.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} tr.d0 td { background-color: #ccccff; color: black; }

.bodytext {float: left; }

.floatimg-left-hort { float:left;

margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;}

.floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}

.floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;}

.floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;}

.floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;}

.floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; }

.floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;}

.floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; }

.floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;}

.floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; }

.floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; }

.pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;}

.floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}

.floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}

tr.d0 td {

background-color: #ccccff; color: black;

}

Dear Mr. Berko:

C.P., Elgin, Ill.

Dear C.P.:

My accountant wears baggy khakis, wrinkled shirts and deck shoes without socks. He owns a large, drab gray office building that’s not in a nice part of town, and his furniture is probably World War II surplus.

When he was younger, he would spend weeks traipsing through the jungles of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia chasing Inca artifacts. He’s intense as gravity near a black hole but kind, understanding and a Harvard graduate. He’s also the most brilliant and creative accountant I’ve ever known. We had breakfast several days ago, and here’s the answer:

If you retired at 62 and accepted the lower benefits, all you have to do is reapply to Social Security, complete its Form 521 and you’ll be entitled to receive the benefits you would have received if you had waited until you were 70. But there’s a caveat.

Now I had to make some assumptions because you didn’t give me enough personal data on your current finances and benefits.

Let’s assume that when you retired at 62, Social Security was paying you $17,000 a year. Let’s move ahead eight years. If you had waited to file for benefits at age 70, you would have received $29,000 yearly, which is a difference in your favor of $12,000.

So here’s the caveat. To receive that $29,000, you must return to Social Security all the benefits you received, which according to their formula is about $118,000. That’s giving up a colossal chunk of change to increase your annual income by $12,000, but it could pay off eventually.

Please be mindful that these numbers were computed on a breakfast napkin. Though not precise, they are close enough to help you make a decision. And they’re compelling if you plan to live long enough to collect the difference in added benefits.

Before you run out to apply, I strongly urge you to counsel with your CPA or financial planner and work out the numbers to the nearest decimal point. The application process takes about nine weeks; be prepared for the usual government glitches and hitches.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is doing a fine job of managing this mess created by Greenspan, who receives $100,000 a pop for speaking engagements to brag about how brilliantly he ran the economy. Most Americans have been duped by a sycophantic press and fawning broadcast media, many of whom have the economic IQ of a dairy cow.

Greenspan, a charming and engaging fellow, mesmerized the ignorant media and awed Congress with his gravitas and droll econobabble. You and a credulous public fell for it, but I believe history will note Greenspan as the worst Fed chairman since the Banking Act of 1935.

Inarguably his decisions laid the foundations and walls that created our housing bubble as well as the easy money that caused the mortgage market to melt. I suggest that you read “Greenspan’s Bubbles,” a recent book by William Fleckenstein. It’ll knock your socks off.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net.© Copley News Service