Community Chat

[CelticCrafter]

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@151949wrote:

In my opinion - if SS is going to be the main source of retirement income , the longer you can wait the better. Our friends fell for the "get it at 62 - over the long brun you'll get more money." Now they are in their 70's - each get about $400 less per month than they would have if they waited, and they have to live a pretty sparse life just getting by financially. Was that worth retiring 3 years earlier? Not to me.

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@151949 you did what you felt was the right decision for yourself...

In my case, if I had made the decision to wait the extra 4 years and dropped dead before the age of 66 - who would get that $ - UH NO ONE because my monthly check is a mere pittance compared to what my husband will collect under his own account - so anything I was able to get back is $ in the bank instead of gambling and leaving it laying on the table.

[SharkE]

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@Pearleewrote:

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wrote:

My husband just turned 65 on Sunday. We got him all signed up for Medicare & supplements, but we're going to be working until I turn 65 in two years...just can't afford the medical insurance for me!

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IMO for people around our age it's better to wait until age 66 to sign up for the benefits (not talking about Medicare here), the year we qualify for 100% SS benefits.  I do now qualify for 100% but I'm going to try to wait til age 70 to sign up for the benefits because, unless something changes in the law, I will get even more then because I get 8% more each year until age 70 at which time, the base monthly benefit doesn't increase any more.

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That changed when Obama left office. Unless you were already signed up for it.  You don't get that 8% any more if you wait till your 70. They discontinued it. Been discontinued now for like couple of yrs.

[deeva]

I retired when I was 52. So I chose to take SS early. But since it’s not my main source of income, this has worked out for me. 

My mom signed up for SS at 62 and died at 65.

[gidgetgh]

This comes up with every social security thread. 

Take it at 62 and get lower pay for hopefully longer?

Or take it at 65 or 66 (or whatever the maximum age is) and get more money for a shorter amount amount of time?

You just have to do what works for you.

While we didn’t need my social security to live on, I didn’t want to roll the dice and hope I lived another 4-5 years. I wasn’t working. I wasn’t planning on going back to work. I wanted the money as soon as I could get it.  It’s a big deal. Someone else has done the formulas here before, but it takes years to recover the money you haven’t been collecting for 4-5 years. I’m greedy. I wanted my money now. 

If the extra amount you will receive by waiting is going to be THAT important to your retirement and how you live going forward, then you didn’t do the greatest job preparing for your retirement. 

[2blonde]

@gidgetgh  Another thing people need to consider before retirement is the (however small) cost-of-living increase they may receive each year.  That would somewhat negate the difference in benefit amounts between retiring earlier or later.

I was fortunate to have started working as a state employee (public college) when I was very young.  I actually retired at 41 years there, receiving 93% of the maximum benefit.  They've changed this recently, but for the first few years I received a 3% cost-of-living increase on each anniversary of my retirement.  That eventually brought me up to the full 100% benefit that would be achievable after 44 years of service.  I was rehired (at a much lower pay rate) and am still working full-time.  (My employer no longer gives any of the staff employees, including me, any salary increases.)  The 10% of my pay that would normally go into my SERS retirement fund, they now put into an annuity that will be there for me when I finally stop working all together.

[LilacTree]

I've been eligible since the age of 65 and three months for full benefits.  I waited and now I am 80.  So I've been collecting what is now nearly $2,000 a month for fifteen years plus.  I never thought I would live this long, but I'm glad I waited.  Since I have no other taxable income, I pay no taxes.  I always received W-2's throughout my working life of 40 years.  So I paid my share.

My long term care benefits are also not taxable because the policy I bought through my employer had an "indefinite" term with "informal" care (my daughters are allowed to be my caretakers). 

I realize long term care policies now have expiration dates, if one can even find a company that still offers them at an affordable premium.  I was lucky, the premium was automatically deducted from my pay check and I never even missed it, and once you start collecting benefits, you no longer have to pay any premium. 

[SharkE]

not sure what your saying. You keep paying your long term care premium even when your in nursing home and using the long term care insurance.

Never heard of "expiration dates" either. News to me . Unless you mean how long the policy is in effect for when you enter a nursing home. 

Ours pays out for 4 yrs. per person. If one doesn't use up all of their 4 yrs ( dies)it's

added to the other surviving spouse's time in nursing home.

[Pearlee]

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@SharkEwrote:

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@Pearleewrote:

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wrote:

My husband just turned 65 on Sunday. We got him all signed up for Medicare & supplements, but we're going to be working until I turn 65 in two years...just can't afford the medical insurance for me!

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IMO for people around our age it's better to wait until age 66 to sign up for the benefits (not talking about Medicare here), the year we qualify for 100% SS benefits.  I do now qualify for 100% but I'm going to try to wait til age 70 to sign up for the benefits because, unless something changes in the law, I will get even more then because I get 8% more each year until age 70 at which time, the base monthly benefit doesn't increase any more.

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That changed when Obama left office. Unless you were already signed up for it.  You don't get that 8% any more if you wait till your 70. They discontinued it. Been discontinued now for like couple of yrs.

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@SharkE  Well, that isn't what I was told by the very helpful and seemingly knowledgeable gentleman at my local SS office, about a month and a half ago.  In fact, he gave me a chart with that yearly 8% increase to show me what I'd get monthly at age 70.     Please state your source so I can read it for myself  in the law if you think otherwise.   If I can't read any actual documentation for your post, I will most certainly go with the guy at the SS office who counsels people every day about this.

[winker]

Don't feel bad I just turned 83 and hope to keep going.

[sunshine45]

Full retirement age is the age at which a person may first become entitled to full or unreduced retirement benefits.

No matter what your full retirement age (also called "normal retirement age") is, you may start receiving benefits as early as age 62 or as late as age 70.

You can retire at any time between age 62 and full retirement age. However, if you start benefits early, your benefits are reduced a fraction of a percent for each month before your full retirement age.

If you start receiving benefits at age 66 you get 100 percent of your monthly benefit. If you delay receiving retirement benefits until after your full retirement age, your monthly benefit continues to increase.

The chart below explains how delayed retirement affects your benefit. The increase is based on your date of birth and the number of months you delay the start of your retirement benefits. If you start receiving retirement benefits at age:

• 67, you'll get 108 percent of the monthly benefit because you delayed getting benefits for 12 months.

• 70, you'll get 132 percent of the monthly benefit because you delayed getting benefits for 48 months.

  When you reach age 70, your monthly benefit stops increasing even if you continue to delay taking benefits.

If you decide to delay your retirement, be sure to

Sign up for Medicare at age 65.

In some circumstances, medical insurance costs more if you delay applying for it.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/1943-delay.html

Workers planning for their retirement should be aware that retirement benefits depend on age at retirement. If a worker begins receiving benefits before his/her normal (or full) retirement age, the worker will receive a reduced benefit. A worker can choose to retire as early as age 62, but doing so may result in a reduction of as much as 30 percent.

Starting to receive benefits after normal retirement age may result in larger benefits. With delayed retirement credits, a person can receive his or her largest benefit by retiring at age 70.