I dislike these pat little articles that ignore the present value of money, taxes, the difference between SS Colas and real inflation, and the likelihood of a substantial benefit cut in about 15 years.
Something to consider is if you delay your SS benefits the checks get larger but it takes many years to make up the amount you get taking it earlier. For example if you get $2000 a month taking it at age 60 you will get 120,000 over 5 years. If you start taking it at 65 and get $2,500 a month you will take you 20 years for the higher benefit to equal the amount you didn’t earn by postponing benefits.
$2000 x 60 months = 120,000
$120,000 / $500/month = 240 months
If you start at 60 and collect $2000/mo for 20 years you will make a total of $480,000.
If you start at 65 and collect $2500/mo for 15 years you get a total of $450,000.
*
Thanks much for the info!
My mom volunteers as teacher daily at 84 y.o.!
I suspect I’ll be working for a long while, though moved to 4 days a week.
I never "saved" money specifically for retirement... As soon as a bank account got extra money in it, I gave it to one or more of the kids, grand-kids, or great grand-kids... Always figured there's more joy in seeing it used by them rather than fighting the state over it when I get to ground temperature...
I know it can’t/won’t last forever
(Especially if they come up with more ways to waste it than what it was ‘designed’ for)
but I seem to recall that I-at 30- and other ‘experts’ were sitting around the bar convinced WE would NEVER see a penny of it.
That was back in 1969 and .........
I started early-14 and waited until 69 to file...
NO, I am not ashamed to collect what they had ‘stolen’ from me for 55 years.
And still ‘working’.
flr
-PJ
4 later
The government is counting on, and needs for people to wait until later in their retirement years to collect SS.
There are millions of people who don’t take their SS benefits and wait until 65 or 67 or older, HOPING to get more in their checks when they do finally collect SS.
But, the government keeps YOUR benefits if you die before collecting SS. If you wait till 65 and die in between 62 and 65, the government ‘gets lucky’ with your benefits. If you wait until 67 and die before that age, the government will have kept 5 years of SS, and all of your SS ‘contributions’ you made all your working life. If you wait until 70, the government will have gotten lucky with all of your lifetime contributions to SS. Spouses and kids may receive what was coming to you, if they survive you, but, YOU will not have gotten back what you expected from SS.
You may get more at an age greater than 62, but the government is counting on YOU leaving the Earth prior to you getting your benefits.
The government gets to keep billions of dollars each year from those that died prior to collection. Congress has tried for many years to increase the SS benefits age to at least 67 and many have mentioned 70. The later they can move it to, the more the government gets to keep from those that died prior to getting their due benefits.
SS is NOT YOURS and the government wants you to die before you can get any benefits. And, the government also wants you to die before you have gotten back what you paid into the program.
Yet, there are people who NEVER PAID into the system who are getting YOUR SS money, including millions of non-citizens; aka: illegal aliens. Imagine if an insurance company got to do the same with money people paid into their life insurance, and the money was kept after they die.
I retired 3 years ago at 68 when retirement age was still 65. The extra has been quite nice. However my un-Vaxed age group seems to be living longer then the following Vaxed age groups who are going to have to retire at 70 to max-out their SS if they should live so long.
Congress or G-d can make Social Security worthless to you in a stroke.
A: 62.
I went at 62.
Go AS SOON AS YOU CAN! DON”T WAIT!
You might DIE between 62 and 65!
We each retired when we reached 62 - ans started SS right away as it would take enough years to catch up with a later start at higher payments than we might actually have...delaying a few years for a higher payout is going those years with zero payments....we wanted to get ours while it was still a viable entity...
These calculations are based on the assumption that the benefit levels will remain unchanged or that means testing will not be introduced in a system we know is going broke.
There is definitely something to be said for the bird in the hand.
Great post