I never heard of this Social Security "gaming" before....I wonder who is doing it?

[SheilaT]

4. It's not gaming, and you really don't need an expensive advisor

to tell you about these things, you just need to do a little research. In fact, my financial guy didn't even know about the divorced spouse thing, which is what I am now doing. I stayed out of the workforce for a very long time while raising children, and the divorced spouse benefit is greatly appreciated.

There's an excellent book which just came out this year, Get What's Yours by Laurence Kotlikoff, Paul Solman, and Philip Moeller. I did not fully understand what I could claim as a divorced spouse until I saw this book. I have no idea if they'll update it if they change the law. It's not clear if the proposed changes would also affect divorced spouses, but I'm very fortunate in that I'll be grandfathered in, if they do change that part.