Five Things to Know About Social Security

Social Security is your money — you earned it through a lifetime of hard work. And like most Americans, that money is needed to help cover living expenses and pay bills. Nearly one in 5 Minnesota residents – 1.06 million people – receive Social Security benefits, and 37 percent of residents 65 and older rely on the program for at least half of their income. Here are 5 things to know about Social Security:

2. Can I collect Social Security while working?

Yes, you can collect payments while working. In fact, 26% of Social Security recipients in 2023 are still working. But if you are below full retirement age (67) and earn more than a certain amount, your monthly payments will be temporarily reduced. Once you reach full retirement age, your payments will be increased to make up for any previous reduction in benefits caused by earning more than the limit.

4. What is the maximum Social Security payment I can receive each month?

In 2023, the highest monthly payment for Social Security is $3,627; however, the average retirement benefit is $1,833. To receive the maximum payment, your earnings must exceed the maximum taxable income for at least 35 working years, and you must be at full retirement age, which is age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

5. How do I sign up for Social Security?

Movers

Cathy McLeer

1. When can I start collecting Social Security? You are eligible to receive Social Security as early as age 62. However, the longer you wait to start collecting after you become eligible (up until age 70), the larger your annual payments will be. For those who are eligible for survivor benefits or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you can start collecting earlier.

3. How much will I receive each year from Social Security?

Your Social Security income will be dependent on multiple factors, but the most important is your lifetime earnings from work. The Social Security Administration takes your 35 highest-earnings years, calculates an inflationadjusted average, and plugs this information into a formula to find your “basic” benefit. How old you are when you claim Social Security will also impact the amount you receive. AARP’s Social Security Calculator can help you estimate how much you will receive.

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You can apply for retirement, spousal, or disability benefits online at ssa.gov, by phone at 1-800-772-1213 or in person at your local Social Security office. Find the local office closest to you at ssa.gov/locator.

Questions about your Social Security? Go to aarp.org/ YouEarnedIt to learn more.

Cathy McLeer is state director of AARP Minnesota

WHITE BEAR PRESS | LETTER GUIDELINES

at least four weeks must lapse between publication. Exceptions may be made for rebuttal letters.

• Due to space limitations, letters that don’t address local issues are not guaranteed publication.

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• Deadline is 5 p. m. , Thursday of the week prior to publication.

• To submit a letter, e-mail it to whitebearnews@ presspubs.com, fax it to 651429-1242 or mail or deliver it to Press Publications, 4779 Bloom Ave., White Bear Lake, MN 55110.

Seniors on back burner

How about putting the senior population first for once? I am part of the Community Education Pickleball group. I have been doing this now for two years. It’s the fastest growing sport and is for all age groups, although I believe there are a lot more of the “senior” folks that are in this group. We are on fixed incomes, so please don’t tell us to join the Y, Lifetime, etc. Many of us are NOT yet Silver Sneakers either and cannot enjoy that perk. This is why we enjoy pickleball at an affordable rate. The beautiful tennis/pickleball courts on Bald Eagle were torn down after only a few years and the taxpayers paid so much for that. Now they are rebuilding those again. It seems that the Community Education group always has to wait for school to be out when students aren’t using courts so we can use them. Maybe it’s time to put this “Senior Generation” first for once and let us enjoy the courts so we can all improve our health. Many in the group are going to other locations outside of White Bear Lake to play because of the restrictions. Sure, it’s fine in the summer, but we have already heard that when the new courts open on Bald Eagle this fall, we AGAIN, will have to take the back burner to the students. Jon Anderson and Community Education should start looking at this more closely. We all need to get along, but it’s time that these students maybe take the back burner to the seniors. After all, we are the taxpayers paying for all of this.

LeAnn Jansen White Bear Township

A lighthearted view of America’s greatest threat

No, it’s not Russia, China, North Korea or Iran. The greatest threat to America is-drum rollCANADA! Discovered among the many classified documents at Mar-a-Lago was a top-secret directive from Justin Trudeau that farmers are to set their non-arable fields and forests afire and let them burn.

Canada’s master plan is to take over America by smoking us out. Their WMD is smoke and we are defenseless against it. We can’t shoot it down like a weather balloon. A masterpiece of ingenuity; a bloodless coup by inhalation, eh?

Oh Canada, we stand unguarded for thee.

Kristen Brodie White Bear Lake

Response to pet safety article

Thank you for your informative June 28 article on keeping pets safe on the fourth of July. Coincidentally, the booming and banging associated with fourth of July fireworks are also the soundtrack for mass shootings and war. I have not seen or heard anything in the news anywhere about protecting our children who have suffered from PTSD because someone they knew was shot and killed by a gun, or because of news reports they have heard of other children being slain in their schools. Nor have I seen or heard anything in the news about respecting our many veterans who continue to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for serving us and protecting our freedoms.

Only six months into 2023, there have been over 200 mass shootings and over 15,000 gun related deaths around the United States, and firearms have now become the leading cause of death in children. These facts put us all on edge and leave us fearful of how our own community will be impacted going forward.

I suggest it may be time to replace our traditional fireworks with some other form of celebratory light show. A laser show or drone light show with patriotic music instead of the booming and banging that remains the soundtrack of fireworks, shootings and war. Why can’t White Bear Lake begin this new tradition? Our pets ARE important, and so are our children and veterans!

