Financial Planner told us to enroll in SS at early age (inherit, husband)
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not at all . medicare is 65. however delaying from 65 to 70 leaves you unprotected and with out harmless provisions .
Is this true? I assume what you mean is if you don’t sign up for Medicare at 65 (irrespective of one's SS timing decision) you are exposed to increased Medicare premiums until you do enroll in Medicare...
Is this true? I assume what you mean is if you don’t sign up for Medicare at 65 (irrespective of one's SS timing decision) you are exposed to increased Medicare premiums until you do enroll in Medicare...
Many advise holding off collecting until 70 to get the maximum benefit. IMO too many family and friends have passed away before they were 70, even those who weren't dealing with health issues. We retired early and enjoyed life, traveling and doing everything on our bucket list. Health issues slowed me down when I reached 70 and spouse passed away suddenly after just turning 70. Friends waited and never reached 70 before passing away. Everyday is a gift...collect it NOW.
We figured out the pros and cons for holding off on SS payments and found, combined with the RMDs we would have to eventually take, taxes would wipe out quite a bit of our extra gain.
I also am doubtful SS (or Medicare) will be in the same form in 20-25 years even for those already receiving it. We like having our own investments and savings and not have to be fearful of what actions any election might produce.
So we decided on a sweet spot, where we could live comfortably with SS easily paying the bills even considering inflation, but we could also maintain a comfortable portfolio. I have seen too many friends hold off, spend their own funds, and then die suddenly or within months. It is true that after 70 nasty health concerns can really pop up.
If there is a survivor issue of not having enough money, I can understand why people hold off. I received a nice inheritance so that also gave us another cushion. I am really not interested in squeezing every last penny out of SS - you have to evaluate your particular situation.
And yes, we are really, really glad we traveled in our 50s and now in our 60s. Even if you are in good shape, we find travel is more stressful now and almost feel relieved when we get home.
Is this true? I assume what you mean is if you don’t sign up for Medicare at 65 (irrespective of one's SS timing decision) you are exposed to increased Medicare premiums until you do enroll in Medicare...
no that is not what i mean .
you are confused .
if you are on medicare but delaying taking ss your increases in premiums are uncapped . medicare is user funded but those collecting a check can never be raised more than their cost of living raise . so the last 2 years those collecting got no increase . all the others not collecting have to cough up more money to fund medicare. anyone delaying ss got increased as they are not covered under the hold harmless law like those collecting.
so those on medicare and collecting ss are protected . those on medicare not collecting a check are un-protected .
if you are on medicare but delaying taking ss your increases in premiums are uncapped . medicare is user funded but those collecting a check can never be raised more than their cost of living raise . so the last 2 years those collecting got no increase . all the others not collecting have to cough up more money to fund medicare. anyone delaying ss got increased as they are not covered under the hold harmless law like those collecting.
so those on medicare and collecting ss are protected . those on medicare not collecting a check are un-protected .
Was not aware of the "hold harmless" clause. (Not yet at Medicare age for spouse or I.) Good to know. Thank you.
something to think about which only just came up in another thread is this .
lets say husband is collecting and wife is not ,as well as wife is not fra yet .
if wife was collecting she would get her husbands spousal adder , added to her own benefit .
if hubby died , and wife wanted to wait until fra to start survivor , and file for her own benefit she would not get any spousal as part of her benefit since she was not collecting prior to his death .
that spousal in my wife's case was 4k a year so to not get that if i died because she was not collecting yet is a lot of money to be considered .
from what i can make out those collecting their benefit with a spousal adder will keep that benefit if they have it prior to death until they file for survivor . those not collecting yet will not get the spousal adder if they file for their own after death of the husband . .
if this is not correct please chime in but this is what i make out of it
Mathjak107, I’m familiar with the situation you describe. I believe that a widow who was under her widow’s FRA and receiving a spouse’s benefit under her deceased husband would have to make a choice between taking a reduced survivor’s benefit or giving up the spouse’s benefit and filing for the widow’s benefit later.
If the deceased person was receiving reduced Social Security retirement, the widow’s reduction is still calculated using the PIA, but the benefit amount couldn’t go higher than the deceased’s benefit or 82.5% of his PIA, whichever is larger. Thus, sometimes a widow of such a person can collect her maximum widow’s benefit a number of months prior to her widow’s FRA, because the benefit would stop increasing when it reached that 82.5% cap or the deceased person’s benefit amount.
yes , that is exactly it . i figured that out earlier . the spousal benefit always dies when the other spouse dies .
the question popped up in my head originally as to just what is my wife's benefit today because they show her benefit today as her benefit plus a spousal.
so naturally the question was ,if i die and she elects to let her benefit grow until 70 and take survivor to hold her over ,just what is her benefit that is growing .
but i did find the answer and it is only her portion less spousal that grows .
survivor is the better deal for her- period .
one thing i did find interesting that is not clear at all and i was surprised when we saw her spousal check was this :
my wife filed at 62 for an early benefit . although she was deemed filing for spousal at 62 there was none because i did not file yet , i was delaying.
well , by the time i filed she was fra already . naturally i expected her to get a reduced spousal benefit since she filed and was deemed filing for spousal at 62 .
but that is not what ss did . they actually calculated her as fra for purposes of spousal and she got no early filing reduction on the spousal adder portion , her own benefit naturally stayed at her reduced rate . but the spousal adder was a straight 1/2 mine with no additional early cut ..
typically spousal if both people filed early has a double reduction .
so for purposes of spousal the clock does not actually start ticking until you get a spousal benefit and although you are deemed filing for spousal when you take your benefit it does not count until you actually get that payment which is when i finally filed at 65.
the spousal calculator on the ss website is not geared for this scenario , so putting in the info gave us a benefit a few hundred less than it actually turns out she gets because they don't start the spousal clock yet until i filed ..
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-29-2017 at 03:39 AM..
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