Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[ponytug]

Some humor.

I have finally reached a point in my life where I am actually worth more ALIVE than Dead.

Hmmm... Insured for the benefit for spouse and family, no problem. Others, not so much. I have been insured by others for their benefit, and being worth more dead than alive was never a comfortable feeling for me. It always felt to me like the start of some Hollywood thriller, with a lead actor that doesn't know why someone wants him dead so badly.

 

[California]

... According to most calculations I've seen, you only come out ahead by postponing SS if you live beyond 80.

80+ was my assumption that I put into the retirement planning calculator that I've mentioned here. Mom lived to 98, her sister to 107. Their father to 98. Dad after tuberculosis and polio, to 88. His father. similar.

So having greater income after 80, where going back to work might be difficult, seemed like a reasonable planning assumption. That plus increased SS for wife if I didn't make it to 80, looked like the preferable choice. I started at 67. Now, looking at 80 approaching, I don't see any reason I wouldn't make it.

But everyone is different. I worked alongside someone who took early retirement from the Air Force when untreatable high blood pressure no longer qualified him to be a pilot. He came back from a routine dr appointment and mentioned casually he didn't have long to live. I asked if he was serious, he said of course not. He died months later, before his 50th birthday. Life is strange.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

"According to most calculations I've seen, you only come out ahead by postponing SS if you live beyond 80."

Or your spouse! I may die at 72 years old, but have a spouse that could live to 92 at a very reduced S.S. payment. Survivors only get the largest of the two.
I think it is this;

Both alive based on largest S.S.;
RA 62, .75 + .75/2 = 1.125 FRA
FRA, 1 + .5 = 1.5 FRA
RA 70 years, ; 1.24 + .5 = 1.74 FRA

Me dead

RA 62, .75 FRA
FRA, 1 FRA
RA 70 years, ; 1 FRA

It was like 78 years in my case. The best I remember. I had some zero years that got filled by me keeping turn it in W-2s made huge difference. My monthly SS payment is 3x what it would have been at 62. Having to pay tax on 85% of that smaller check was been self-defeating as far as tax management goes.

Since I have already invited a few to my 110th birthday bash, clearly I plan to live pasta 78. The funny thing is if I do not I will not need the money.

The multiplier on the cost of living increase is turning out to be a lot larger number than I expected to my favor.

 

[goeduck]

About 25% do the same thing per a posted video. That is why we have a ton of options. Our CPA advised taking it at age 70 for tax management reasons

I am may be able to avoid signing up for Medicare until age 75 but that depends on when the wife stops working.

Curious what the benefit of waiting to sign up for Medicare at 75 is. If your wife is still working and you are on her medical, is there not an option to select one (or both) as being on Medicare to reduce her premium?

As to other member's posts about how long they expect to live, I have always looked at how long my parents lived, grandparents etc. and added a couple of years per generation which lands me in the early to mid 90s. Both my parents died of natural age-related causes, and both lived 2 to 3 years longer on average than their parents. I know the trend nationwide for life expectancy is tapering off or dropping, but I believe a lot of that is due to drug related deaths etc.

 

[ovrszd]

Sitting here at 71 I have no understanding of having a discussion with myself regarding retirement age based on such trivial things as how much SS I would draw or what Medicare would cost me. I've been retired 11 years and wouldn't change anything. I'd have to write a book to describe all the things I've done since being retired. Life is good.

 

[riptides]

Based on one's choices in life, path, fortunes, luck or interventions of some sort...Social security and Medicare are not trivial matters. Retirement if it is even a choice is something that requires careful thought.

 

[arto98607]

So many people will 'have to' work until they turn 65 so they can sign up for medicare.

I know a fellow who quit his well paying job in his early 60's (without thinking ahead) and of course lost medical insurance provided by his employer.

Few weeks later he was panicking and begging to be rehired, but no luck.

 

[ovrszd]

Based on one's choices in life, path, fortunes, luck or interventions of some sort...Social security and Medicare are not trivial matters. Retirement if it is even a choice is something that requires careful thought.

Yep. So is delaying retirement to gain a few dollars. I'm just glad I don't think that way. I approach it from the other end.

 

[ovrszd]

So many people will 'have to' work until they turn 65 so they can sign up for medicare.

I know a fellow who quit his well paying job in his early 60's (without thinking ahead) and of course lost medical insurance provided by his employer.

Few weeks later he was panicking and begging to be rehired, but no luck.

I completely understand this position. Very common.

 

[riptides]

Yep. So is delaying retirement to gain a few dollars. I'm just glad I don't think that way. I approach it from the other end.

Some people need those few dollars.
If they can retire at all.