Dear Liz: I decided to start taking Social Security benefits this summer when I turned 62. My monthly benefit is $1,809. My wife turned 62 at the end of last year and started her benefit of $841 a month. I just accepted an unexpected job offer that will pay me more than $130,000 a year. I suspect I should consider suspending my benefit at this point and work as many years with this company as possible. If I choose to suspend my benefits now and allow my benefits to remain suspended until my full retirement age of 66 years six months, I will pass up benefits of $112,000 over the next 4.5 years. Granted that amount will be overshadowed by the additional new income and the opportunity to contribute to a 401(k), but is it out of the question to continue my current benefit and just pay the 85% tax on the Social Security we receive each year in addition to our other income?

Answer: Social Security is complicated, so it’s not surprising that so many people get the details wrong. Unfortunately, those details can have a huge effect on financial well-being in retirement. The difference between the best claiming decisions and the worst can total more than $250,000, researchers have found.

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Let’s start with the detail you need most: You don’t have the option right now of suspending your benefit. Only people who have reached their full retirement age can suspend. You can, however, withdraw an application within the first 12 months. You will have to pay back all the money you’ve received from Social Security, but then it will be as if you’d never applied. Your benefit can continue to grow by 5% to 8% each year until you restart your benefits or turn 70, whichever comes first.

Withdrawing your application is a good idea because otherwise your new job will offset all of your Social Security benefit.

Because you started Social Security early, you are subject to the earnings test and your benefit will be reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn over a certain limit, which in 2020 is $18,240. Your six-figure income would reduce your benefit to zero.

This earnings test disappears at full retirement age, and any money that was withheld because of it is added back into your benefit over time. In the meantime, however, you’ve given up the more valuable 5% to 8% growth in your benefit and reduced your survivor benefit as well.

Social Security taxation also works differently than what you’ve described. You never have to pay taxes equal to 85% of your benefit. If your income exceeds certain levels, then up to 85% of your benefit could be subject to taxation. (To illustrate, that means if you’re in the 10% federal tax bracket, you’d pay 10% on up to 85% of your benefit. It’s more complicated than that, but that may help you understand the difference between losing a huge chunk of your benefit and having to pay tax on a portion of it.)

Given all these complexities, it’s important for people to use a few Social Security claiming calculators before applying. Ideally, they also would consult a financial planner who’s been educated on Social Security claiming strategies.

Direct tuition payment pros, cons

Dear Liz: You recently answered a question from someone whose parents misused trust funds intended for their child’s education. I chose to pay the colleges directly each semester once my grandchildren enrolled rather than give money to the parents. I decided that was the only way I could be assured the money went for what grandma intended.

Answer: Your grandchildren are fortunate to have a generous grandmother, but your strategy has some drawbacks as well as advantages.

Direct tuition payments aren’t considered gifts to the child, which means no gift tax return is required. Your payments could, however, reduce any need-based financial aid the children could get. Also, your approach requires that you be ready and able to make the tuition payments when the children reached college age. Your death or a financial setback could have turned your good intentions into an empty promise.

Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com.

Living in a city like Los Angeles can at times feel overwhelming. To combat the chaos and stresses of city life we recommend getting out and having a day of exploration and self-care. L.A. is peppered with little pockets of calmness; you just have to know where to look. One such place is the posh and peaceful Westside neighborhood of Brentwood or, as a Los Angeles Times article put it in 1907, “a suburb, away from the noise, dust and inharmonies of the city.”

And if your definition of self-care includes getting in a calorie burn, we’ve included an optional workout to add on before heading home.

Noon Pamper yourself at the luxe-meets-quaint British-inspired Queen Bee Salon & Spa, 2530 San Vicente Blvd. Owner Jodi Shays, who hails from Bath, England, said, “I wanted to start a salon where all clients would be treated like royalty.” Decorated with floor-to-ceiling regal floral wallpaper, the interior managed to look polished yet cozy, making us feel like we were in an upscale version of Lorelai Gilmore’s Dragonfly Inn from “Gilmore Girls.” The salon, best known for the three B’s (brows, Brazilians and bronzing), also offers skin care and makeup services. For a relaxing and in-season option we recommend the pumpkin peel, which we can attest smells deliciously like the pie.

1:15 p.m. Next venture kitty-corner to browse the storied Brentwood Country Mart, at 225 26th St. There will be plenty of time for shopping, but first: Food. (And pace yourself if you’re planning to get in that workout.) Head to the area between the upper and lower courtyards to find Farmshop a hybrid artisanal restaurant, bakery and market. If you enter through the market and bakery area, you will be greeted with flaky croissants, fresh fruits and veggies, and glorious cuts of meat on display. It is an ideal place to grab a meal, snack or coffee. The restaurant offers California-inspired fare set in a charming upscale rustic atmosphere that aligns with the overall homey feel of the mart. The bakery and artisan market is open daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check the website — farmshopca.com — for restaurant hours.

