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My wife and I will both get good social security benefits. Mine will be the larger of the two. We will take hers at 62 since if one of us passes mine will be the operative one since it is the larger of the two.
Do you think it is wise to wait. Add up the amount you would be missing by waiting. What if you don't sign up for it and in a year or two the government says: sorry - we no longer offer it - but the people who are already getting it will be grand-fathered in. May sound far-fetched, but could it happen? Maybe.
Last edited by KELLI2L; 08-06-2007 at 11:30 AM..
Reason: too much like my newer posting
If at the age of 66 you would get 12 hundred per month; and at the early retirement age of 62 you would get 25% less, that comes out to be 3-hundred less = $900. (9-hundred) per month until you reach 66.
$900.00 for 1-year = $10,800.00 each year for a total of $43,200.00 for the 4-years. Plus each year there will be a cost-of-living increase (it may not be as much as it should be but in any case it adds up).
~ Think about it ~ Do you really want to wait?
For my 2 cents. A friend of mine said he calculated the difference if you waited for full retiement at 66 vs starting at age 62. He said you would have to live until 77 to hit the break-even point. Not sure if its true, but wife and I are retireing next year at 62. We were born 20 hours apart, so will be drawing at the same time.
We can't wait! Moving back home after 41 years absent.
I am retired on a police disability pension, not SS disability. My wife is still working and she was born in 1943 so she has to work until 66 for full SS. She is 64 now. She is not mentally ready to sit home without a job. She needs to be busy all the time. She feels that she will work until there is a real reason to retire, like something goes wrong at work or her health gets bad. I always tell her that she will retire when she gets sick of the people that she encounters at work. She says that there is a very real possibility that she will work past 66.
If at the age of 66 you would get 12 hundred per month; and at the early retirement age of 62 you would get 25% less, that comes out to be 3-hundred less = $900. (9-hundred) per month until you reach 66.
It's my understanding that if you take early retirement, the payment does not "kick up" to the full amount once you hit full retirement age.
From the statement that we all receive every July from the Social Security Administration, last page (page 4)
"Before you decide to retire...
Carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of early retirement. If you choose to receive benefits before you reach full retirement age, your benefits will be permanently reduced. However, you'll receive benefits for a longer period of time." (bold type is mine)
So in the example above, the person would never receive $1200/month. He would receive $900/mo permanently.
What will happen to the actual Social Security system (solvency) in 2017 is anyone's guess without having a crystal ball.
We just "retired" at 54 and 46, and we'll collect whatever there is to collect at the earliest age possible - which is 8 years down the line for him and 12 years for me. We have no particular faith that SS or Medicare will be around in its present form for very long, just as we had no faith in the company's pension and retirement health - so when they offered early retirement, we took it up front and in cash (well, not in cash, exactly, we rolled part of it into a 72T).
We had money saved, he's able to work as a consultant, we have no debts of any kind and own 2 houses free and clear - plus the one we're building although that's stretching our cash reserve, even with us doing a lot of the work - so we have other forms of income.
I just need to finish that book, the one I've been contemplating writing for years now....
what I have read is if you are married, the wife should take it at age 62.
A single guy also should. If you are a single woman, and have other means of money you should wait. why, because most woman live beyond the break even point. Also the higher amount gives you bigger cost of living adjustments.
I will wait until I am 66 cus the amount I'd receive at 62 is not enough since I need to keep working and I'd be limited to 12k/yr income (whatever I'd earn over 12k would reduce my monthly s/s benefit amount). At age 66, I can collect s/s and then earn any amount and the s/s will not be reduced.
Believe me, if I could swing it, 62 would work for me!
The day I hit 62! When you're old, nothing is for sure. I'd rather collect a little than nothing at all.
I'm with you yellowsnow......Hell Every day is a gift...nothing is promised. I put in the time and paid into SS too......Better early than late...might not be any late....Hey I'm not the "Ramblin Gamblin Man" I used to be....Well maybe not the Gamblin.
Spiritwalker
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Maybe it doesn't pay to wait
