What is the Current Age to Claim Social Security?

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Have you begun to think about early retirement? Maybe you are helping a parent or loved one plan their retirement and are unsure whether they have reached the eligibility period. One of the confusing aspects of collecting social security is the fact that there is not a universal age that you will become eligible to collect social security benefits. Additionally, you will need to decide if you want to collect partial benefits or if you want to wait longer in order to receive full social security benefits.

History of Social Security Benefits

The Social Security Act was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, according to the National Academy of Social Insurance. At that time, individuals could retire at the age of 65 and receive full social security benefits. President Regan enacted legislation to increase the age of retirement to 67. However, the exact age that one can collect social security benefits depends upon their birth.

Who is Eligible?

For individuals born in 1955, the full benefit age for social security is 66 years and 2 months. For those born in 1960 or later, the full benefit age is 67. For those who wish to retire at an earlier age, the very earliest you can collect social security benefits is 62. However, choosing to collect social security benefits at age 62 instead of 65 can reduce your monthly payments by up to 25%. Likewise, choosing a later retirement age than 67 can actually increase your payments by up to 32%. The social security administration website has a detailed chart that explains exactly how much of a reduction in benefits an early retirement will cost both the primary wage earner and their spouse.

How to Apply

Applications for social security benefits can be completed online. If you do not want to fill the application out online, you can visit your local social security office. You can also reach a local social security administration disability office by calling visiting https://disability.help.

How To Finally Get Your Life In Balance

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I want to begin by clarifying that balancing your life is not something that you’re just one and done with. Frankly, balancing your life is something you must participate in on a daily and weekly basis and is not the easiest thing to achieve.

What Does Balance Mean To You?

Does balancing your life mean having an equal ratio of busy and relaxing days? Does it involve daily self-care to make up for a hard day? Does balancing mean weekends are scheduled for maximum relaxation and quality time with your partner, family, friends or yourself?

Strive For Balance

1. Set More Boundaries

The first step is evaluating your tasks with the goal of seeing what needs to be done immediately and what can be done later. Set strict boundaries with yourself such as making sure you don’t work so much, spend too much time watching TV, or agree to take more work than you want. Sometimes it’s important to actually push yourself out of the door when you are considering staying late to work. Maybe it is making an effort to stop yourself if you engage in an activity or behavior that doesn’t benefit you. Time is everything, but you can only do what your life and energy will allow.

A boundary is putting a limit on yourself or someone else, saying no and possessing the discipline to participate in things that will ultimately benefit you. Can you think of any areas of your life that could use a boundary or two?

2. Take The Time To Enjoy Yourself

Letting yourself have fun with certainly result in greater productivity in other areas of your life. Fun should be on the top of your priorities, not the bottom. If you are not enjoying your current life situation, then what are you really doing here?

What can you change that allows your smile, laugh and love the life that you have?

Three ways to have more fun:

  1. Decide on a community event to attend such as a fair, a museum trip, a play or a concert with your favorite artist.
  2. Pick up a hobby and spend at least an hour a week on it. You’ll be surprised how therapeutic that short break can be.
  3. Find something that makes you laugh. Go to a local standup venue, be around someone you love to laugh with, or simply watch your favorite comedian online. There’s no greater medicine than laughter!

3. Determine Where Your Life Needs Balancing

Evaluate your life situation and determine what area needs balancing and then put your attention on addressing those areas.

Could use some exercise? Need a break? Haven’t spent time with close friends? You’ll need to begin delegate your time to be able to compensate for the areas that are lacking your attention.

Everyone’s life could use some balancing; take the time to determine where you could be giving more attention on a daily and weekly basis. Create boundaries for yourself, have fun, and create your ideal life schedule. Getting your life balanced will allow you to enjoy life to its fullest potential, feel greater peace and even contribute to greater productivity in other areas of your life.

If you find that balancing your life warrants no effort, then you may want to consider becoming a professional Life Coach to help others who are struggling to achieve the life that they want. Our complete online life coach certification training program will teach you the industry of helping others live a better life, achieve their dreams, and grow into the person they’ve always wanted to be.

How to Apply for Survivors Benefits

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How To Apply

You will not be able to report a death or apply for survivor benefits online.

The Social Security Administration is typically notified immediately when someone dies. In most situations, the funeral home will report someone’s death to the SSA. It’s recommended that you provide the deceased individual’s Social Security number to the funeral home if you wish for them to submit a report.