2 p.m. Now it’s time to explore this historic red-and-white barn-style building that houses high-end designer boutiques and eclectic shops such as Christian Louboutin, Jenni Kayne, Goop, Capitol + Irene Neuwirth and Diesel bookstore. Intermingling with the luxury shops are old-school posts like a barbershop, shoe repair, post office and candy shop that transport you to a bygone era. The mart opened in 1948 and called Joan Crawford, Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor and other Hollywood luminaries regulars. The mart is open for retail therapy Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

3:30 p.m. You could easily spend the rest of the afternoon prowling stores. But if your fitness tracker is begging for more, the final spot on our itinerary is the endorphin-boosting Platefit studio at 13050 San Vicente Blvd. #208. Just steps from the Brentwood Country Mart, this 27-minute high-intensity workout is done on power plates that use harmonic vibration to cause muscles to contract 30 to 40 times per second. You definitely don’t want to do this workout on a full stomach: It is fast-paced and challenging. It took a few minutes to get used to the constant vibration under my feet. But the next day I felt the effects: My muscles were sore in areas most workouts fail to engage. Classes start at $18, with package discounts available.

As tempting as it might be, you can’t move in to the stylish Block Shop showroom, which opens to the public today in the ATX Arts Complex in Atwater Village.

Outfitted with artist sisters Hopie and Lily Stockman’s Bauhaus-inspired textiles, and custom furnishings by Los Angeles designers Waka Waka, Brendan Ravenhill, Entler and Kalon Studios, the storefront is so elegant, you may feel guilty about walking on the colorful dhurrie rugs that line the floors.

Fans of the curvilinear woodblock printed textiles can shop for napkins ($14), table runners ($70) and reversible dhurries starting at $130. Prints on handmade cotton rag paper are available framed and unframed and scarves ($75), which can be worn or hung on the wall like artwork, come in hand stitched cotton pouches with a ceramic bolo by Los Angeles ceramicist Bari Ziperstein.

Linen pillows ($85) and lightweight cotton bathrobes ($140) round out the mix, with custom commissions available upon request.

In honor of Small Business Saturday, all goods will be 15 percent off today from noon to 7 p.m.

What: Block Shop

Where: 3191 Casitas Ave., Suite 156, Atwater Village

When: Noon to 7 p.m. Nov. 30; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

Info: blockshoptextiles.com

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. — 

There’s little disagreement that the object found in a white Mississippi firefighter’s locker was a hangman’s noose. But as with many things in America these days, there’s deep disagreement about what it meant.

To some it was a reminder of lynchings that took hundreds of black lives in Mississippi, and it had no place on city property — though there was no suggestion that firefighter Shelton Russell had ever displayed it or used it to intimidate anyone.

To Russell it didn’t carry that meaning. If anything, it symbolized America’s lawless Wild West culture, where cowboy vigilantes meted out rough justice.

It happened in August in the town of Hattiesburg, home to two universities and about 46,000 people. About 53% of the town’s residents are black, and about 42% are white.

City officials have declined to make anyone available for interviews because it’s a personnel matter and might involve future litigation. Many details emerged during a civil service commission hearing Oct. 10 and in documents released to the Associated Press.

On Friday, Aug. 2, two firefighters working at Station 8 saw a noose hanging in an open locker assigned to Russell, a lieutenant and station manager.

“It was like shock at first,” said firefighter Kentavius Reed, testifying about seeing it. When the city’s lawyer asked why he was shocked, the 24-year-old African American described how nooses had been used to hang black people: “I was kind of like, why would you have it in your locker?”

The other firefighter, a white engineer named Zeb Mitelsztet, testified that he was “shocked and disturbed” to find the noose and said he’d always considered nooses a representation of racial hatred.

But Russell, a 22-year department veteran, didn’t see it that way. In statements, and in talking to the commission and to the Associated Press, he described how he’d been watching a western movie with a colleague after taking a ropes course years ago.

Russell said he didn’t know how to tie a noose, and his colleague showed him how it was done. Russell said he put it in his locker and never thought about it again. He said he still doesn’t understand how it’s offensive.

“African Americans were hung by it. So were whites. So were horse thieves and, you know, I’m a cowboy. I’m out in the country. I ride a tractor every day. That’s what I go back to, cowboys, and that’s how it got started, with watching the western,” Russell, who raises chickens and grows hay, told the AP.

