Readers are always asking me to explain various Social Security rules and regulations. But sometimes they want more. They want to see something official—something in black and white. In other words, they want me to give them a legal reference for whatever rules I am explaining to them. I sort of know where they are coming from. Frequently, they have heard one thing from a friend or from a supposed trusted source, like maybe a financial adviser or even a Social Security representative. And then they read something different from me. I understand their confusion. So, why should they trust me? Well, I’ve been doing this Social Security stuff for almost 50 years now. And all the programs, rules, and regulations are just burned into my brain. I will occasionally need to check something out in the Social Security Administration’s Program Operations Manual System, or POMS, which is the primary …