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Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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OP:
We took SS at first opportunity (early). We needed the cashflow badly since we got hit with the bad sequence of events of the GR. Using the SS allowed other to assets grow. Early SS allowed as to receive SS as tax free income (5 years). Going forward, SS will be taxed because other income streams on coming on. Last point is I will probably be one of the 50% who will not make it to whatever average age measure you want to use, so taking SS is the wise choice.
Currently also "investing" SS income mostly into Discretionary Acct-passbook savings (looking to move to a new house in a new city). Retirement assets and retirement income is more than we need. Adequate retirement funds is protected. FundingRatio>1.1
Age 66/69.
Last edited by leastprime; 01-23-2017 at 10:48 PM..
the choice to delay ss while not working is a choice very few people actually have . you need enough in assets or income flow to safely hold you over while delaying .
most of america does not have the resources to actually delay . they would spend to far down more than likely .
what you don't want to do when you delay is first wait to collect to increase your draw . that would make little sense .
rather you draw what you need day 1 of retirement and when ss kicks in the amount just shifts from more out of the portfolio in the beginning to less needed as the bigger ss check makes up a bigger percentage of income draw .
in the end delaying really is not going to be a suitable choice for most folks , but if it is don't make the classic mistake of basing it on what if i die . dead is dead if you didn't get the memo .
you have to look at all the ramfications i listed above plus even more in order to make an informed choice . what if i or my spouse live is the real question .
the choice to delay ss while not working is a choice very few people actually have . you need enough in assets or income flow to safely hold you over while delaying .
most of america does not have the resources to actually delay . they would spend to far down more than likely .
what you don't want to do when you delay is first wait to collect to increase your draw . that would make little sense .
rather you draw what you need day 1 of retirement and when ss kicks in the amount just shifts from more out of the portfolio in the beginning to less needed as the bigger ss check makes up a bigger percentage of income draw .
in the end delaying really is not going to be a suitable choice for most folks , but if it is don't make the classic mistake of basing it on what if i die . dead is dead if you didn't get the memo .
you have to look at all the ramfications i listed above plus even more in order to make an informed choice . what if i or my spouse live is the real question .
Eye-opening discussions here. I just wanted to ask what if both husband and wife have pensions at .5 and .6 of their working incomes? Also, how much have you factored in the possibility SS is reduced significantly in the very near future?
You all have captured my attention on these boards.
DC
i don't plan around what if's . i allow for them . so the answer is i don't figure any cuts at all . they can fund ss easy enough ,congress can just fund it , they seem to find way way more for every stupid war .
i am not sure what you are asking about on the pensions .
we have a small pension too .
the pension just is subtracted off the needs from the the portfolio at this point . when ss kicks in both ss and the pension gets subtracted off the needs from the portfolio
i don't plan around what if's . i allow for them . so the answer is i don't figure any cuts at all . they can fund ss easy enough ,congress can just fund it , they seem to find way way more for every stupid war .
i am not sure what you are asking about on the pensions .
we have a small pension too .
the pension just is subtracted off the needs from the the portfolio at this point . when ss kicks in both ss and the pension gets subtracted off the needs from the portfolio
Thank you for your thoughts.
I understand your point, but the pensions should be there for life. This mitigates the need for the guaranteed income that makes delaying SS such a great idea. Without the pensions I would agree that if you could delay you should. But with them I'm not so sure it is the best choice. Let's hope both pensions and SS are actually there.
it all depends on your goal and why you are delaying .
it really does not matter what the income sources are if your goal is to reduce market dependency and increase survivor benefits . .
my wife gets a 20k pension , plus i think about 10k ss while i delay . all that does is reduce what we draw from our portfolio which is about 3.50-3.75% while delaying ss . .
once my delayed ss kicks in our draw drops almost in half from what we are pulling now .
we can choose to keep our investments the same and refill what we spent down or if not we can actually go extremely conservative if refilling is not a factor since our draw rate drops in to the 2-2.50% range . .
the best part is at any point i can always take ss and not delay if i want . if markets suck i can always file . any cuts made in ss ,which i doubt will be likely universal whether you are collecting or not .
if your pensions fully covered most or all of your living expenses with very little in withdrawals then delaying would not make a lot of sense . but it is a different story if your are still mostly dependant on your own investments and portfolio for your income even with the pensions like we are
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-25-2017 at 03:31 AM..
my wife was a widow once already , and had a pile of investments that she did not understand and were quite volatile dropped in her lap . it was a horrible experience for her and so the more risk free income we can get the better she likes it . even some spia's added in conjunction with our own investing may be in the cards even with a pension and delaying ss.
her ideal set up is what bernstein calls an LMP or liability matched portfolio . that is where all essential expenses are locked in with some form of guaranteed income with a check each month . then your own investing covers growth , the wants in life and inflation protection .
there are lots of different methods for combining an integrated strategy that provides higher income and potentially bigger balances over a wider set of outcomes than just investing on your own does and hoping markets ,inflation and interest rates cooperate .
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-25-2017 at 03:43 AM..
Thank you for your thoughts.
I understand your point, but the pensions should be there for life. This mitigates the need for the guaranteed income that makes delaying SS such a great idea. Without the pensions I would agree that if you could delay you should. But with them I'm not so sure it is the best choice. Let's hope both pensions and SS are actually there.
You doubt SS but believe 100% in your pensions for life? Of course I don't know if you are talking public or private but many companies have had issues with pensions depending on their financial health - be just as careful with them as you would in planning for the amount of your SS benefits. If your pensions have COLA, great, but many don't and that is a big plus for SS as well.
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