Both firefighters who saw the noose took photos and sent them to others. By Monday word had gotten back to Russell that people were talking about it. He went to the station to confront the two firefighters about “spreading rumors of racism,” he said in a statement. The confrontation grew heated.

Both the noose and the confrontation played a role in Russell’s punishment. Fire Chief Sherrocko Stewart demoted him, suspended him without pay for a month and required him to undergo counseling. Russell appealed, but the commission upheld the punishment; Russell resigned.

For some, Russell’s inability to see the noose’s fraught racial history was the problem. City Atty. Randy Pope said during the hearing he could understand Russell might not understand the noose’s symbolism, saying he didn’t grow up African American.

But Pope, who is white, said he educated himself about what the noose meant to African Americans: “I went and looked, spent some time on the internet, what’s involved in that symbol … And it is a very serious symbol.”

City Councilwoman Deborah Delgado said she was “dumbfounded” that Russell wouldn’t know the potent symbolism of the noose, especially with Mississippi’s history of racial strife.

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, Mississippi had one of the highest rates of lynchings across the South.

Some were in Hattiesburg.

William Sturkey, who wrote “Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White,” describes multiple lynchings, including one in 1903 when 500 people pulled a black man named Amos Jones from the city jail and hanged him from a telegraph pole. Then they riddled his body with bullets.

One expert who has extensively studied the history of lynchings in the South says whites and blacks tend to view these symbols very differently.

A person doesn’t have to be racist to not understand how impactful something like a noose can be to black people, said retired University of Georgia professor E.M. Beck. He said someone like Russell “just basically doesn’t have the experience base to realize how pertinent and potent that symbol can be within the black community.”

Hattiesburg’s noose issue has drawn attention on social media. Some acquaintances of Russell back him up, saying on Facebook that simply having a noose wasn’t a crime and that Russell treated everyone he worked with fairly. Others question his sincerity and how he couldn’t know its racial overtones.

Russell’s lawyer, Michael Adelman, suggested Russell was treated harshly because of political pressure on the fire chief — something Stewart denied. Adelman also suggested one firefighter was retaliating against Russell for previous slights — something the firefighter denied.

Russell said if he’d known the noose was offensive, he would’ve taken it home. But he believes the situation escalated so quickly he never got a chance.

“Anything could be offensive. But unless it’s brought to my attention, which it never was till after the fact, then how do I know?” he said after the hearing.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — 

A new statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will be unveiled Sunday in downtown Montgomery, Ala.

The statue will be unveiled at Montgomery Plaza at the Court Square Fountain, the city of Montgomery said.

The unveiling coincides with the anniversary of Parks’ historic Dec. 1, 1955, arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.

The statue will be about 30 feet from the spot where Parks is believed to have boarded the bus, said Ashley Ledbetter, executive director of the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts.

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Along with the Parks memorial, four granite markers will honor the four women who served as plaintiffs in Browder vs. Gayle, the landmark District Court case that ruled segregation on Montgomery buses unconstitutional, Ledbetter said.

Aurelia Browder, Mary Louise Smith, Susie McDonald and Claudette Colvin will be honored with the markers.

The civil rights memorials are a partnership of the city of Montgomery, Montgomery County, the Alabama Department of Tourism and the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed are among those speaking at the unveiling. Reed made history this year when he was elected as the city’s first African American mayor.

Alabama lawmakers in 2018 voted to name Dec. 1 as Mrs. Rosa L. Parks Day in the state.

NEW YORK — 

Black Friday hit a record $7.4 billion in U.S. online sales as many shoppers spent the day clicking instead of lining up to buy.

It was the second-biggest U.S. online sales day ever, behind 2018 Cyber Monday’s $7.9 billion, according to a survey of 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers from Adobe Analytics.

Shoppers increasingly favor buying online from the start of the holiday season, rather than waiting for Cyber Monday as they may have a few years ago. That’s in part as they transition to purchasing via mobile devices instead of using computers — often at the office after the holiday weekend.

Purchases made by smartphone Friday accounted for $2.9 billion in sales, the most ever.

“With Christmas now rapidly approaching, consumers increasingly jumped on their phones rather than standing in line,” said Adobe analyst Taylor Schreiner.

Overall, the ratio of online sales versus in-store sales this holiday weekend remained unclear.

But some shoppers still prefer the Black Friday in-store experience, which can be a family hunting-and-gathering expedition after Thanksgiving festivities.

For example, the Best Buy in Brooklyn‘s Atlantic Terminal Mall sold out of Apple iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pros on Friday and had lines stretching the length of the store, with shoppers picking up Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Switch gaming consoles, among other big-ticket items.