If you’re reporting a death or applying for benefits yourself, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). You may talk with a Social Security representative between 7 AM and 7 PM Monday-Friday. You can also call your local Social Security office. An appointment isn’t necessary, but calling ahead and scheduling one could reduce the waiting time to talk with a representative.

When You Report a Death

If you are getting benefits on your spouse’s or parent’s earnings record:

  • You usually will not need to file an application for survivors benefits.
  • The SSA will automatically change any monthly benefits you receive to survivors benefits after they receive the report of death.
  • We may be able to pay the Special Lump-Sum Death Payment automatically.
  • If you are getting retirement or disability benefits on your own earnings record:
  • You must apply for the survivor’s benefits.
  • The SSA will check to see whether you can get a higher benefit as a widow or widower.
  • If you are not getting benefits, you should apply for survivors benefits as soon as possible because, in some cases, benefits may not be retroactive.

Documents Needed to Apply

Choose which benefit you will be applying for from the provided list to learn more about the application process and what documents are necessary when you submit an application:

  • Widows/Widower’s or Surviving Divorced Spouse’s Benefits – Form SSA-10
  • Child’s Benefits – Form SSA-4
  • Mother’s or Father’s Benefits – Form SSA-5 (You must have a child under age 16 or disabled in your care.)
  • Lump-Sum Death Payment – Form SSA-8
  • Parent’s Benefits – Form SSA-7 (You must have been dependent on your child at the time of his or her death.)

If you currently don’t possess all the required documents, don’t wait to sign up for Social Security benefits. Generally, your local Social Security office is able to talk with your state Bureau of Vital Statistics and verify your information online without any cost to you. If the SSA cannot verify your information online, they are still able to help you acquire the required information.

Information on Rot/Dryrot Repair in Seattle Washington

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There is nothing more devastating to a person than to learn that they have dry rot in their home or business. Common in Seattle, Washington, this condition ordinarily applies to older buildings and is a wood decay. This is caused by fungi that eat and digest wood. As a rule, these fungi require moisture, but brown rot decay fungi can deteriorate wood without regular dampness. It is believed these latter fungi produce their moisture.

The importance of calling a Seattle Handyman when dry rot is first observed cannot be over emphasized. This company has well-trained personnel who can immediately identify the type of dry rot involved and determine the extent of the problem.

The cycle of rot damage can be divided into four parts:

• Small fungi spores, which resembles fine orange dust, attaches to the wood

• With moisture, these spores turn into fine white strands (hyphae)

• Hyphae grows and turns into mycelium

• Mycelium grows into a large mass (fruiting body)

• The fruiting body disperses new spores into the air

If a large amount of damage has been done, of course, the wood must be replaced. In cases where the rot is just beginning, there are certain products that can be used to stop the damage. These products kill the rot and restore the wood’s integrity.

When a Seattle Handyman is called, he will assess the situation and determine if the dry rot is confined to a small area. If this is the case, after locating any moisture and eliminating the source, he may use one of the following applications:

• An Epoxy Mixture (fills in canals in rotten wood)

• Copper Naphthenate (saturates remaining wood after dry rot is removed)

• Ethylene Glycol (used to saturate remaining dry rot area when new wood is applied)

If dry rot is caught in the beginning, it is no big deal to have a Seattle Handyman remove it and apply the proper materials to stop it from spreading further. If it is advanced, he can explain what wood replacement is necessary to restore the structure to its original condition. By calling a local Seattle Handyman, they can stop the dry rot before it causes excessive damage to a home or business and is a cost saving move.

Benefits of Handyman Services in Seattle Wa

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Just like all things in life, homes, business facilities, storage sheds, and every other structure slowly deteriorates, eventually falling down to the ground. Property owners can make structures stand longer and stronger – well, and loads more visually appealing, too – with a little elbow grease, expertise, building materials, and power tools. While homeowners seem to think they’re experts at engaging in home improvement projects, their remodeling and repair skills aren’t up to par for creating anything half-decent.

Homeowners can reap an innumerable measure of benefits from hiring handyman services. And staying out of his way, too!

Business Owners Can Focus on What’s Important

Owners often engage in making difficult decisions as an integral part of operations. If owners decide to take on repair or improvement tasks themselves, employees might not have anyone to report to, stores might be closed, and owners will undoubtedly muddle their mind with things they should trust a handyman with. Contracting the services of a handyman isn’t exorbitantly expensive, either, affording you to focus on what’s important.

A handyman Can Do It All

A number of businesses in construction and remodeling specialize in only one type of home improvement, like plumbing, roofing, hanging drywall, or painting. These organizations aren’t able to reliably perform tasks outside of their regular, narrow-minded duties. Trusting a handyman eradicates the need for calling various specialty providers, performing every necessary improvement task without breaking the proverbial bank.