Marie Mortek White Bear Township Support Ward 3 candidate

We residents of White Bear Lake pride ourselves on our quality of life, especially the abundant natural resources that make this a special place to raise our families and to live out our lives in retirement. I think we all agree that when our quality of life is under threat, an immediate and strong response is necessary.

When it became known that a local manufacturing company, Water Gremlin, had been polluting the air we breathe with a dangerous chemical, Andrea West joined with the Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group to stop the company from doing additional damage. Though

Water Gremlin is situated in White Bear Township, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s map of the Area of Concern showed that the emissions affected other nearby communities, including White Bear Lake.

Andrea showed how deeply she cares about the health and well-being of our residents by her work with the NCCG. She advocated with our elected officials for more oversight of toxic emissions. She responded to the MPCA’s proposed air permit with concerns that the company must be held accountable for its actions and that all the necessary safeguards must be put in place to prevent future occurrences.

Andrea took an active role to ensure that the air we breathe is safe, maintaining our wonderful quality of life. I encourage everyone in Ward 3 to vote for Andrea West to represent us on the City Council this fall.

Joe Crowe White Bear Lake

Use contraception

This is a reply to Brooke Raeker on her letter on the abortion issue. I’m not taking either side of this issue. I’m from a totally different generation. I agree that women have a right to their bodies but what I’m not hearing is the responsibility of women and their partners to do everything in their power to prevent an unwanted child. There are more contraceptive measures now than ever before in every state, so an abortion would not be necessary. But again I’m from a different generation.

John Cundy White Bear Lake

Response to letter

Ms. Raeker’s letter (7-5-23) champions women’s rights, particularly the right to abortion. Does she not realize she is targeting unborn female children who would otherwise grow up to enjoy the same rights she lauds? She is targeting unborn children whose right to be transgender is also being denied by abortion.

When Ms. Raeker targets making abortion illegal, thus creating unsafe abortions, doesn’t she realize one of the laws cut down by the recent legislative session removed the need for doctors to be involved in abortions? How safe is that going to be with abortions allowed for an entire pregnancy?

She targeted government asking, “Do you want the government to tell you what to do with your body?” The government told us to get Covid vaccine shots, the government demanded certain groups of people get shots or lose employment, for example, those in the military.

Ms. Raeker also targeted those with conservative religious beliefs, saying such beliefs have no business in government. Isn’t that discrimination against a significant portion of U.S. residents, including immigrants coming daily through our borders? What’s wrong with conservative beliefs such as those forbidding murder, stealing, lying; those requiring obedience to traffic laws so people don’t drive 95 mph up a freeway ramp and smash into cars along the way?

Yes, we can control things by our votes. In the next election, let’s target and vote against politicians who do not understand abortion destroys a human life at every stage of development. It isn’t a dog or cat which emerges from the woman’s womb, it is genetically a human child from the start.

Cindy Paslawski White Bear Lake

Response from driver

This is in response to Angela Kohn’s reminder letter in the July 5 edition to “Follow the Rules of the Road” regarding the new one way on South Shore Blvd. I fully agree that we all need to follow the rules of the road, however I wanted to write to explain why I was one of the “dumbasses” (her word) to drive illegally going the wrong way this past spring and up until a week ago when South Shore became “drivable.” When the road was all torn up over this past year, it was terrible to drive on this bumpy, sometimes flooded road that I needed to drive on in order to go home. My husband blew a tire on this road, and there were several times we were blocked by equipment that they couldn’t move and at times I had to back up the hill as the trucks and I couldn’t pass each other. So I took the risk of going the wrong way nervously and with my flashers on. I told the road workers I was doing this and I was prepared for a possible ticket which would have been cheaper than new tires. If I met anyone coming, which I could see far down the road, then I could pull into a driveway. As far as hitting a pedestrian, that was a total possibility this winter when the snow banks were so high that the dog walkers had to jump into the snow when cars were coming as the walking path wasn’t plowed. This whole one-way endeavor HAS been an inconvenience especially when we went without water (bathroom) for several days, had to park several blocks away for weeks while driveway entrance was getting put in (twice), and now driving a mile around to go west forever is a pain in the a**! I was not for this project and let it be known (and our plow guys REALLY are not for it). Yes, Angela, we can’t stop it now. I am trying to focus on the positives and will follow the rules now.

Upcoming Games

July 14-16 vs. Durham Bulls

July 25-30 vs. Toledo Mud Hens

651-644-6659 saintsbaseball.com

Thursday, July 13, 2023

6 p.m. - 9 p.m. | Rain or Shine! Downtown White Bear Lake www.marketfestwbl.com

Theme Week: Public Safety Night

Gazebo Stage

6-7 pm ETC Productons: Madagascar

7-9 pm Jennifer Grimm & Joe Cruz

3rd Street Stage

Minty Hippo

7:15 pm Intermission - TBA

Marketfest runs Thursdays, June 15-July 27, ‘23

Featuring live music, children’s games and activities, pony rides, a classic car show, and 180+ vendors, FREE admission

Sponsors: Kowalski’s Markets, White Bear Mitsubishi, Timberline Roofing, City of White Bear Lake, White Bear Lake Main Street

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