Includes bibliographical references and index.

What is Social Security?
The beginnings of Social Security
The history of retirement
The rise of America's middle class
Funding Social Security
Fixing Social Security
Getting a Social Security card
Protecting your Social Security number
Qualifications for receiving benefits
Your full retirement age
Getting started with Social Security
Estimating your benefits
Disability benefits
Supplemental Security Income
Children with disabilities
Spousal benefits
Survivors benefits
Other beneficiaries
Benefits for children
Taxes on Social Security benefits
Working in retirement
Taking benefits early
Claiming benefits later
If you're self-employed
Deemed filing
Windfall elimination provision
Government pension offset
The retroactive lump-sum option
Stopping your benefits
Appealing an SSA decision
Health and Social Security
Medicare
Extra help with prescription costs
Medicare Advantage
Medicaid
Social Security and your retirement
Using a financial planner
Planning for tomorrow
Finding happiness in retirement
Your dream retirement
If a door closes
The new retirement

Too often, writing about social security turns the noteworthy details of the benefits into boring details about regulations or biased political arguments that would put even a die-hard bureaucrat to sleep. Social Security 101 cuts out the tedious explanations and instead provides a hands-on lesson that keeps you engaged as you learn all you need to know about the federal program that's been around since the Great Depression. From the history of social security to its likely role in the future, this primer is packed with hundreds of entertaining tidbits and concepts that will keep you engaged as you learn how to maximize your benefits. So whether you want to learn about calculating your retirement age or estimating your projected payments, Social Security 101 has all the answers--even the ones you didn't know you were looking for