Posted on 08/02/2018 2:29:04 PM PDT by Red Badger
SS is a scam. What financial product takes 14% of your annual pay then pays such a minimum return. Let me invest that into my 401k.
If an investment firm took 14% of your pay, for 45 -50 years, and gave you that pitiful return, they would be arrested for fraud.
Boat accident. Just clumsy and dropped it. Unfortunately
I still work full time. I have had some serious health issues, but surgically resolved.
Also, working until age 70 allowed me to replace a few zero's and a few low wage college summer job years in my 35 year average. It was a double win that way.
Furthermore, as someone who has been saving for retirement his whole life the age 70 1/2 minimum IRA and 401k distributions will kick in at about the same time.
That is another source of age 70+ income. If you can wait to age 70 to collect social security (and many folks can't afford to) then you get some substantial benefits. Plus if (or should I say when) you die, your wife gets the larger of her or your social security. If you are a typical breadwinner with a larger salary and your wife took a few years out of the work force to raise your children, then maximizing your social security by working until 70 will give her a larger income when you die, if she out lives you.
The only down side is that the more income you have the higher the taxes on social security and the higher the medicare payments, but even though your “taxes” are higher, so is your income after taxes.
And yes, I lucked out and was able to do the file and suspend thing with my wife. She continued to work and was able to draw my 1/2 full retirement age social security on top of her salary.
You need to study the options, figure out what you can afford to do and then maximize your social security benefits.
The only difference is the amount of money you receive after 80 which is more the longer you wait to start taking your benefits.
I am wobbling along with $1155 a month. Had 4 years out of 8 with Obama with ZERO COL raises. One ‘raise’ was $3 a month.
“I weighed the benefits of taking it now vice waiting till 66 and 2 months which would have been my max.”
66 years and 2 months is your “full retirement age” (FRA) not the age at which your SS benefits would max out. That age is 70 (not counting any COLAs you might receive after age 70). Between your FRA and age 70, your benefit would increase about 8% per year.
“... there is no other absolute way to get a confirmed 8% per year increase in any investment for working from full retirement age until age 70.”
That 8% per year includes average mortality risk, so I wouldn’t quite call it “confirmed”.
I run 5ks and ran with a 72 year old who did it in 23 minutes. 70 isn’t what it used to be. At 62, I feel happy if I come in at 38, however. Used to do 32.
I made those same calculations when I retired, and took it at 62.
Now my wife waited until 66 and draws off of mine while hers builds. She will take her own at 70 and will be making about as much as I do or more.
Yup.. well aware of that. Either way it was a loss and I’m not that far off the max possible at 85%... so the “you must have had the maximum taxable earning for a whopping 35 years” is BS. Not aure how that was calculated but it’s BS.
Speaking from experience, if you retire before age 66 and continue working, you will pocket little or no extra money. DO NOT retire early and continue working.
Once you are dead, you won’t care. I just started drawing at 70, snd am satisfied with my decision
>>California pension? You probably ought to re-calculate based on what the PBGC would pay when California goes bust and starts issuing script instead of real money.<<
That is part of the reason I am taking it now.
But I am pretty sure the courts will force them to pay Cal Pers even if they don’t spend a dime on anything else. But it is the courts so who knows?
As for “script” (scrip?): I was an employee when California issued IOUs back in the 90s — since they paid interest they ended up being investment grade instruments.
It isn’t enough to really make much of a difference but it is a nice to have.
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Interesting. Works on three different machines for me.
Image of diver sitting on a submerged deck gun. Caption:”When you miss the guns lost in a boating accident.”
You can't invest Social Security funds into an IRA. Only "earned income" can be invested. You can take SS and if you are still working and have earned income, you can invest up to $6500 per year (if you're over 50) of your earned income. You can also contribute to a non-working spouse's IRA from your earned income if you file jointly.
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