Jkom is right. You cannot collect two types of checks (benefits) at once. He could "potentially" receive widower's checks only if they were more than his own retirement checks , since they were legally married for over 10 years. . Sorry if this is bad news.

I know that joyful, but it's all a part of being healthy. If we live long enough we will all probably have cancer. I found this article very interesting. Man, Environment And Life Expectancy By Edward Grimsley In the beginning, the air and all the rivers, lakes, and oceans were clean and pure. And darkness was upon the face of the deep much of the time. Man spent most of his time looking for food and shelter, and shivering, clothing made from fig leaves not being very warm. Finally, he learned that animals were useful not only as food but also to provide clothing and shelter, since their pelts and hides could be used for cloaks and tents and so forth. He became a hunter and hunted all the time without a twinge of remorse, since there was no animal\-rights movement to tell him he was doing wrong. So he roamed the earth, searching for food and shelter, breathing the pure air and drinking the pure water. He had plenty of room to roam, for the Earth was not crowded in those pristine and prehistoric days. The average life span, you see, was only 18 years. Man limited his activity to the daylight hours, of course, since he had no light strong enough to dispel the darkness that covered the face of the deep several hours of each day. He was in bed by sundown, which means that he spent much of his short life in unconscious sleep. Over the centuries, life changed. Man discovered the fire, which provided heat and light. True, it burned forests, and occasionally human beings, but people decided the advantages of fire more than offset its dangers. Through the years, more and more people began to live in permanent villages, towns, and cities. They dumped their garbage into the streets and nearby streams and rivers. Thus they invented pollution. And life expectancy rose, reaching 30 years by Roman Times. Man continued to develop and change. Eventually he invented candles. Then he discovered that lamps fueled by oil, from whatever source, produced stronger light than candles. Since whales were a good sourced of lamp oil, people killed a lot of whales in those days. But there was less darkness upon the face of the deep. People could even see to read at night. Hardly anyone spoke out in defense of whales. In the 18th and 19th centuries, man moved into the Industrial Age. This featured factories that filled the air with black smoke and poured new pollutants into the rivers and lakes. Man breathed poison 24 hours a day. His live expectancy jumped to about 40 years. Miracle followed miracle. The industrial revolution led to the internal combustion engine in automobiles. Soon there were millions of these vehicles running about the globe spewing fumes into the air. Somebody invented cigarettes. With factory smokestacks, cigarettes, and automobiles filling the air with foul particles, lungs didnt know what fresh air felt like. Since the internal combustion engines and the factory furnaces and the power generators needed fuel, man drilled for oil and transported it hither and yon. Now and then he spilled some, polluting the rivers, lakes, and oceans. And his life expectancy soared beyond 60 years. And so it has gone most of this century. Good lighting provided by generators powered by coal, oil and nuclear energy has dispelled much of the darkness from the face of the deep, which means people no longer have to lie down when the sun does. Factories have produced machines that have made life easier and richer than prehistoric man ever thought it could be. Once forced to spend most of his waking moments merely to obtain the necessities of life, man now has leisure time in abundance. He can play at home or, if he chooses, hop aboard an airplane and fly to another playground on the other side of the globe in a matter of hours. And his life expectancy is about 75 years. From all this, it would appear that pollution is manÂs best friend, since the dirtier the environment, the longer he lives, and the more he prospers. Pollution actually is a very bad thing, however as the experts have been telling us for days in observance of the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. Civilization is doomed, they warn, unless people cleanup the air and water, stop smoking cigarettes, stop cutting down old trees, save the spotted owl, and recycle everything. Exactly how man can restore the purity of the air and waters and preserve the forests while retaining all the benefits of industrialization and technological progress is not clear. But future generations probably will have time to figure it out. Experts predict that babies born in this highly polluted year of 1990 may live an average of 110 years. Distributed by Heritage Features Syndicate.

Hi Yoda who uses a ruler, Not being familiar with your system, I can't give any suggestions as to what reasons there may be to have separate bank account for taxable and non-taxable assets. In Canada we have accounts looking toward retirement where deposits are tax-deductible and the income over the years is, as well ... but every dollar coming out is taxable, and, after about age 70, there are minimum amounts required to be withdrawn annually. They must be in different accounts, of course. When I borrow for regular living expenses, consumer loans, which I plan almost never to do, I have one line of credit that I use for that. I was a personal financial consultant for years and recommended to folks that they have 3 - 6 months' worth of income as a financial cushion, available when needed, and in recent volatile times in the economy am more inclined to suggest 9 months' equivalent to a year's worth of income available in case of need, emergency, layoff, or whatever. I didn't always have such myself, which I told a number of clients, having used much of that fund for investments ... but had a credit card which I rarely used, which could be used in case of emergency, or whatever (I was self-employed, so could usually see an equivalent to a "layoff" coming before it happened). I had a line of credit, fully secured by stocks/mutual funds, some of them that I'd purchased with the "emergency fund", at the bank or, preferably, credit union, which I could draw on in an emergency. I would make a loan using that consumer line of credit to pay off the amount owing on the credit card for the emergency, just after the first billing, to avoid paying their high interest rate (about 4 times the rate on the line of credit, or 6 times if it were a store-issued card: I don't have any of them!). Then I'd make extra savings strenuously for a time to pay off the loan on the line of credit. I don't like using someone else's money to live on now ... and having to pay it back, later ... with (non-deductible) interest. Sometimes, after a bad time in the stock market, when things began to improve, I might make a loan to make further investments, and, as the interest paid on most investment loans is deductible, I'd set up a separate line of credit for that use, using the investments that I'd purchased using the "emergency fund" (along with some others, as the financial institution will only loan about half of the value of the security held), so that the interest rate on the loan would be lower. That's a place where I keep my deductible and non-deductible financial issues separate. Good wishes as you plan your retirement .. and implement the plan: I hope that you have no/few unpleasant surprises. Which you can usually reduce by careful planning, preferably ahead of time. ole joyful

It's advisable to apply for Social Security benefits 3 months before you want benefits to begin. If you meet all requirements for entitlement, you can receive benefits beginning with the first full month you are age 62. Naturally, if benefits begin before age 65, they are reduced to account for the longer period over which they will be paid. When you apply, you will need the following: your Social Security number; your birth certificate; your W-2 forms or self-employment tax return for last year; your military discharge papers if you had military service; your spouse's birth certificate and Social Security number if he or she is applying for benefits; children's birth certificates and Social Security numbers, if applying for children's benefits; proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful alien status if you (or a spouse or child is applying for benefits) were not born in the U.S.; and the name of your bank and your account number so your benefits can be directly deposited into your account. You will need to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing office - you can't just go to the UPS store and make your own copies. Maybe during your recouperation period you could pay your local SS office a visit. It can be a bear sitting and waiting to speak to someone, but worth getting good information directly from the source. Quite a bit of info on the internet, too. But as for time frame, you probably ought to start the ball rolling now for a February or March start date. Good luck to you. I'm getting close to having to start thinking about when to begin taking SS myself. I'll be 62 in the not so distant future and it's a difficult decision to make. Even if there was no pressing need to start taking SS, I'm beginning to think it wise to take it at first opportunity. Get into the system before the Govt. does something foolish with one of the few things that actually works!