One out of 5 dollars this holiday season will be spent between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, according to Adobe figures, which are similar to estimates provided by Salesforce. Cyber Monday sales are poised to outshine 2018’s record by 19%.

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HONG KONG  — 

A huge crowd took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, some driven back by tear gas, to demand more democracy and an investigation into the use of force to crack down on the six-month-long anti-government demonstrations.

Thousands turned out, including hardened youthful protesters in black outfits and face masks as well as parents with their children.

Marching near the waterfront on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbor, they sought to keep the pressure on city leader Carrie Lam after pro-democracy candidates won district council elections a week earlier.

“If we don’t walk out, the government will say it’s just a youth issue, but this is a Hong Kong problem that affects all of us,” Lily Chau said as she pushed her toddler in a stroller. “If we are scared, the government will continue to trample on our rights.”

Many held up a hand to indicate the five demands of the movement and shouted, “Five demands, not one less” and “Disband the police force.”

Police in riot gear were out in force for the third march of the day — and the one where violence seemed most likely. They fired pepper spray and tear gas in some areas. Protesters dug up paving stones and threw them in the street to try to slow the police down.

Hong Kong’s protests have been relatively peaceful during the two weeks around the Nov. 24 election but could turn violent again if the government doesn’t bend to the demands.

Lam has said she’ll accelerate dialogue but has not yielded any ground since the vote. Her government has accepted one demand — withdrawing extradition legislation that could have sent suspects to mainland China for trial — but not the others.

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Elaine Wong, an office worker, called the recent election an empty victory.

“We have in actual fact not won any concessions for our demands,” she said. “We must continue to stand out to remind the government of our unhappiness.”

Earlier marches Sunday appealed to President Trump for help and demanded that police stop using tear gas.

A group dressed in black and wearing masks carried American flags as it headed to the U.S. Consulate to express gratitude for legislation aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong that Trump signed into law last week.

Some held banners reading “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong” and “Let’s make Hong Kong great again” — a riff on his 2016 campaign pledge to make America great again. One showed him standing atop a tank with “Trump” emblazoned on the front and side.

A peaceful crowd of about 200 adults and children marched to government headquarters in the morning and chanted, “No more tear gas.”

“A lot of parents are worried that their children are affected because their children are coughing, breaking out in rashes and so forth,” said march organizer Leo Kong, a 40-year-old social worker.

A third march was called for late afternoon in the Tsim Sha Tsui district near Polytechnic University, the site of the last fierce clashes with police two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, China accused the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, of emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader conduct an investigation into reports of excessive use of force by police.

Bachelet wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Lam’s government must prioritize “meaningful, inclusive” dialogue to resolve the crisis.

She urged Lam to hold an “independent and impartial judge-led investigation” into police conduct of protests. It has been one of the key demands of pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the territory since June.

China’s U.N. mission in Geneva said that Bachelet’s article interferes in the internal affairs of China and exerts pressure on the city’s government and police, which “will only embolden the rioters to conduct more severe radical violence.”

It said Bachelet made “inappropriate comments” on the situation in Hong Kong and that the Chinese side had lodged a strong protest in response.

Associated Press journalist Dake Kang contributed to this report.

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto delivered a strong message last week to Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc who were made aware that their clash in Brazil was “not acceptable”.

Vettel and Leclerc came together in the closing stages of the race at Interlagos as they were fighting for fourth, the damage sustained in the contact forcing both men into retirement.

In a Q&A session with Ferrari fans ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, Binotto confirmed that “clear the air” talks had taken place with both drivers.

Piero Ferrari: ‘Hard for me to identify with modern F1’

“We did it the Sunday after the race, but we did it as well in the following days, during the week,” said the Scuderia boss.

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“We discussed together, all three together, individually, and I think that they understand what happened was not acceptable. And we know how to move forward.”

On the track, growing tensions between the two drivers have been perceptible, especially in Sochi where Vettel ignored a call from the Ferrari pit wall to yield to Leclerc while in the lead, reneging on a pre-race agreement with the Monegasque.

But off the track, Binotto insisted the relationship between the two drivers was a good one, and even light-hearted at times.

“The truth is they have fun together, as they enjoy a good and harmonious relationship, which is maybe quite different to what you might read or think,” explained Binotto.

“You could think that they are in conflict on the track, but that is not the case.

“For example, I remember that after the controversy in Russia, the three of us were together in a restaurant in Japan, having fun.

“They even grabbed each other’s phones to see what photos they had on them. It’s always fun and it’s nice that they enjoy each other’s company.

“They are good teammates because they are very fast and they are good teammates because they are very good team players.”

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