News, Forced to Early Social Security, Unemployed Pay a Steep Price. (years, single)
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.
I have a question related to the original article. I have a friend who is 59, and lives on Long Island in a co-op apartment that he owns. He was laid off about two years ago from his job of 32 years, and has been unable to find any kind of work since. Maybe he is being too picky, but anyway, he is living off his 401k and says he will be forced to take SS at 62 if he doesn't find a job before then. He says that the amount of SS he would get at 62, based on those letters SSA sends every year, will actually get lower with each year he is unemployed until he reaches 62. I thought the benefit would stay the same. Does anyone know?
I have a question related to the original article. I have a friend who is 59, and lives on Long Island in a co-op apartment that he owns. He was laid off about two years ago from his job of 32 years, and has been unable to find any kind of work since. Maybe he is being too picky, but anyway, he is living off his 401k and says he will be forced to take SS at 62 if he doesn't find a job before then. He says that the amount of SS he would get at 62, based on those letters SSA sends every year, will actually get lower with each year he is unemployed until he reaches 62. I thought the benefit would stay the same. Does anyone know?
SS benefits are based on your highest 35 years of income. If you only have 32 you will get a zero for the addtional three years. Not sure if that is what you are asking to know in this case.
Benefit: Social security uses your highest thirty-five years of work history to calculate your social security retirement benefit. Think of this calculation like an average; if you have a zero as one of the numbers, it will pull the average down. To increase your social security benefits make sure you have a full 35 years of work history
I am noticing the just the opposite in some of the stores I frequently shop at just the opposite. These stores have cheerful energetic young people working and some of the older workers seem more just not as happy. Also young people are intrigued about some of the newer items in the supermarket and some of the older seem not as much. Can be different at a Whole Foods which the older folks are very good and a Lowes supermarket which is not as expensive but more so than a Food Lion which CAN be another world etc. Remember some cashiers regardless of age may have a tendency to compare what you are buying with what they can afford. I have had some interesting experiences buying food. It often depends on locatation, location and location again. Sometimes it can be easier checking out to be friendly with a young cashier than another senior. Other senior transplants are often a lot more friendly than in place seniors who are working and not so crazy about transplants especially those spending more money than they can. I am very cheerful and can be full of conversation with sales help and the differences on the opposite can be obvious. Now if you look at it from a multi cultural perpsective it could be considered to be even more pronounced. However most of these folks are female and when you factor gender in that can be a very different conversation. Also to balance things out senior transplants can be more friendly than in place seniors etc etc etc. There is elective working for some seniors and necessary working for others, might that make a difference? I suspect there could be a difference by region.
Interesting perspective, I am sure you're right that all of those variables come into play. I hadn't considered many of these points! Thank you for raising them Clearly, I was generalizing, big time!
Tried to rep, but I have to 'spread it around' first.
Well, for sure my friend has more than 35 years of employment history, he was just as one job for 32 of those years. So if they average his 35 years, these next 3 years of 0 wouldn't be included in the calculation, correct?
Well, for sure my friend has more than 35 years of employment history, he was just as one job for 32 of those years. So if they average his 35 years, these next 3 years of 0 wouldn't be included in the calculation, correct?
Should be. The other thing is that each year beyond 35 can replace the lowest year of the previous 35 so that can be a factor. It is the highest 35 years so quite possibly a qualifying part time job could replace a full time job from 35 or more years ago. That is another factor in the when to stop working and collect decision.
SS benefits are based on your highest 35 years of income. If you only have 32 you will get a zero for the addtional three years. Not sure if that is what you are asking to know in this case.
That makes sense out of my estimates I've received over the years.
For most of my 20's I worked as a flight instructor/charter pilot and while I loved the job my pay was extremely low earning less than half of what my friends were earning in "normal" jobs. To tell you how bad it was my total income from 1970 to 1977 was about $58,574 for an average of $7,321.75 per year.
I didn't earn any money but oh how I loved it!
In 1977 I got myself a real job where my income immediately doubled (of that $58,574 I earned $11,550 of it 1977 alone) what I had been earning and in the 80's I was earning substantially more (10x and better) than what I earned in prior to 1978.
Point is those lower income years always dragged my calculated benefit down until just recently when the 35 years started dropping those low early to mid 70's earnings off. A couple estimates, just one year apart, showed $100 increases in monthly benefits just by dropping the low earnings years off.
Should be. The other thing is that each year beyond 35 can replace the lowest year of the previous 35 so that can be a factor. It is the highest 35 years so quite possibly a qualifying part time job could replace a full time job from 35 or more years ago. That is another factor in the when to stop working and collect decision.
Wow that would be terrible if they replaced the lower-paying years, such as the years he worked right after college, with the 0 years he is facing now. If they only counted the highest-paying 35 years, the 0 years shouldn't be counted at all. It's like adding insult to injury. I feel so bad for him, as COBRA just ran out and getting affordable health insurance is difficult.
Wow that would be terrible if they replaced the lower-paying years, such as the years he worked right after college, with the 0 years he is facing now. If they only counted the highest-paying 35 years, the 0 years shouldn't be counted at all. It's like adding insult to injury. I feel so bad for him, as COBRA just ran out and getting affordable health insurance is difficult.
The zero years are not counted at all in the benefit computation provided that you have 35 years with income subject to FICA taxes. Here's what is going on: The estimates of retirement benefits which SS sends out are predicated on certain assumptions. One of the most important of these is that you will continue to work at your present rate of pay until such time as you elect to start receiving benefits. Even though the pay is adjusted for inflation, most of us earn more as we get older, get promoted, gain more experience to make us more valuable, etc. With your friend, not working at these higher salary rates means that some of the current years (as he is out of work) are being replaced, not with zeros (since he has 35 already) but with lower amounts from prior working years.
I am struggling to express this clearly; I can only hope I have made it comprehensible.
The zero years are not counted at all in the benefit computation provided that you have 35 years with income subject to FICA taxes. Here's what is going on: The estimates of retirement benefits which SS sends out are predicated on certain assumptions. One of the most important of these is that you will continue to work at your present rate of pay until such time as you elect to start receiving benefits. Even though the pay is adjusted for inflation, most of us earn more as we get older, get promoted, gain more experience to make us more valuable, etc. With your friend, not working at these higher salary rates means that some of the current years (as he is out of work) are being replaced, not with zeros (since he has 35 already) but with lower amounts from prior working years.
I am struggling to express this clearly; I can only hope I have made it comprehensible.
I think I understand. That means the benefit statement should reflect the minimum amount he would get at 62. If he started working again, that amount would increase, but it shouldn't decrease, correct?
I think I understand. That means the benefit statement should reflect the minimum amount he would get at 62. If he started working again, that amount would increase, but it shouldn't decrease, correct?
I wouldn't put it that way. If he started working again, the amount would increase only if the amount he is earning is sufficient to replace one or more of his previous 35 highest years. That may not be the case if, for example, he goes back to work part-time.
If a person has zeros (even a single one) - that is has less than 35 years of SS earnings, then working one more year even for a negligible amount would increase the benefit (perhaps by a very small amount) because one zero will be replaced by some number for the averaging. I have lots of zeros, and when I earned even as little as 7K or 8K a year after retirement doing special projects once in a while, my benefit went up two or three or four dollars a month the following year.
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.
Clearly, I was generalizing, big time!