Severely Reduces Chance of Liability

When people do things outside of their normal scope of activities, they obviously don’t perform as well. An artist likely isn’t as good as talking to customers as a customer service representative with 10 years’ experience. Similarly, homeowners and businesses’ operations managers shouldn’t bother with engaging in a handyman’s regular area of practice. They might hammer their thumb, slip on damp Seattle ladder rungs, or inflict significant damage on homes themselves. If handyman inadvertently breaks something, he’s paying for it, and replacing it. If you make this mistake, you’re paying for it, you’re replacing it, and you’re nursing a finger or foot back to health.

Helps Prevent Mold Growth

Seattle is one of the rainiest, cloudiest, most damp cities in the United States. Homes, facilities, and other structures are at risk of harboring mold and mildew with such consistent levels of moistures. Seattle handyman services can weatherproof HVAC ductwork, basements, crawl spaces, and foundations to help stifle mold growth, rather than letting it grow and causing hefty damages later on.

What You Need To Know About Water Damage Repair In Seattle

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Offering Water Damage Services

Your Neighbor Services in Seattle offers a variety of services, including repairing the water damage in commercial or residential properties in Seattle. Water damage can happen in a building at any time because of a water pipe breaks or roof leaks. Additional reasons for water damage are natural floods from rivers, and it is possible for a sewer line to rupture. There are different types of water damage that are categorized according to the contamination in the moisture. The clean water that spills from a kitchen’s broken water pipe is safer to remove than the water that overflows from a damaged toilet. It is essential for a cleaning crew to understand the type of water damage in order to make the appropriate repair.

How We Perform Water Damage Repair

If a roof is leaking, then a handyman will cover it with a tarp before beginning the remediation process. Alternatively, when a building has standing water on its lower level, a handyman must install a sump pump to remove the moisture before it seeps upward into other areas. In many cases, a building that has water damage won’t have any working utilities, including climate control. This leads to a building that is humid, increasing the damage from water. Your Neighbor Services in Seattle has powerful generators on its trucks in order to use dehumidification equipment.

Contact a Handyman Company In Seattle Today

Fast remediation in a flooded building is necessary to avoid the secondary problems from mold. It is imperative for a handyman to remove the invading water from surfaces right away with extraction equipment. If a building’s carpets have a small amount of water damage, then it is easy for a handyman to extract the water from the fibers before shampooing the carpeting to remove pathogens. However, when carpets have a lot of water damage, a handyman will lift and remove the carpets for proper disposal at an off-site location. It is also possible to remove water from floor tiles, baseboards, and drywall, but if the water has seeped into the underlying layers, then the materials require removal.

Russia Considers Handing Over Snowden as a “gift” to President Trump

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U.S. intelligence agencies have obtained information that reveals Russia may consider giving up Edward Snowden as a “gift” to President Donald Trump who has previously titled the former-NSA employee a “spy” and a “traitor” who should be executed.

A senior U.S. official reported the information; they also reviewed multiple waves of highly sensitive intelligent reports which reveal the Russian consideration. The source claims that the Snowden handover is one of the multiple plans Russia has to “curry favor” with President Trump. An additional source from the intelligence community confirmed later that the information regarding the Russian conversations and ploys had been acknowledged since the inauguration.

Snowden’s ACLU lawyer, Ben Wizner, reported that they are uninformed regarding any potential plans to deport the man to the United States.

“Team Snowden has received no such signals and has no new reason for concern,” Wizner explained.

Former deputy national security adviser  Juan Zarate heavily requested that the Trump administration be extremely careful regarding the acceptance of any potential Snowden offer from Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President.

“For Russia, this would be a win-win. They’ve already extracted what they needed from Edward Snowden regarding information, and they’ve certainly used him to beat the United States over the head regarding its surveillance and cyber activity,” Zarate warned.

“It would signal warmer relations and some desire for greater cooperation with the new administration, but it would also no doubt stoke controversies and cases in the U.S. around the role of surveillance, the role of the U.S. intelligence community, and the future of privacy and civil liberties in an American context.”

“All of that would perhaps be music to the ears of Putin.”

Click here for more information on this story.

Trump Calls New York Times Fake News, Again.

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This early morning, President Donald Trump tweeted at New York Times stating that they are “fake news.”

The tweet reads, “after being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!”

