social security benefits (taxable, insurance, return, income)

[forest beekeeper]

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

I see a problem with you reasoning. No insult intended.

I am now on a Federal pension. When I become eligible for SS, it will be less than my existing pension. My pension will be reduced by the amount of my SS entitlement each month. So my gross monthly income will remain the same.

My pension and my SS are both 'taxable'.

Here is the monkey wrench. I am married and we file a joint return. My pension is not high enough to pay income taxes. Our standard deductions and exemptions are greater than my pension, so my pension is 'exempt' from taxes, as will be my SS entitlement.

It is our other streams of income, which could possibly cause us to pay income taxes, if we failed to maintain an adequate tax-plan and have proper sheltering.

So your reasoning that you will be paying income taxes on your SS entitlement, may be faulty.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I am hoping to never need government sponsored benefits. Hopefully my plan will pan out. Either that or I will be working till I am in the ground.

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I see a problem with you reasoning. No insult intended.

I am now on a Federal pension. When I become eligible for SS, it will be less than my existing pension. My pension will be reduced by the amount of my SS entitlement each month. So my gross monthly income will remain the same.

My pension and my SS are both 'taxable'.

Here is the monkey wrench. I am married and we file a joint return. My pension is not high enough to pay income taxes. Our standard deductions and exemptions are greater than my pension, so my pension is 'exempt' from taxes, as will be my SS entitlement.

It is our other streams of income, which could possibly cause us to pay income taxes, if we failed to maintain an adequate tax-plan and have proper sheltering.

So your reasoning that you will be paying income taxes on your SS entitlement, may be faulty.

i wish my reasoning was faulty , from your mouth to gods ears , but alas yes i will end up being fully taxable , we will hopefully have quite a few income sources which will remain taxable. ... i think 32,000 in taxable income or so is the threshhold.... as far as planning, i pretty much watched that very carefully..i . my ss alone will be close to 30,000 at 70 and my wifes about 15,000 when we take it, and my wife has a pension of 20,000+ , plus 10,000 in rental income from properties we hope to sell eventually, we also should be able to generate 60-70,000 a year from our investments inflation adjusted by 3% each yearr. i started these investments off with 100 bucks a month when i was 18 and worked in the office of an investment company while going to school. ... even at the reduced rate at 62 we would be taxed .. 16,000 and 8,000 plus the 20,000 pension , 10,000 in rental income plus another 60,000 -70,000 in income from our retirement money puts us way over. ... .


i will be retiring at 58 so the plan is to live off the 401k money first as i can hit that at 55 and that will reduce the required min distributions later on. at 59-1/2 i can hit my other retirement money and hopefully by 70 we have reduced the rmd by quite a bit.

our plan is to be based out of our home in northeast pa from may to november and get the heck out of dodge for the winter and just rent some place different every year where its warm

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

I am hoping to never need government sponsored benefits. Hopefully my plan will pan out. Either that or I will be working till I am in the ground.

well ss is your own money they have been taking from your check and saving it for you so anything you dont want just accept and send my way...ill gladely pay the taxes on it

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I see a problem with you reasoning. No insult intended.

I am now on a Federal pension. When I become eligible for SS, it will be less than my existing pension. My pension will be reduced by the amount of my SS entitlement each month. So my gross monthly income will remain the same.

My pension and my SS are both 'taxable'.

Here is the monkey wrench. I am married and we file a joint return. My pension is not high enough to pay income taxes. Our standard deductions and exemptions are greater than my pension, so my pension is 'exempt' from taxes, as will be my SS entitlement.

It is our other streams of income, which could possibly cause us to pay income taxes, if we failed to maintain an adequate tax-plan and have proper sheltering.

So your reasoning that you will be paying income taxes on your SS entitlement, may be faulty.

by the way good point, it shows how this could be different for every one of us and dont go by what you heard your friend is doing..... invest in a copy of turbo tax for the state you intend to retire in and run your own numbers

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

well ss is your own money they have been taking from your check and saving it for you so anything you dont want just accept and send my way...ill gladely pay the taxes on it

They allready spent that money. I am supporting someone else that is taking the benefits now. I never expect to get any of it back.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

by the way good point, it shows how this could be different for every one of us and dont go by what you heard your friend is doing ..... invest in a copy of turbo tax for the state you intend to retire in and run your own numbers

EVERYONE should take responsibility for their own income, their own investments portfolio, and their own tax-planning.

I have observed many people who simply let the system push them along.

Stumbling here and there; without ever opening their eyes to see where they were being led.

Life can either happen to you and carry you along in it's current; or you can take control of your own rudder.

When I first began taking courses on budget counseling, and trying to help folks. I was amazed at how many were in debt and refused to have a plan to get out of debt.

Later [after gaining control of my taxes, and being certified to do taxes and in a position to counsel folks to begin their own tax-plans] I was further amazed at how many people who could be tax-exempt if they desired to be, still refused to make the effort.

And when it comes to building a portfolio? No, for most folks they simply do not wish to make the effort.

[Tesaje]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

EVERYONE should take responsibility for their own income, their own investments portfolio, and their own tax-planning.

I have observed many people who simply let the system push them along.

Stumbling here and there; without ever opening their eyes to see where they were being led.

Life can either happen to you and carry you along in it's current; or you can take control of your own rudder.

When I first began taking courses on budget counseling, and trying to help folks. I was amazed at how many were in debt and refused to have a plan to get out of debt.

Later [after gaining control of my taxes, and being certified to do taxes and in a position to counsel folks to begin their own tax-plans] I was further amazed at how many people who could be tax-exempt if they desired to be, still refused to make the effort.

And when it comes to building a portfolio? No, for most folks they simply do not wish to make the effort.

While I agree with you that people should take responsibility, there are a lot of people who wish to but have a hard time getting good advice and being able to tell the difference between a good strategy and a scam. Unfortunately, for every good strategy, there are about 10 out there purporting to be good, seeming to be good, but are either bad advice or an outright scam.

[mathjak107]

The answere is read books, and gather your own advice from various forms then compare it with the advice an advisor gives you.. you can google anything today for a wide variety of opinions on anything an adviser is recommending ... remember most advisers are selling something...YOU ARE NOT A CLIENT, YOU ARE A CUSTOMER.

its like learning anything , it requires research and learning ....

my wife had not a clue when i first met her , she got taken by a guy selling stock funds at her local bank... a widow and he stuck her in all tech stocks...she got killed......

at that point she swore never again and started learning all she could... some from me, some from books i had, some from forums and i have to admit im proud of her ..... she learned her basics and with or without me shes a heck of alot smarter today......... in fact i consult with her now for feed back on most investments i will make or things i want to change


i think we are getting off thread, why dont we start a new thread... maybe about investing ideas or portfolio ideas?

[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.

i forgot ,,,,if wife files at 62 , i file for 1/2 hers at 66, i file for myself at 70 but can she switch to 1/2 mine from hers when i finally file? i think so if i remember ...the 1/2 of mine will be higher then her early filing rate