Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum SS question for the retired folks

If you take Social Security early at 62 is that your set amount from then on or does it increase when you turn 68? I was watching a video this morning where a guy was saying that once you turn 68 it increases to full benefits, but I’m not sure if he was right.

Taking benefits at 62 or any age after that set your benefit.

You will still get annual cost of living adjustments but nothing extra when you turn 67 which is the new full retirement age. The benifit increases roughly 8% per year that you wait to file between the ages of 62 and 70.

The trouble with 62 is Medicare is 65. I could retire next year and live off investments until 62, but for the cost of health insurance.

If you take it at 62 and have a reduced benefit because of your income, then it will increase once you’re at full retirement age. That is the exception that he was likely referring to.

I took the money at 62 and just invest it. Never know what they will do when it starts running out...raise age to start, reduce based on income/savings/cut one spouse or just reduce amount paid out??? Who knows. I think you have to live into the eighties for it to pay you more than just start taking it at 62, and if you invest, that extends into the nineties.

Thoughts may be different if this is what you are depending on for your retirement for the rest of your life.

Talk to a professional, and let them advise you. I personally think its BS the reduce what you get if you work. You and your employers paid in your entire career, you should get your $ when you want to, regardless of whether you keep working. They ought to encourage taking it and investing it.

I did the math on the small pension I will receive, its better for me to wait until age 70 to start drawing it. Of course the gamble is I don't reach 70, or don't live much past it.

We have a lot of investments in non retirement funds. I defer all my income from a very small buisness into a solo 401k. About 30,000 a year. My wife puts as much allowable in her sepa 401k. Not only is there less to pay taxes on it puts us in a way lower tax bracket. We use capital gains to make up the income. There are no taxes on capital unless you reach $95,000. All capital gains above this are taxed at 15% for the year. We are able to deduct all our medical. The HSA bronze plan is what we use for insurance, by defering income it makes it pretty cheap, I'm using the HSA like a roth. I invest it in really good funds. We will pay later by deffering, but we are saving a ton on taxes, and medical right now. Im guessing we are saving 20,000 a year between medical and taxes. I dont make the rules but I will take advantage of them. My advice is while your young invest in your traditional and Roth 401k but have investments outside of those also. It give you a lot of flexibility and can save you 6 figures in taxes later. Oh yeah, we dont owe anything, we couldn't do it with debt.

Good advice coldtrail. I was able to retire at 55 with no debt from starting my 403b early. I made a habit of going to these young new teachers most 22-23 and saying to them ti start putting in the 403b Roth. I dont care if its 20 bucks a ck. Its not the amount its the length of time. Most looked at me like I had 2 heads. A few took the advice. i tried to tell them

Don’t think that’s correct. I’ve always heard if you take it at 62 your benefit is fixed other than cost of living increases. You also take a hit if you continue to work if you take the benefit before your full retirement age. I waited till my full retirement age of 66 years and 8 months because I worked until I was 66.

This is correct.

I was going to take mine at 62, but I am waiting until I turn 65, mainly because I had different options to take my pension and I took the high/low option where I got more money from 62-65 and then it drops down at 65, which is when I'm going to take my SS. It will still be a raise, because 65 SS + reduced pension is considerably more than my pension was between 62-65. Plus Mrs. Irish is taking it at 62 and get's her first check next month.

All that together is plenty for us to live on without having touch our savings or retirement. So that's a blessing.

Taking it at 62 the total take home is about the same as taking later until age 79.5 due to the number of years accumulated.
In other words, you get less per month for more years at 62 (17.5 years) compared to 65 (14.4 years).

Example say at 62 you get $1600 a month ( $19,200 a year) x 17.5 = $336,000
At 65 you get $1930 a month ($23,160 a year) x 14.5=$335,820

These are not exact numbers but just an example.
You would need to go to the SS website and review your own numbers for an exact number.
But after 79 you’re getting almost $4000 more a year waiting until 65.

I took mine at 62 and the wife took her’s at 65. What we didn’t need just got put into savings or investments.

Just curious. If you took it at 62 and you received for the basis of this question $1000 per month vs when you are 70 you receive X$ more, how long would it take you to make up the 96K$ you just earned in 8 years with the difference you would get at 70 over the $1,000 monthly?

I rolled three pensions into my IRA. GE, Ecolab, and a smaller company. I saw the options, what they promised to pay. It was ridiculous. I made out like a bandit on that. I'm stuck with one from the millwright local. They wont let me cash it out. The best thing I ever done was change jobs, roll my money over, and picked great funds.

What is Social Security? Is that a line item on my paystub I’ll never see?

Your betting on how long you'll live. I started taking mine at 62. I'd be 78 before I reached the break even point compared to taking it at 66.

If you take SS before full retirement age , you can have work income up to $23,400 ( this year) without penalty. Info below .

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html

Not true IF you continue to work after beginning to draw. Once you fully retire your contributions that you continued to make after you began drawing will be calculated and your new benefit will go into effect. There is some really bad info in this thread. Some of y'all need to go directly to the SS website and read it for yourself.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/matrix.html#:~:text=After%20you%20reach%20your%20full,increase%20in%20your%20benefit%20amount.

This!!!

There are online calculators that will give you your break even age. There is a SS site that tells you how much you would get as of today at each age.