Retirement thoughts Past Present Future

[Gale Hawkins]

I need to know more... to lazy to (and I don't trust "financial" people). Might as well get good information from TBN!!!

So, I plan to take my SS at 62 in 6 months, I don't need to (I have pensions and savings) but when else do I plan to actually USE the money?

Regardless, my question is about what you mentioned above "...My wife is drawing off of my account until she turns 70 since our birth years are before 1954...." Is that only for people born before 1954 and my wife, who was born 1962, could not get half of my SS early???

Have you made an appointment with your area SS office. Sounds like you may be more excited about paying income on social security benefits than I am.

If your wife expects to draw off of your social security benefits, why not wait and let them grow because cashing in social security at 62 can be costly because she will get half of whatever your social security is.

Talk with a SS Rep and your tax advisor Monday.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

My SS understanding is you can take it at 62 and must take it by 70 (double check me). The longer you wait the more you get. However! Although my wife & I worked from age 15 to 60, paying in all those years, ours together is enough to buy 1-2 dinners a month . That's because of IRMAA, deduction based on AGI. Basically socialism: the more you pay in before retirement as well as the less income you have after retirement the more you receive regardless of what you paid into it all your working years.
My advice was take it at 62 since the "flipping point" is about 82, meaning if you die before 82...take it early. If you live beyond 82 you should have waited until you were 70 to take it. Not being a gambler we took it at 62 and basically it just pays for Medicare at 65.
My wife gets $23.15/month SS.
I get a bit more but impossible to live on.
It should be taught in high school how to plan for your retirement, not relying on SS.

Retiring on just SS is doable for many that had good jobs that paid above the table. Being terminally ill can be a good reason to sign up at 62. My friend signed up at 62 and passed at 65 from cancer.

There are a lot of websites of that give examples of signing up at 62 and at full retirement age and at 70.

 

[California]

Beware the IRMAA!

IRMAA is a surcharge on Medicare premiums for Medicare Part B (medical insurance) and Part D prescription drug plans. It applies only to Medicare beneficiaries who have a modified adjusted gross income above $97,000 for an individual return and $194,000 for a joint return. If your earnings are below this threshold, IRMAA doesn't apply to you.

I don't think we will have to worry about it.

If your wife expects to draw off of your social security benefits, why not wait and let them grow because cashing in social security at 62 can be costly because she will get half of whatever your social security is.

We did this. I started SS at 67, 'full retirement age', with wife receiving half of it. Then she started her own at 70 as I recall. This was the strategy that maximized SS, assuming we would live long enough. We have.

 

[California]

...But everyone's circumstances are different. I suggest read everything you can find on SS strategy - articles in Forbes, Kiplinger, etc as well as on the Fidelity and Vanguard websites for example. Then read the actual SS rules in detail to verify that your proposed plan conforms. Then if you aren't certain you have optimized everything, this is a case where paying a specialist to review your plan is worthwhile.

And like the IRS, the folks who answer the phone at SS have no responsibility to give you an accurate description of the rules. I wouldn't rely on their phone advice, beyond learning something new to explore.

 

[newbury]

It should be taught in high school how to plan for your retirement, not relying on SS

It should be taught by parents, and grandparents that you need to plan on where you are going and how to get help if you can't figure it out.
I was taught that SS was a "safety net".
As in the last chance to stop you before you hit bottom.
It shouldn't have become America's retirement plan.
Yet with many major corporations figuring out how to shaft workers by changing and even eliminating pension plans nothing is safe.

 

[California]

Yet with many major corporations figuring out how to shaft workers by changing and even eliminating pension plans nothing is safe.

One of the most dirty things that corporate raiders do is suck all the assets out of a corporation then declare bankruptcy, where the pension money is one of the assets sold off to pay the creditors.

Wife's cousin lost years of pension plus the value of his stock during the Delta Airlines 'restructuring'. To get back to reasonable savings for retirement he changed from station agent to flight attendant which paid more but is more hassle, for example stuck in unexpected places overnight, or reporting in then no pay at all if a flight is cancelled - even if cancelled after boarding. Harder work than his old 9 to 5 job behind the counter.

 

[MossRoad]

...assuming we would live long enough. We have.

My dad said it's a contest to see who can last the longest....

Oh, wait, that was marriage.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Retiring on just SS is doable for many that had good jobs that paid above the table. Being terminally ill can be a good reason to sign up at 62. My friend signed up at 62 and passed at 65 from cancer.

There are a lot of websites of that give examples of signing up at 62 and at full retirement age and at 70.

Yes Gale. We've known people who worked, paid into SS all their life only to pass at 65! One friend took early SS then passed at 62, receiving one check!

 

[goeduck]

What more you want to know? To get max SS benefits one must not sign up and start drawing their SS before his or her 70th birthday.

Assuming your SS benefit is greater than you wife's, when the rep told you that she could "start drawing off of your account since she had reached her FRA" did that mean while you were still alive? That you both could be drawing off of your higher account at the same time? I always thought a surviving spouse could draw off of the higher account of the two, but while both were alive, they had to draw off of their own accounts. No?

 

[California]

Assuming your SS benefit is greater than you wife's, when the rep told you that she could "start drawing off of your account since she had reached her FRA" did that mean while you were still alive? That you both could be drawing off of your higher account at the same time? I always thought a surviving spouse could draw off of the higher account of the two, but while both were alive, they had to draw off of their own accounts. No?

No, as I recall your check can be split with your wife if you wish. We did that but I don't remember why it was more effective.