% of income from Soc Sec & Pensions

[Midpack]

I get the impression most people here have significant pensions and/or social security, so thought I'd poll and see...

[Walt34]

The pension plan I'm under they stopped offering in 1978 when the actuaries looked at the numbers and freaked. So most of it will be from the pension.

[UncleHoney]

Current retirement income is my pension and DW's SS. The split is about 71/29%. My SS and the nest egg are still growing.

In today's dollars all the potential income, pension/2 SS/nest egg income the split would be about 36% pension, 34% SS, and 30% nest egg.

My pension isn't COLA'ed so over time it's value will fall. Currently we are doing fine on the pension and DW's SS. That's about 49% of our potential income. I'm not including nest egg income in that number because we haven't touched it. I'm figuring about 3% as a safe withdrawal in my nest egg calculations.

[OAG]

Currently Retired (COLA'd) Pay (Pension): 37%; SS: 25%. However, I expect the "savings portion" of 38% will actually grow in proportion to the rest, at least through approximately age 78.

[ladelfina]

Thanks for the poll, Midpack. I wish there were an option for zero. ;-)
Retirees who have 60%-100% of their basic living expenses (and possibly their health care) covered are in quite a different boat from those who don't.

[cashbalancetrouble]

I am assuming the 50% range. DW is still working till 55 to get full pension with health care, 18 months more of hell. What I am really worried about is GOV starting to do means testing for full SS and tax deductions. I don't trust all of them. If you didn't live it up and just saved all your life, your gonna have to give some back. I remember them saying changes won't effect SS for those over 50, the 55. Next it will be 60 because I am not there yet.

[Goonie]

Currently, 100% of my retirement income is from a COLA'd pension, and my former employer picks up 75% of my health insurance premiums. Several years down the road I'll also have SS and investment income to add to that.

[Moemg]

My income comes from a pension 35%, SS survivor benefit 25% and the rest comes from my savings .At 66 I will switch to my SS benefit which will be 60% higher . I am currently only using 2 1/2% of my savings .

[rs0460a]

Retired last year at age 59. My company converted to a cash balance (rather than a pension) many years ago.

At the time of retirement, I took a portion of the "cash balance settlement" and purchased a SPIA (oh no!) to "mimic" what would have been a pension.

This has allowed me to "push out" my SS from age 62 till age 70, when it will mean more to my DW (assuming I pass first).

At age 59, my SPIA and VA disability income represent about 33% of my income. When SS kicks in (at age 70), projected payments will cover around 90% of my projected retirement income, at that time.

- Ron

[Midpack]

Originally Posted by ladelfina

Thanks for the poll, Midpack. I wish there were an option for zero. ;-)
Retirees who have 60%-100% of their basic living expenses (and possibly their health care) covered are in quite a different boat from those who don't.

That's what I was getting at, my pension and both our SS benefits will at most provide 17% of our income. Planning to rely almost entirely on a nest egg is a different world, but one that more and more people are having/will have to face. My parents retired in the "golden age" of retirement with COLA'd pensions, COLA'd Soc Sec and full healthcare. And some here seem to be pretty carefree about the future, sometimes I wonder if this is why...

[calmloki]

The groovy thing about rentals is that Unca Sam recognizes that the money comes to the landlord free of his effort - thus, unearned income and free from SS tax. The bad thing about rentals is that that means one must work or live on SSI benefits adequate to feed a sparrow. I'm lazy. If we take SS benefits at 62 they will provide about 17% of our income.

[VaCollector]

NO pension, NO social security for 8+ years (at 62).

[CyclingInvestor]

No pension. No SS for at least 12 more years, when it will be under 20%.

[Independent]

Originally Posted by Midpack

That's what I was getting at, my pension and both our SS benefits will at most provide 17% of our income. Planning to rely almost entirely on a nest egg is a different world, but one that more and more people are having/will have to face. My parents retired in the "golden age" of retirement with COLA'd pensions, COLA'd Soc Sec and full healthcare. And some here seem to be pretty carefree about the future, sometimes I wonder if this is why...

The 17% is surprising to me. If we both wait till 66 to start SS, then it will cover about 100% of our "basic" spending. I'm using "basic" to include everything we typically bought for the two of us before retirement (it doesn't cover retirement travel or other unusual spending).

I thought I was "typical" of conservative spenders. During our working years we paid a mortgage; paid FICA taxes; paid for our kids food, clothing, medical care, education, etc; paid significant income taxes; and saved money. None of those things continue into retirement.

After I deduct those items, it turns out that we were only spending 25% of our gross income on the rest. SS will replace that.

Can you see what the major differences are between my situation and yours?

[Robert the Red]

Eventually, we will have small pensions ($25 K, partial COLA) and SS ($30 K) and 3% withdrawals ($60 K). So about 50% from pensions/SS. But it's a time-dependent ratio, since we'll have to age some more to get SS coming in.

{later}
The above is our income projection. Spending -- maybe $80 K? So once SS kicks in, 60-70% of spending might be covered by pensions/SS. Unless we go hog wild, and travel more. Or get sick more.

[ziggy29]

If I assume SS will provide what they currently claim, probably about 40% for the wife and me plus a puny pension from a prior j*b.

Still, I think that's a dangerous assumption. I still assume zero for planning purposes, assuming I'll be means-tested out of it.

[haha]

My support comes 100% from investments, and has for years. Eventually I will get some SS, which should be approx. 20% at that time. This assumes no big changes.

Ha

[bbbamI]

In the future, social security and pension should provide 50% of income for us...leaving only 2% to withdraw from investments.

We'll see what the future brings........

[happy2bretired]

I get 51% from my COLA's government pension, the rest from investments.

[cashflo2u2]

What about annuities? For those of us that have or are thinking about annuitizing a portion of their portfolio does that fit into this?