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not many , especially if a couple . a 65 year old couple has a 74% of one of them seeing 85 . those are odds you would not want to bet against .
Life expectancy for a white male in NY state is 78. Didn't you say you were waiting to file for SS at 70? Think of all those years you could have been drawing a check and putting it in the bank.
that is from birth . that is not accurate once you are in your older years . once you are older and weeded out those who will start dying at birth because of issues this is the chart you use . life expectancy is much higher as you age . the biggest dying group is actually the 50's . once you pass the 50's you are generally good until your 80's statistically . in fact there is still almost a 50% chance a 65 year old couple will have one of them living until 90 .
if i took ss early i would be living off it leaving my invested money invested . but for what i spend down over 8 years i can increase my social security check by 69% plus colas making us 1/2 as dependent on the whims of markets . we are also spending more day 1 in retirement because the social security has no sequence risk from poor market years and needs no dry powder kept .
our draw rate goes from 3.50% to 2% once ss kicks in and the difference refills what we spent down . assuming average life expectancy for a 65 year old couple we can not only spend more day 1 up front but should have a bigger balance for heirs than had we taken ss early .
you would need only the most favorable market outcomes to compare if you took it early and stayed more dependent on markets . this is why folks delay in the first place .
this is the chart you have to go by .
Last edited by mathjak107; 09-09-2016 at 05:11 PM..
I saw discussion about this issue on another message board, and the posters were not as friendly. They basically said:
Unless you could afford to wait until 70 to collect Social Security while taking 4% or less out of your retirement assets- without tapping into SS, you were not ready to retire and should go back to work.
That advice is complete garbage. The actual percentage you are pulling while waiting for SS benefits is not important. Just don't spend down your assets to an uncomfortable or unsafe level.
If you use the 4%+inflation model for retirement spending, you will find that by pulling some money from your retirement account in order to delay that first SS check you are increasing your spendable income a bit, at least on a pre-tax basis. This is just straight up math.
Taking SS checks early does allow you to leave more money in the stock market, so if stocks perform well you will be able to leave more to your kids, or after several years of retirement have passed you might decide it's possible to increase spending above the 4%+inflation level. Of course if the markets do poorly the opposite will be true.
I'm mostly interested in safely increasing our spendable income in early retirement, not worrying quite so much about the stock market, and not living in poverty if one or both of us lives way past the average lifespan. That means delaying SS for as long as possible (and note that this does not mean working longer, just spending some extra dollars of our own while waiting for the higher SS check).
Operating on a glass half-full mentality is not productive, imo. I've said many times, as a general rule, early retirement is not wise unless one has solid income streams and/or substantial savings. I'm not changing that opinion.
But the variables are many and each person needs to make that decision for themselves.
We've got men and women dying in their mid 90's in my city and surrounding counties all the time. Under 90 is becoming unusual for women, especially.
That said, it appears most men/women around here can reasonably expect to make it into their mid-80's at least. I worked until 67-1/2, now 74-1/2, no health issues. Barring the unforeseen, I expect I'll still be here 20 years from now.
On the other hand, if one has health issues which will only get worse with age, of course, the picture changes. And, yes, the body wears out. I worked in an office. For those doing hard physical labor, it's pretty hard to make it past 60.
For me, sure taking SS at 62 was tempting. However, savings weren't where they needed to be, and the SS benefit at age 62 wasn't all that. Serendipitiously, at that age I was offered a job, very stressful, making substantially more money than I had ever before in my life. So, I took the job, learned to manage the stress, and worked another five years.
Now, my retirement funds are in much better shape, SS benefit is considerably higher - and money isn't a worry for me. Of course, I have a budget but, curiously, as the years go on I have more discretionary income - not less. I feel more financially comfortable today than I did seven years ago. Withdrawals from retirement funds remain in the 4% area, the balance remains at what it was seven years ago, and I continue to convert a portion of the IRA funds annually to Roth to keep the amount subject to rmd under control.
People need to expect longevity. If the "what if" fear of dying young is the only reason for early retirement, it is not a good one in my opinion unless income streams/savings are relatively substantial.
Last edited by Ariadne22; 09-09-2016 at 05:46 PM..
I sat down with paper and pencil and tried to figure if I could afford to retire at 62. I figured I could and did, never regretted it one second. I was a hourly employee all my life, machinist, and now my financial advisory tells me i should spend more. I have lived very frugally all my life.
A example is I just saw a title in that blue active threads from around the forum top right. Do you was out baggies to save money. Ridiculousnes but I do that.
I disagree with pretty much every one of these notions.
No way would I give up a job and be in a worse financial position because (1) my boss was a jerk or (3) my boss stunk. I certainly would not give up a job because my boss was (2) a micromanager. In any case it seems none of these apply to the OP. The OP lost his/her job and was unable to find another.
Unfortunately, a bad work situation can adversely affect one's physical and mental health. Therefore, it's often a very wise decision to give up the job and take SS at an earlier age.
If you can't find work at 62 that's a good reason. If you are not able to work anymore that's an even better reason.
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