It’s uncertain what motivated the Trump’s statements, but we think it because the New York Times published a story yesterday night regarding Trump’s continuous personal ties to his business dealings even after the president’s decision to put his two sons in charge of the business.

Trump has numerously criticized the Times primarily due to their coverage of the 2016 election.

The Times have not issued an apology for their coverage of Trump throughout the 2016 election, but they did email subscribers describing that they underestimated Trump’s chances of winning.

Trump has called many other media networks “fake news” such as CNN, NBC News, and Buzzfeed. Tweets that claim these networks are “biased” but Fox News has yet to receive the titled “fake news” despite their obvious confirmation bias aired daily.

 

Learn How A Car Accident Lawyer Can Help You

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I’ve Just Been Involved In A Vancouver Car Accident, What Now?

Washington State, like all other American states, experience the devastating effects of car accidents. In fact, car accidents continue to be the deadliest accident of them all, car accidents cause the most deaths and severe injury annually than any other accident type. In 2005 alone, about 2 million people were injured from car accidents, while about 40 thousand died in 2006 as result of a car accident, the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration reveals. It is believed the leading cause of car accidents is negligence; people who speed, talk and drive or text and drive, eat, or are under the influence while driving are considered negligible drivers. Negligence isn’t the sole cause of car accidents; other reasons include: weather conditions, construction, car malfunctions, animal interference, or road conditions could potentially be the cause of a car accident. Being involved in a severe car accident can be one of the most if not the most difficult times of your life; it’s important you know what to do after you’ve been in a car accident.

Seek Medical Assistance

The first course of action would be to seek medical attention immediately after a car crash; regardless if there are not apparent afflictions on your body, it’s better to be safe than sorry, plus if you need medical treatment it supports your case if you plan on pursuing legal action. If you delay medical treatment, attempting to file a claim to earn compensation will be a lot more harder and could be dismissed entirely.

Gather Any Documents For Evidence

If you do not to be immediately transported to a hospital, gather any evidence such as receipts, referral, photos and insurance information from the other party. Photos are especially helpful in supporting your case.

Do Not Admit Fault

Undoubtedly, the hugest mistake a car accident victim can make is to apologize for the crash at the scene or admit fault to an insurance company. If you do this, your case is practically ruined. Instead of admitting fault, simply gather personal and insurance information, take photos and submit a police report.

Hire a Car Accident Lawyer

Tackling Washington’s complex legal system can be a daunting task, thankfully, individuals have given their lives to the study and practice of personal injury law and are here to help you get back on your feet. Vancouver car accident attorneys from Posner Law are here to help you obtain potential legal compensation for your car accident injuries and help you put the pieces of your life back together. If your or a loved one have been in an accident, contact Posner Law today to learn whether you should pursue legal action, call 360-558-3595 or visit their website today to schedule your free consultation.

How New Tiny Homes Are Affecting Communities and Environment

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Today, more and more people are choosing to live in green homes as they become aware of their environmental footprint. Green homes are houses that are both sustainable and environmentally friendly. People can be very efficient in their use of resources while still living comfortably and affordably.

Green home building companies have massively supported this new approach to active living. They often not only spearhead the building project from start to finish, but also provide people with additional green alternatives such as cleaning supplies and compostables, or services to help support businesses and program events. Together with those they serve, an entire community is forming from which others can learn and benefit, and their impact so far is prompting people across the nation to jump on the bandwagon.

Some of the most recent developments in an eco-friendly home building that people are now bringing into their homes include tankless water heaters, paints that emit fewer volatile organic compounds, porous driveways, and low-flow faucets and shower heads. A much bigger step people are taking is opting for the Tiny Home.

Tiny Homes are just that – creative and efficient living spaces of around 100 to 400 square feet. Put in perspective; the average American home is roughly 2,600 square feet. Living smaller does not only result in lower environmental impact. It also makes a living a much simpler experience. People find that the sound financial plans, an adventurous lifestyle, self-sufficiency, and overall life simplification are increasingly attractive aspects of Tiny Homes, at least compared to the purchase, remodeling, and constant maintenance of a house.

Although people lose space, they gain more financial freedom and also find general improvement in their connections with family, friends, and nature. Interestingly enough, as more people feel compelled to live smaller, the Tiny House Movement is emerging, helping other people learn about living in an entirely different way.
As more people reach out to their local green home building company, the community continues to expand. The future of eco-friendly lifestyles are becoming today’s reality as Tiny Homes and green homes alike continue to take root. While some people may only turn off the lights for the sake of lowering their energy bill, others are changing their entire mindset and come to reap the benefits of closer communities and healthier environments.