Posted on 08/02/2018 9:22:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
The assumption was system solvency. With Trump and his successors in power I have hopes for the system.
I don’t understand the concept of Full Retirement Age. You can start drawing anywhere 62 to 70 with payments going up about 8% a year. Oddly some years seem to go up more and others less. It seems like a way to keep sheeple working longer.
If you live in a state that doesn’t evaluate assets for food stamps, and your other income is low, it may be beneficial to delay payments so you can claim that and other benefits for a while.
If you take it before your full retirement age, it will be permanently reduced. You will be limited in the amount of money you can make to $17,040 (in 2018) without having your benefit withheld. If you plan to work and make more than the limit, reconsider.
If you are at or above your full retirement age, consider your life expectancy. The cross-over point where your total benefits received—lower amount for longer time vs higher amount for shorter time—is about age 81. If, based on life-expectancy, you plan to live longer than age 81, waiting is the way to maximize your benefit.
In any consideration... if you need the money, take it.
Medicare and Social Security are separate programs with separate rules. Generally, you apply for Medicare at 65 without variation and independent of Social Security decisions.
The answer is as early as you can. There is no guarantee of tomorrow.
“If you take SS at FRA (Full Retirement Age) and still work, your SS benefit could be subject up to 85% taxed depending on how much you earn.”
There’s a radio infomercial where the guy is trying to sell retirement planning and says the same thing. He’s doing it to deceive listeners, I suspect you’re just trying to communicate the point...but it comes out meaning something else.
In actuality, your benefit is not taxed at 85% (as implied), but rather 85% of your benefit is subject to federal income tax. So if you get $1000 from SS, you don’t pay $850 in taxes, rather your reported taxable income goes up by $850, and thus you pay maybe $200 in income taxes (if in 22% bracket). Big difference.
It depends on what you are using Social Security for.
If Social Security is to be your primary source of income, take it as early as you can.
If Social Security is to be a backstop, to make sure you never outlive your money, but you are going to be living on accumulated savings or pensions, take it as late as you can.
66 1/2 Nov 2019. Can’t wait.
The one taking at 70 (vs 62) will have missed out on (12 x 8 = ) 96 months of (lower rate) benefits.
That is my plan. I’ll just save it at Money Market rates until I figure out how to invest without risking the principal or paying a great deal for an advisor.
Till then, I’ll hold it in an account that is NOT ATM accessible. I know myself. I don’t want my access to this saved money to be too easy. I need to really think about it before gnawing away at that account. Sort of like keeping a bottle of fine whiskey locked up in my kitchen cabinet, and paying someone to hold the keys.
Maybe, but the system wasn’t in quite the straits it is now back then.
thanx
SSA has it wrong then
https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxes.html
file a joint return, and you and your spouse have a combined income* that is
between $32,000 and $44,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50 percent of your benefits.
more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.
Growing old isn’t so terrible — when you consider the alternative. ......Mark Twain......
No, you don’t have to take it. However if you don’t but need to later and haven’t had coverage that meets certain criteria (what they call credible coverage), there are penalties pertaining to cost. This applies to Part B and the Prescription coverage, whatever letter of the alphabet it is. Part A is free and may be a good way of having additional coverage with any existing external coverage you may have.
Yep. My wife and I did the math before taking hers. And one reason we did it was that if I die before her (statistically probable), hers will be moot anyway because she’ll then get the much larger death benefit instead.
And as we all know, a dollar in the hand today is also worth more than the promise of a dollar in the hand in 15 years.
“You can get help from your state paying your Medicare premiums. In some cases, Medicare Savings Programs may also pay Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments if you meet certain conditions.”
I’m pretty sure your wife can get 50% of the amount you get. That’s the way it works with us.
” up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable”
I think I’m in line with SS on this. They’re saying that if you get $1000, up to $850 could be subject to federal income tax...but NOT that one would pay up to $850 in federal income tax (leaving only $150 post-tax), as implied by many people (both intentionally or not).
There’s also the possibility of going on SNAP benefits to delay having to go on Social Security, often for another year or even two.
bookmark - I did not know that about Part B
62, because there’s no guarantee you’ll make it to 66 or 70.
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