social security benefits (friend, support, smart, opinions)

[akck]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

so it boils down to asking your self some simple questions assuming you have the cash to lay out..

DO MY SPOUSE AND I WANT TO DIE WITH THE BIGGEST PILE OF MONEY LEFT TO OUR HEIRS? take ss early

DO MY SPOUSE AND I WANT THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF MONEY TO SPEND ON OURSELVES AND HEIRS WHILE WE ARE ALIVE? take it at 70 but start taking those larger withdrawls today

DO WE WANT A COMPROMISE IN THE MIDDLE GROUND? take it at 66
in my mind none of the questions are about will i break even....

I've always figured taking ss early. I figured the earlier you get in, the less likely there would be a change to benefits. Your questions better clarified the real reason my wife and I will be doing it and that is to leave the biggest pile of money to our heirs. We figure that they will have a harder time planning for retirement and if we can help them with a portion, it will be something we won't worry about in retirement.

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

quite the contrary,,, im taking it at 70... why? because with my families history everyone dies young..... new thinking is that by waiting assuming you have some extra dough to lay out you are effectivly buying the worlds cheapest annuity and heres why

by waiting my monthly payments if i live will be double... if i dont live then my wife wins and has a lifetime of higher payments.... but thats not the real reason...the reason is that by having the security of all this extra dough kicking in down the road should we bioth live right from day one of our retirement we can withdraw alot more each month then we normally would from our nest egg.


we can take more money right at the beginning from our nest egg while we are still young and healthy and can use it because we no longer have to worry about out living our income if we do live....our savings will be replenshed later on if we live and be replenshid by a payment thats more than double. and if we dont live. oh well we already enjoyed the extra spending.. if i was looking at a lifetime of 4% withdrawls now i may take 30-50% more a year to live on... i could never do that by filing early at the lower rate.

that 144,000 is buying one of the most incredible deals in annuties... a life time in my case of an extra 16,000 a year plus cola adjustments forever for me and another 8,000 for my wife .. try pricing that one if you had to buy that annuity to kick in at age 66 or 70...

people think only in terms of breaking even and thats old school.....today its about having the most you can get to live on RIGHT FROM DAY 1 OF YOUR RETIREMENT NO MATTER WHAT AGE , not outlive your money and have the best darn life you can doing the things you like best...

You are so 100% on target it is scary. Between a pension, SS and investments either both of you or the survivor is sitting pretty for their life. Wife at 62, spousal benefits for me at 66 and my own at max value when I hit 70.

[mathjak107]

great minds think alike ha ha ha.....

seriously how many times have you ever heard anyone talk about social security and only talk about the break even point... ALL THE TIME!

YOU HAVE TO STOP AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

dont take things for face value, as you see when you think outside the routine box you realize you have 3 choices and in my mind none of them are really about breaking even...

they are about your withdrawl, your heirs and a combo in the middle.....

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

You are so 100% on target it is scary. Between a pension, SS and investments either both of you or the survivor is sitting pretty for their life. Wife at 62, spousal benefits for me at 66 and my own at max value when I hit 70.

exactley our plan too

[texdav]

Never take any governamt program as written as many can change in a blinlk of a eye.Its very likely that socail secruity will change drastically in the coming years. bewsides you can always tale it at 62 then pay it back later if you want to and take the same benefits

[texdav]

Take no government program as to waht you will get until the day that you actually qaulify . The beenfits are know to change in the blink of a eye;just as mediacre might very soon with the reductions.SS i9s looing at a huge increase i payroll deduction or huge reduction in benefits;probaly both in the near future. The break even date by CBO has dropped two years with this recession so far.

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by texdav

Never take any governamt program as written as many can change in a blinlk of a eye.Its very likely that socail secruity will change drastically in the coming years. bewsides you can always tale it at 62 then pay it back later if you want to and take the same benefits

yes you can but the problem is if your social is taxed you will pay 8 years of of taxes on it and can only file amended for 3 of them.... may make it not worth it

[akck]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

yes you can but the problem is if your social is taxed you will pay 8 years of of taxes on it and can only file amended for 3 of them.... may make it not worth it

So I guess the strategy there is to pay it back every three years until you reach 70, if that's allowed.

[mathjak107]

to tell you the truth if i had to do amended returns for 3 years every 3 years id forget about the whole thing

[akck]

Same here.