Retiring in 2021 ........ Anyone Else?

[covermego]

It really depends. Can be a bit of a gamble.

Based on my projections from SSA a couple weeks ago, the difference in me retiring at 62 vs retiring at 67 is collecting a smaller amount throughout the rest of my life. At 62, I'd get 68.3% of what I'd get at age 67 and beyond. Doing the math that I'd collect for an extra 5 years before the higher amount would even start though takes me until about the 11th month of my 77th year to break even. So I have to live to 78 years old to have it be actually beneficial for me to have waited to take SSA. You could even argue the net present value of receiving those funds sooner as well in which case probably later in the 78th year before you truly break even. The question is how long do you think you'll make it.

^^^^THIS!!^^^^ Thank you for posting this. My wife and I also ran the numbers and arrived at a similar conclusion. You worded it beautifully. Also so sad about your mother. I feel for you. Similar experience.
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Again, I will be doing some sort of part-time work. I already have several "irons in the fire". My wife also works for the Dept of Rehabilitation, so she has access to companies looking for work - and there are a LOT of folks needing workers, since lots of people don't really wanna work right now. Imagine that.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

It really depends. Can be a bit of a gamble.

Based on my projections from SSA a couple weeks ago, the difference in me retiring at 62 vs retiring at 67 is collecting a smaller amount throughout the rest of my life. At 62, I'd get 68.3% of what I'd get at age 67 and beyond. Doing the math that I'd collect for an extra 5 years before the higher amount would even start though takes me until about the 11th month of my 77th year to break even. So I have to live to 78 years old to have it be actually beneficial for me to have waited to take SSA. You could even argue the net present value of receiving those funds sooner as well in which case probably later in the 78th year before you truly break even. The question is how long do you think you'll make it.

My mom retired at 67 because she was battling ovarian cancer the 2nd time. She died at 68 and 4 months. I wish she had retired at 62 and enjoyed some of the fruits of her labors. My dad's SS income then dropped to just him instead of both of them collecting (that's the biggest problem with SS instead of also having 401k or pension, etc). My dad is 77 and is the highest aged person ever from his family. They all died young. For me, I believe I'll be taking SSA at 62 as my gamble. To each their own of course.

It sounds like you have thought this through. What ever you decide, don't look back and say IF ONLY! My father died at 49 My mother at nearly 80, I have an Auntie who was blind and lived by herself until 99, she died at nearly 101. I fully intend to send Charlie (or whoever is on the throne then) a dirty letter for my 100th! I figure, if Queenie can send letters to centenarians, why shouldn't a centenarian send her/him one!! As an aside, I wonder if she will send herself a letter when she cracks the ton.

 

[covermego]

HAHAHAHAH !!!! What an excellent way to start my day. Hilarious! Thank You!

 

[GretschWretch]

If you can hold off collecting SS until you are past seventy (which some in this discussion apparently are reluctant to do), you will collect something like 132% of full benefits. Come August I will have worked two years past when I began collecting, and because I still am working my monthly benefit goes up each year. In addition to SS I should have a pension coming along with TIAFF, plus I have some funds banked already. If nothing catastrophic happens and I don't go spendthrift crazy, I should be in pretty good shape. Prescription medications will be my largest worry.

Of course, I had to start planning this strategy years ago in order to get the timing right.

 

[gtmalone]

Further info on taking SS early or later. I started at 62. That was best for us.

Tons of info and varied opinions out there. It depends on what's right for you.

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Social Security at 62 | Fidelity

Opinion: Take Social Security at 62? Here’s when it makes sense to do it

 

[SOUTH PAW]

Just retired from my part time lock & key business ( after 7 years ) just 5 weeks ago. Also, the wife's last day from her job as manager of a restaurant, was last Sunday. She worked there for 25 years....no pension, no 401k, only a going away party, and a single months pay . Thankfully, I worked as a Locksmith for 25 years ( layed off at 52 in 2014 ) for a large aerospace company, and began receiving a pension two years ago at 57 ( had to take it within a 3 week window around my birthday, or lose something like 42%... ) along with a 401k I began receiving a year earlier ( a little known provision called a 72T, allows you to take a percentage of your 401k before age 59 and 1/2 without penalty ). Bummer was, I needed to be 55 and have 30 years for a full pension, so I lost around 38%. Not too shabby considering I was able to follow up, by earning a part time income doing what I always enjoyed, and on my own terms ( scheduled most of my work between 10am and 2pm ) mostly to pay for health insurance, which as others have mentioned, is never free....how's a 65+% tax rate considered free? Anyway, the wife and I are truly blessed to finally retire now, as we are in the process of selling our home in California, and making plans to move to Arizona where we can afford to do it. I'm looking forward to ( God willing ) having a larger space for a combination music room /recording studio / man cave, along with less traffic and time to do other non music related hobbies with the wife.

