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No pension...no savings. She does have health insurance through her job.
Are you serious? No pension or savings and you want her to retire early and enjoy her life? How old is she? She needs to work as long as she can and defer her social security until 70. Why would she take her social security early and lock in the lowest rate?
If a person is not prepared financially to retire, and will probably need to work until they die because their SS payments will never be enough to fully support them, doesn't it make more sense to take early retirement and work part time?
My sister is in that boat, and she is determined to work until she is 70. Even at that age she won't have enough to live on, so why waste 8 years of her life working like a dog full time? I say claim SS early, get a part time job and enjoy life while you still have your health. She says it's better to wait.
I can see it is very do-able in your situation. I'm curious....with no facilities to store or cook food, how do you keep your food bill so low? I imagine you have to eat out? That can get expensive. And do you have a safe place to park your van at night?
Oh, no the "Storage" is in the store! I buy daily what I need that night. I can get pretty good deals at times! I got 2 pork steaks for $4.88 and wrapped one up for the next day (It's cool here right now)
I have propane stove for cooking and normal skillet for cooking with. Just imagine it's a tad smaller than a small RV....Proper planning allows me room for clothing (Laundromat for washing) and have water and storage for other dry/canned food.
I sleep in my van at night at a Walmart. I position in various places and believe it or not, they don't have a problem unless you're staying too long or trash is collecting.
If a person is not prepared financially to retire, and will probably need to work until they die because their SS payments will never be enough to fully support them, doesn't it make more sense to take early retirement and work part time?
My sister is in that boat, and she is determined to work until she is 70. Even at that age she won't have enough to live on, so why waste 8 years of her life working like a dog full time? I say claim SS early, get a part time job and enjoy life while you still have your health. She says it's better to wait.
Who is right?
Oh, forgot to ask how is her health? That CAN change in a year frankly and what she can do today, may be impossible in 6 months.
I say let her do what she wants. Keep out of it. Would YOU like HER telling YOU what to do???
If she can't afford to retire working until 70, what will she do when she is 80 if she quits now??? Live on Welfare? so the rest of us can pay for her? Welfare rules have changed, in my state you only get 2 years, and if able bodied, you must work, regardless of age.
What is she to do, do you think then?
If she has to work until 95 and drops dead, if anyone will employ her, so be it. There are more like that every day!
Here are three very different tales:
There are two little old ladies {respectfully I say so}, who work at our Walmart. One toddles into the vestibule, takes the cart to the cashiers desk, gets her drawer, and carts it back to the register she is assigned to and sits on a stool at the register. She is about 90. The other toddles in and sets u shop at the register on the stool after toddling to it,and has trouble getting off it to hand scan items in a cart, usually someone nearby helps her out. She is about 85. They are both widowed, lost without their husband's pension income and HAVE to work to make ends meet. They will be carried out in a body bag on a stretcher before they will give up their jobs!
When our 78 year old former neighbor lost her 85 year husband, she was more concerned about how to pay the monthly lot rent than how to organize the funeral, as they had little assets. SHe remarried within a year to a now 94 year old WWII ARMY vet from the European theater, who lost his pension when he turned 70, He has some nice assets which now, due to not having to use them, provide more income than they need to live on. He/they are fortunate as long as he is alive. He treats her well, takes her on cruises annually, and has arranged for her to have about 10% of his assets when he dies, the rest goes to his kids. SHe wonders again, what she will do as it will about pay her general bills, but won't allow much. She was a housewife all her life.
My FIL is lucky at 87 that his assets bring in more a year than he needs to live on, but aside from HEAT, he won't spend a nickle if he doesn't have to.
My father thinks about working only to keep busy, during the summer as his assets, while less than my FILs sustain him too. But again, he won't spend a dime more than he has to. He still drives a 1993 vehicle as he sees no need to buy a new/newer one, and has only bought 2 used cars in his life. He'd buy new, and sees no reason to spend that kind of money, when I suggested a used 4 or 5 year old vehicle, he brissled at that. Why buy another when his still works? He hems and haws over it, but will HAVE to buy when he can no longer gets parts for his.
