I probably could write a column called "The Top 100 Social Security Myths." But that would fill up half of the website you are looking at or the newspaper you are reading, and the editors won't let me do that. So I'll limit myself to five.

Four of the five make every list like this I have ever written. But the current number one Social Security myth is relatively new and thankfully will go away in another month or two.

Myth Number 1: You must do something with your Social Security by April 30.

The April 30 Social Security filing deadline that everyone has heard or read about, and, if my emails are any indication, that everyone is panicking about, is meaningless to most people. It only impacts a very small percentage of potential Social Security beneficiaries.

But you wouldn't know that if you listen to commercials on TV and radio, or get flyers in the mail from financial planners with messages like this: "If you don't act by April 30, you could be missing out on tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits."

I am going to devote an entire column next week to this topic. But for now I will just say this: Only people who are already 66, or will be 66 by April 30, and who want to delay taking benefits until later (usually age 70), AND who want to employ the "file and suspend" strategy discussed ad infinitum in this column, will have to sign up for benefits, and then suspend those benefits, by April 30. Again, I will explain this in detail in next week's column.

But for now I just want to send this message: For the 99 percent of people reading this column that this does not apply to, you don't have to do anything with respect to Social Security by April 30.

Myth Number 2: Lower earnings near retirement will reduce your Social Security check.

Many potential retirees lose sleep if they have some years of lower earnings just before they retire. They think this will adversely impact the amount of their Social Security check. It will not. This myth is based on another commonly held misconception about Social Security: that retirement benefits are based on the last five or 10 years of earnings. They are not. The Social Security retirement formula uses a 35-year base of earnings, all of which have been indexed for inflation. So a few years of reduced earnings just before retirement will have minimal, if any, impact on a Social Security retirement benefit.

Myth Number 3: A wife is always due half of her husband's check.

One of the most common emails I get goes something like this: "You said a wife gets half of her husband's Social Security. But I'm not getting half. So am I being paid incorrectly?"

A wife gets a benefit rate equal to one half of her husband's full retirement benefit only if she waits until age 66 to claim those benefits. But most wives take their benefits at age 62. In that case, they get an amount equal to about one-third of the husband's retirement benefit. If they start benefits between 62 and 66, the benefit rate is somewhere between one-third and one-half.

When discussing this issue, for the most part, we are talking about women who were stay-at-home moms for most of their lives, meaning they have little or no Social Security of their own. If a woman has worked much of her life, she will get her own Social Security retirement benefit and won't be due anything on her husband's record.

Myth Number 4: If you are due two benefits, you get them both.

Anyone who is married or has ever been married is potentially due two Social Security benefits. But as a general rule, if you are due two Social Security benefits, you don't get them both. You get only the one that pays the higher rate.

There is a twist to this rule however. It can best be explained with an example. (And to keep my math simple, I'll just assume everyone waited until age 66 to file for Social Security.) Husband Hal is getting $2,000 in retirement benefits. Wife Wilma didn't work very much outside the home. So she just gets a small $600 Social Security check. But as Hal's wife, she is due $1,000 in spousal benefits. She doesn't get a $600 retirement check AND a $1,000 spousal benefit. She gets the higher benefit, or $1,000. But there is a rule that says if Wilma is due anything on her own record, she must be paid it. So Wilma will get $600 on her record and another $400 off of Hal's account to take her up to the $1,000 level. In other words, at least on paper, Wilma is getting benefits from two Social Security accounts. But in reality, she is just getting one check for $1,000.

Myth Number 5: You have to be married for 10 years to claim spousal benefits.

Based on my emails, I'd bet that 90 percent of my readers think that a couple must be married for 10 years in order for the lower-earning spouse to claim benefits on the higher-income spouse's Social Security record. But that's not true. The 10-year duration-of-marriage rule applies only to a divorced spouse trying to claim benefits on an ex's Social Security account.

If you are currently married, the law usually says the marriage must have been in effect for only nine months to claim spousal benefits.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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