So we provide a few best practices for a successful event to help you define your goals, tailor your invitation list, plan your communications and publicize your event.

 

Related: 

A financial advisor’s guide to planning events (6 MIN ARTICLE)

Event planning workbook

Event invitation template

Event follow-up email template

Lesson 2: Social Security basics

7 MIN VIDEO

 

An introduction to the key factors that can affect Social Security benefits, including work and earning history, timing of benefits, and past and current marital status.

 

Related: 

6 questions investors have about Social Security, and how to answer them (10 MIN ARTICLE)

Social Security and the retirement you envision

Lesson 3: Determining full retirement age (FRA) and when to file

5 MIN VIDEO

 

FRA is when you can file and receive 100% of your monthly benefit. Whether you wait until FRA or after to file can have long-term implications. Here’s how to help clients make sense of this key Social Security decision.

Lesson 4: Impact of early benefits

3 MIN VIDEO

 

Marriage can be an important factor in deciding when to file. This case study of a married couple shows how one spouse’s decision to file before FRA can have long-term financial implications for the other.

 

Hypothetical case study for illustrative purposes only.

Lesson 5: Filing based on spousal benefits

4 MIN VIDEO

 

The case of Tony and Maggie highlights the fact that a spouse can file for benefits based on the other’s work record — but only after the first spouse has filed — with the option to receive half of the spousal benefit or their own full benefit.

 

Hypothetical case study for illustrative purposes only.

Lesson 6: Filing for divorced spousal benefits

3 MIN VIDEO

 

This story illustrates the rules for claiming Social Security benefits based on an ex-spouse’s record. In this case, Trey can file off his ex-spouse Trish’s record even though Trish is waiting to file. That’s because they were married for at least 10 years, they have been divorced for over two years, and Trey has remained single.

 

Hypothetical case study for illustrative purposes only.

Lesson 7: Flexibility between survivor and individual benefits

3 MIN VIDEO

 

In this scenario, Karen is widowed at 60 and can file for her late husband’s Social Security benefits immediately, receiving a reduced amount due to early filing. Once she reaches full retirement age, she can switch to her own benefits and receive the full amount, without any reduction.

 

Hypothetical case study for illustrative purposes only.

Lesson 8: Impact of survivor benefits for divorced spouses

2 MIN VIDEO

 

This story demonstrates how Mary, who was married to her ex-husband Dennis for over 10 years and has been single for more than two, is eligible for survivor benefits after Dennis’s death, even though he had remarried twice.

 

Hypothetical case study for illustrative purposes only.

Lesson 9: Medicare

If you are looking to go even further in demonstrating your value, know that covering Medicare basics can benefit clients and prospects. These resources can help you get started.

 

4 key Medicare questions and how to answer them (9 MIN ARTICLE)

Medicare checklist

CE Quiz: Put your knowledge to the test

Feeling ready to host an event and share Social Security essentials with investors? Take the continuing education quiz to test your knowledge and earn 1 hour of continuing education credit from CFP or CIMA.

Ready to put your results into action? Contact your Capital Group representative for more ideas on how to build your retirement business and help grow your practice.

Explore more retirement planning ideas

Client acquisition master class: 5 steps to win clients and grow your business

Using retirement plans to build your wealth planning business

Retirement planning with clients in 4 simple steps

For financial professionals only. Not for use with the public.

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Investors should carefully consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other important information is contained in the fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses, which can be obtained from a financial professional and should be read carefully before investing.
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This content, developed by Capital Group, home of American Funds, should not be used as a primary basis for investment decisions and is not intended to serve as impartial investment or fiduciary advice.