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^^^This. The decision honestly has absolutely nothing to do with getting the most money. That is an extremely unimportant, but easily quantifiable pseudo reasonable sounding parameter. What ever gives you the best quality of life for your specific situation for the longest time span is the “best”. The lower the percentage of your total income, naturally the less important it is, because without knowing you (and your spouse’s if you have one) expiration dates, it is just a best guess.
I have to admit, for a subject that gets beat to death regularly, it almost always garners a lively and thought provoking thread!
Given life expectancies are dropping again due to environmental toxins, my Grandfather passed at 67, my other one at age 50 (we'll see how long Dad lasts) and at age 70 I won't be doing as much vs. at age 62 I will be taking it as early as possible. Besides I will be retiring abroad where cost of living is lower so coming out ahead either way. Plus with age discrimination in USA there is no way I will be working past age 60 let alone 65....
They actually need to lower SS age because a lot of people in my generation will be unemployed starting age 55 soon.
It has dropped the last 3 years, by a small fraction of a year. The main factors are drugs and suicide.
don't confuse peak age , with the fact more of us are making it to older ages . peak age has actually come down but overall life expectancy for a 60 year old is actually higher
I have a skewed perception of aging. Where I work many of the elders are from 90-100. That's not anywhere near the average, but I see it as a possibility for many people in the future even though they don't. 70's is youth and 80's just starting to age.
Don't want to pay taxes on it while my wife continues to work.
Same here. My husband has a good income and I don't want to pay taxes on my SS because of his income.
But I am so ready to quit working. I just don't tolerate the crap well anymore. I would have been fine working till 65 or FRA with my old supervisor. With my new supervisor's heavy hand, I don't know if I'll make it another month.
Latest affront: I planned to take July 4th and 5th off. She said I can take July 4th off but not July 5th, because another person asked for that day off and I took July 5th off last year.
So I looked at the PTO calendar. The other person not only took July 5th off last year, they also took off the Friday before and the Tuesday after Memorial Day this year, plus pretty much takes days off before and after every holiday every year.
I'm still holding on for now, but my husband told me to just put in my two week notice and be done. I'd like to quit working and wait to claim SS till I'm 65 or FRA, but we'll be in a better position financially if I keep working.
My husband could get health insurance for us through his company, but it's more expensive and the coverage is not as good. And I don't know if I could find another job at my age if I wanted to, especially one that pays as much as I make now.
But I am so ready to quit working. I just don't tolerate the crap well anymore. I would have been fine working till 65 or FRA with my old supervisor. With my new supervisor's heavy hand, I don't know if I'll make it another month.
I could have written this. I can't either. Seems my "can't take anymore crap" expiration date is fast approaching. I only work per diem, but my new supervisor (among many on this job) is an OCD type, micromanager and I'm not fond of that type of leadership. My husband said his last year of work he couldn't wait to get out. He was counting the days, hours and minutes, which is what I'm doing. I feel like I'm waiting for my parole hearing.
do you have ira's that can have tax free money taken out if you delay ss and use the standard deduction ? what about taxable brokerage accounts where you can ue the tax free zero capital gains brackets if you delay ss ?
Mathjak, I hate to get into the weeds (though I suppose we are there already!?).... but this has me thinking about how these two approaches might intersect, and eventually collide. I am not finding clear answers so far, in my reading.
My question is whether these two strategies work against each other, once you reach a certain point? That is, will the capital gains from that taxable brokerage account raise your income to the point you lose that opportunity to draw down IRA (in a no tax or low tax manner)? Or conversely, at what point does drawing down that taxable IRA kick you up to a place where you lose the capital gains advantage?
are you spending nothing to live if you delay ? will you pay no taxes on any of your income ? any spousal if you are married that can't be collected ? do you have ira's that can have tax free money taken out if you delay ss and use the standard deduction ? what about taxable brokerage accounts where you can ue the tax free zero capital gains brackets if you delay ss ?
once again , a useless calculator that only looks at checks .. unless you are working and can't collect because of the earnings cap there really is not much real world use for these .
Whether I take it early or not, has no effect on my day to day living expenses. I still have to pay for utilities, HOA, insurance, property taxes, food, gas, vacations, clothes, taxes... whether I take it at 62 or a 162.
Whether I take it early or not, has no effect on my day to day living expenses. I still have to pay for utilities, HOA, insurance, property taxes, food, gas, vacations, clothes, taxes... whether I take it at 62 or a 162.
well it does matter .... if you delay you need to get the money to live from somewhere , so you are either spending down invested assets or money that could be invested if you had that ss check in hand. that has a big effect on break even if that is what you are trying to see .
Last edited by mathjak107; 06-14-2019 at 08:35 AM..
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