They both survived the great depression when every item was used til it fell apart and fixed anything with any parts they could. They also lived through WWII and items were scarce, my grandmother worked 2.5 war jobs as a single mother while grandfather was off to war. They both worked for good companies, and have pensions. My father's fat pension was cut down by the amount he was eligible for SS, however, so SS had to make up the difference.
If your sister has little or no assets, and can't amass any now, she may have to work,and if she does something she enjoys, then so be it, Leave her alone. If you want to choose that non-working-draw-SS_early, so be it.
We know we will be working til at least 70 if not 75, unless our inheritance is large enough {which it could be if the Father's don't need it all} to sustain us better than the assets we currently have. We have 4 incomes now to try to put anything away, and its not growing fast enough. I have started completely over in my life 3 times, and MOH has now twice. I draw SSDI, which will DECREASE when it converts to SS at age 62,as It will then be calculated on the 30 or 35 years of earnings, for which I will have some 0 years added in the average. That is why I work a small part part time job to fill in SOMETHING for the 0 years. Thanks to Pres Bush 2 who signed law saying so. I can do that and still keep my SSDI.
So each has his/her own cross to bear, and let your sister bear hers her way, you bear yours your way.
There is one big reason for delaying SS that people hardly ever take into account. The older you get, the more you need the money, and the more you need for it to be automatic. SS is automatic. It arrives in your bank account on the 3rd of each month and can be used for automatic bill payments scheduled for the 3rd. When you're very old, that's a very valuable benefit, because you might forget to pay your bills manually, and you might make a lot of mistakes managing your money. The older you get, the more likely you are to make mistakes. Therefore, it mostly makes sense to put off SS till at least full retirement age, and to age 70 if possible, almost without regard to any other factors. Because putting it off increases the amount you will automatically receive each month, to make it more likely to always cover all your bills. Especially if you take action while still relatively young to reduce your bills, by getting rid of all frivolous expenses.
The real secret to happiness is simply to have more income than outgo.
I draw SSDI, which will DECREASE when it converts to SS at age 62,as It will then be calculated on the 30 or 35 years of earnings, for which I will have some 0 years added in the average. That is why I work a small part part time job to fill in SOMETHING for the 0 years. Thanks to Pres Bush 2 who signed law saying so. I can do that and still keep my SSDI.
So each has his/her own cross to bear, and let your sister bear hers her way, you bear yours your way.
Best of luck to her and to you.
I skipped most of the post because OP and her sister will eventually reach an accord. That's what good sisters do.
However, I wanted to correct your misunderstanding regarding Social Security Disability. Your SSDIB will not be reduced at 62. When you reach your FRA your disability check will stop and begin receiving your retirement check will will essentially match your last disability check. Your earnings record was "frozen" when you became eligible for disability benefits. I understand that you have some 0 years in your earnings record - those 0 years are already accounted for in your disability check. There will be NO change when you begin drawing your retirement check.
I had to take my SS early, due to losing my high paying office job, and I'm actually glad that I did. Since I have my SS, I no longer have to work full time, and now just work part-time. I work event security, and don't have to put up with office politics and gossip. My job doesn't go home with me, I don't come to work having emails, telephone messages and work stacked on a desk. If I don't feel like working, I don't call in for work. I make less $$ hour, but don't have any of the BS that I did before.
If she is truly low income, she can live very well as long as she owns no property. Medicaid will pay her Medicare premiums and give her a free cell phone. No copays and everything is free. Being on Medicaid opens up the food banks for free food and she can apply for SNAP(food stamps). Then she can sign up for low income senior housing. Some are fixed rate but many charge 30% of your income. All bills paid. It's not as gruesome as you think!
No pension...no savings. She does have health insurance through her job.
For that reason alone she needs to work at least until she's eligible for Medicare.
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