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Today in our series on interviews, we present you our interview with Mr.Stanley Tomkiel III. Stanley Tomkiel is the author of two books on Social Security, namely Social Security Benefits Handbook and The Social Security Answer Book. Both the books are packed with lots of useful information in simple English.  This is the type of information that every retiree should be aware of, but sadly there are a lot of misconceptions still prevalent among many. So we wanted to showcase Mr.Stanley’s work for our readers and hopefully it will help some people. So without further ado, we present you our interview with Mr.Stanley Tomkiel…

Boomer411: Mr.Stanley, can you please tell our readers about yourself? And what motivated you to write the book ‘The Social Security Answerbook’?

ST: I’m a lawyer in New York City.  I was born and raised in Westchester and educated in Catholic schools all the way through College.  I went to law school at Western New England College School of Law in Springfield, Massachusetts.  I’m married with two grown children and I’m the proud grandfather of two grandchildren. 

After college I worked for the Social Security Administration as a claims representative in field offices in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  My job was to interview people applying for SS benefits, gather the necessary information and documents then to make decisions by applying the SS regulations. 

I realized how many people had misconceptions about Social Security, and also that there was a lot of erroneous information being spread in the media.  It seemed most people were confused by the SS rules. After I left the Social Security Administration, I went into private law practice. And again I encountered the same situation: confusion and misunderstanding, misconceptions and bad information.

So in 1984 I published the first edition of the Social Security Benefits Handbook.  The Handbook has been updated throughout the years and it is now published by Sphinx Publishing, a division of Sourcebooks.  The publisher suggested that I also write The Social Security Answer Book because I receive so many questions from people.  The Social Security answer book is a compilation of typical questions that I have received over the years.  I have organized the questions and answers into topical chapters.  I tried to distill down these questions to the most common and important ones, so my answers will have the most practical and widespread relevance.   Because Social Security information changes, even from year to year, I put up a website to keep the information in my books up-to-date.  This is the Social Security Benefits Handbook Online Edition at www.SocialSecurityBenefitsHandbook.com.

Boomer411: Please tell our readers about your blog, ‘Simple Social Security’ and how it might be useful to Baby Boomers?

ST: I receive questions about SS from people all over the country, so I post these questions with my answers on my blog, Simple Social Security at SimpleSocialSecurity.blogspot.com

Boomer411: Tell us about your law practice?

ST: First let me say that although I am a Boomer, I have no plans on retiring!  I practice personal injury law as a partner in Tomkiel & Tomkiel with offices in Manhattan and Yonkers, NY.  I began practicing law with my father in 1979, and now my son is a lawyer and my partner, the third generation.   I used to handle Social Security cases myself, but because I am so busy with personal injury cases, I now make referrals for people who need lawyers for their Social Security claims. 

Boomer411: In your opinion, do people in their 30’s and 40’s have any hope of taking advantage of the Social Security benefits in its current form when they retire? Also, what can a person in this age group do to better prepare themselves for a good retirement?

ST: I am as sure as someone can be about the future, that people now in their 30’s and 40’s will receive Social Security benefits, but I would be very surprised if the system is the same as it exists now.  Since it was founded in 1937 Social Security has seen many, many changes.  Most of these changes in the first decades expanded the program and increased benefits that are payable.  In the last few decades, that direction has changed, with one important exception (the elimination of the “retirement test”). 

The most recent significant change is the gradual   increase in full retirement age from age 65 to age 67 (it is currently age 66).  I expect that in the future that will rise even higher because current monthly benefits are paid from current workers’ payroll taxes.  The Baby Boom generation was not exactly prolific, so the number of workers as a ratio to the number of beneficiaries is declining and will continue to decline.  It is now about 3.3 to 1, i.e., about three workers pay the taxes that fund the benefits of one worker.  And as people live longer, with fewer young people paying taxes, that ratio is expected to drop to 2.1 to 1 by 2034.

So I would say that in the future, unless people immediately start having very large families it will be absolutely necessary to cut back the amount of benefits being paid from the system.  And there may be a switch at some point to a private Social Security account system perhaps integrated with the government-run programs. 

The best thing that young people should do about retirement planning  is to realize that the government’s role in providing their retirement income is going to decrease significantly, so they must be prepared to rely on their own resources. 

And that means to save and invest, whether it be in stocks, bonds, real estate, or babies!  Hey, if you have five or six children who can help fund your retirement, that’s a lot cheaper than the expected 2.1 ratio.  Now maybe we need a tax credit for people who support their parents in their old age, instead of having the government take the workers’ money in taxes and then giving it to their parents in benefits.  Why not cut out the middleman?  Just a thought.

This concludes Part 1 of the interview. Stay tuned for the second part of this interview in which Mr.Stanley shares valuable information on situations when people usually leave money on the table and how one can make sure to get all the money he or she is entitled to from uncle Sam and more.