Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you stay in the military, but get out before you can retire, the time you spent there is usually at a lower wage than you might get in civilian life. I don't know if military wages are still showing up as SS earnings, but they were when I was in about 40 years ago.
I just did a calculation to see which of my earnings years have dropped out of the 35 years that SS uses to calculate my benefit, and all my four USAF years have been pushed out. It got me to thinking about the people who stay in the military over 12 years but don't stay to retirement because they get a good job opportunity. Those years that SS tracks that stay in the 35 year period can significantly reduce your benefit. Something to consider before you jettison your military retirement plans.
"You Can Get Both Social Security Benefits And Military Retirement
Generally, there is no reduction of Social Security benefits because of your military retirement benefits. You'll get your full Social Security benefit based on your earnings. " https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/veterans.html
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 12-23-2015 at 07:30 AM..
"You Can Get Both Social Security Benefits And Military Retirement
Generally, there is no reduction of Social Security benefits because of your military retirement benefits. You'll get your full Social Security benefit based on your earnings. " https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/veterans.html
I think the OP's point is that military service pays less than comparable civilian jobs. So military service is only worth it if you stay in long enough to retire and receive military retirement pay in addition to social security. This will offset the lower social security benefits you will receive due to lower pay during your military career.
I think the OP's point is that military service pays less than comparable civilian jobs.
Exactly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CatTX
So military service is only worth it if you stay in long enough to retire and receive military retirement pay in addition to social security. This will offset the lower social security benefits you will receive due to lower pay during your military career.
Yes, depending on your skill-set, you could lose 30% to 100% or more, compared to a civilian performing the same job.
In other words, your Social Security benefits would be $1130/month while a civilian performing the same job you did would get $2600/month in Social Security benefits, simply because they were paid more.
Social Security benefits are paid based on your average monthly wages over a 30 year period.
Benefits are not based on the amount you paid to Social Security in FICA payroll taxes.
Depending on the exact nature of your work history, your military service may skew your benefits toward the low end of the scale.
I assume somewhere there exists a "chart/formula" showing the maximum once can receive from SS and what ones yearly income would have to be to get that maximum. Back when I was interested, the yearly income was lower than I expected it to be.
One might even be able to chart it out and correspond it to military rank/pay grades.
Yes, depending on your skill-set, you could lose 30% to 100% or more, compared to a civilian performing the same job.
In other words, your Social Security benefits would be $1130/month while a civilian performing the same job you did would get $2600/month in Social Security benefits, simply because they were paid more.
Social Security benefits are paid based on your average monthly wages over a 30 year period.
Benefits are not based on the amount you paid to Social Security in FICA payroll taxes.
Depending on the exact nature of your work history, your military service may skew your benefits toward the low end of the scale.
Keep in mind that social security payout isn't linear, it's progressive. Even missing out on 12.4% of 30% for 20 years wouldn't matter to me, I'll never get back what I put in.
If anything this method puts an extra 6.2% of 30% of my income back in my pocket and allows me to invest more in my own.
I think the OP's point is that military service pays less than comparable civilian jobs. So military service is only worth it if you stay in long enough to retire and receive military retirement pay in addition to social security. This will offset the lower social security benefits you will receive due to lower pay during your military career.
There are many benefits to the military and earning potential/long term finances.
They will pay you to learn a trade/go to college/fight school/medical school/even vet school.
There are many things you aren't factoring in to your statement. As a recently (4 years ago) retired military member, I spent the last 12 years of my career not paying taxes due to where I deployed and flew. This one benefit made my pay go much farther, not to mention the other pay associated with flying as well as deploying. I started an IRA shortly after I joined and then also contributed money to the Thrift Savings Plan. To be quite honest with you I am not counting on getting any social security benefits. However, you can look up your social security benefits on ssa.gov. I am solely retired and may or may not get a job in the future.
I assume somewhere there exists a "chart/formula" showing the maximum once can receive from SS and what ones yearly income would have to be to get that maximum. Back when I was interested, the yearly income was lower than I expected it to be.
One might even be able to chart it out and correspond it to military rank/pay grades.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
