Does anyone have a workaround for spousal benefit and Government Pension Offset (GPO)

Tombarr33
Tombarr33 Member ✭✭
edited July 2022 in Budgeting and Planning Tools (Windows)
My spouse will not be able to collect half of my social security benefit upon my death because she will be subject to the Government Pension Offset. Does anyone have a workaround in the Lifetime Planner for this problem?

Comments

  • NotACPA
    NotACPA SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm not familiar with the GPO, please explain it.  Does it mean that your wife is entitled to a Gov't pension, or what?

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Scooterlam
    Scooterlam SuperUser, Windows Beta Beta
    edited May 2022
    GPO https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/gpo-calc.html#:~:text=If you receive a pension,is known as the GPO.

    Is spouse not entitled to any ss benefit due to their government pension?  Or a reduced ss benefit (direct, survivor, spousal etc)?

    In Lifetime Planner, there appears to be some accommodation for GPO for government pensions.    See image for LTP pension dialog and related HELP.

    Have you tried to model spouse's government pension then inspect the Plan Summary tables for estimated future SS and government pension income?    In reading the HELP description, like any model, I would not expect exact modelling of your specific situation, esp around SS benefits!.    

    I haven't looked at this particular LTP scenario dealing with GPOs.  Not sure at how well this is modeled.   Learned something new!   Have a look at this pension functionality and tell us more about how LTP results differ from your expectation.    Find the  "Add Pension" dialog behind the Change Assumptions button.


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