Financial advisor Bob Habl spoke at the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville on Monday, August 13. The goal of his talk on “Unlocking Social Security” was to help the group understand the Social Security system so that they could make accurate and intelligent choices when it came time to begin drawing Social Security payments. After a brief look at the interesting and colorful beginnings of the program, he focused on basic questions people have. He assured all that Social Security would definitely be there at retirement time, but changes will probably have to be made to keep a sustainable program. Probably the age for retirement will go up, the cost of living increases be lowered, and some benefits decreased. He described the benefits available and clarified several points: if one retires early, there is a limit on earnings (ca. $14,000) but when one retires at full retirement age, there is no limit on earnings; each year a person delays retirement increases the payment by 8% until age 70 (that’s a potential 76% increase in monthly payments); a chart showed “break even” ages for various ages of retirement. He clarified the policies related to spousal benefits, asserting that those benefits are the most misunderstood or miscomputed, specifically those related to divorced spouses.