Great to hear of so many others who plannned, and already made it happen, or, are in the works like me, but also younger ones, who may have been inspired to prepare for it now, so they are ready down the road.

One little example of what an early start vs delay can mean....when I started with McDonnell Douglas back in the eighties, I missed out on taking advantage of the 401k with company mathching ( free money ) for the first 5 years I worked there ( never really took the time to read the benefits package they gave me ) so, I figured I lost what would currently be valued at around 350k...doh. Thankfully, due to a coworker and good friend who was doing financial planning on the side, brought it up, and once informed, I acted immediately, keeping me from losing even more

 

[J R Knots]

If you can hold off collecting SS until you are past seventy (which some in this discussion apparently are reluctant to do), you will collect something like 132% of full benefits. Come August I will have worked two years past when I began collecting, and because I still am working my monthly benefit goes up each year. In addition to SS I should have a pension coming along with TIAFF, plus I have some funds banked already. If nothing catastrophic happens and I don't go spendthrift crazy, I should be in pretty good shape. Prescription medications will be my largest worry.

Of course, I had to start planning this strategy years ago in order to get the timing right.

Be careful not to wait past 70- if you do you will loose every month you wait. The money only increases to 70 and the government won’t give back the months you don’t take after you turn 70.

If you can wait to start drawing after 70 you are well ahead as GretschWretch is stating- usually your break even is less than 80 years old- so that $$$ will greater than if you it earlier and invested it.

 

[Treblefree]

If you can hold off collecting SS until you are past seventy (which some in this discussion apparently are reluctant to do), you will collect something like 132% of full benefits. Come August I will have worked two years past when I began collecting, and because I still am working my monthly benefit goes up each year. In addition to SS I should have a pension coming along with TIAFF, plus I have some funds banked already. If nothing catastrophic happens and I don't go spendthrift crazy, I should be in pretty good shape. Prescription medications will be my largest worry.

Of course, I had to start planning this strategy years ago in order to get the timing right.

Yes, everyone should check their SSA each year and weigh it up individually for what works best for you personally. I'm glad to hear about your TIAA and pension. Many people don't have pension and companies don't like the liability, so rarely any offer such a thing any more which is really too bad and in my opionion, the top reason employees are not as long-term loyal to any one company anymore.

I actually show that I'd get 25.8% more than full benefits if retiring at 70 instead of 67. I'm glad you brought that option up because I've never really contemplated it. Doing that math now, I'd have to live to be 78 and half to break even from not retiring at 62, or comparing 67 to 70 retirement alone, I'd break even at about 80 and 8 months. Of course, in any case, the longer you live past that 78-80 mark, the better off you'd be waiting.

 

[GretschWretch]

Be careful not to wait past 70- if you do you will loose every month you wait. The money only increases to 70 and the government won’t give back the months you don’t take after you turn 70.

If you can wait to start drawing after 70 you are well ahead as GretschWretch is stating- usually your break even is less than 80 years old- so that $$$ will greater than if you it earlier and invested it.

Also, if you start drawing in mid-year, SSA can retroactively begin benefits rolled back to January of that year. My birthday is in July, and five days after it I had my meeting with SSA. I had wanted to begin drawing my benefits the following January, but the SSA rep said if I did that as opposed to the other option I would be ninety before I broke even. I chose the other option and got my first check in September.

And since I still am working I still am paying into the program, so my benefit has bumped twice from the time I began drawing and I should have at least one more bump coming. Of course, my Medicare Part B premium knocks the amount down a bit, but I still am much better off than I would be if I had begun drawing SS when I was 67.

 

[Pilgrim]

I didn't apply for my Social Security stuff until I was 67 because I didn't need it. I expected it would start once the paperwork got through, but in fact they back-dated it to the first month I was eligible and paid five years as a lump sum! THAT was a surprising check to get, even though I didn't work many years in positions that were eligible for Social Security.

I recently got a notice that I ran into the Windfall Policy and they're making adjustments. They even want some $ back. I'm working the math because it seems like every other month the amount they pay me changes. Nothing is ever as simple as you hope it will be.