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Old 12-15-2018, 02:36 PM   #61
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I am delighted that I waited until age 70 to begin my SSA bonanza.


It alone does not pay all of my expenses, however along with pensions, VA disability, military retired pay, my monthly expenses are generally paid, with a bit left over for fun-time.
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Old 12-15-2018, 03:03 PM   #62
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I will receive my 1st SS spousal benefit in 1-1/2 weeks. Between DW and my benefits, today's SS will cover ~50% of our nut. The rest is coming from our IRA's. We long ago rolled over our 401K's and pensions. When I claim delayed benefit at age 70, our combined benefit will cover ~100% of the nut. We have plenty of room for frivolity, both now and later. Although we do have modest desires/needs. Our IRA's will then be there for some "extra" fun money, our LTC (if needed) and cover our widow's(er's ) financial loss of income.
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Old 12-15-2018, 04:00 PM   #63
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No it would not. DH is receiving his FRA amount and my SS due to WEP is $92.00 per month. Luckily, we have 3 other pensions, although one of the pensions is tiny. They more than cover our expenses as of now.
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Retirees, does SS cover all your needs?
Old 12-15-2018, 04:28 PM   #64
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Retirees, does SS cover all your needs?

Doesn’t come close to covering our needs and we don’t have an extravagant lifestyle by any measure. It’s the unexpected, the unplanned expenses that take you by surprise and need to have cash tucked away for / new roof, crown on a tooth, rising house taxes ...
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Old 12-15-2018, 05:10 PM   #65
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No problem, take a public job with such a pension. You can't have your cake and eat it , too.
It's a little late for that. I should have stayed in the military. hindsight is 20/20 indeed. Anyway, I have no regret as working for the military or the public sector is not my cup of tea.
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Old 12-15-2018, 05:26 PM   #66
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About 12% for me.
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Old 12-15-2018, 05:47 PM   #67
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Faced with limited means, one has to think hard about needs vs. wants.

This is want.




But need is something more modest.

NW you used that top pic of our home without our consent..........lol
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Old 12-15-2018, 06:03 PM   #68
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Though I'm 12 years away from an early claim. I know details of a couple people already drawing their checks. 1 could make it on the SS alone, though it would be tight by all accounts. The other wouldn't even cover the monthly condo fees.

I know 2 others that when the income stops the needs will be covered by SS and other social safety nets. It wont be fun or pretty but they wont freeze on the street or starve.

The kids have already decided "they made the bed let them sleep in it".
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Old 12-15-2018, 06:36 PM   #69
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It depends on your and spouse's social security benefit, i.e. earnings, number of years worked, and age of filing vs. your needs or spend per year.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/ans...nt-benefit.asp

The maximum monthly Social Security benefit payment for a person applying in 2017 at full or normal retirement age is $2,687 ($32,244 a year). However, the maximum allowable benefit amount is only payable to those who had the maximum taxable earnings for at least 35 working years. Depending on when you retire and how much you made while working, your benefits may be considerably less. The estimated average monthly benefit for "all retired workers" in 2017 is $1,360 ($16,320).

What do you estimate your and your spouse's SSN benefit? What do you estimate your needs or expenses to be? It's generally different for each of us.
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Old 12-15-2018, 08:19 PM   #70
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I ask cause it “appears” that even with cuts that SS would cover our expenses. Even retiring early the numbers are there as we are high earners and don’t spend much.
It would seem that we could still plan for a 30yr drawdown but have it be from 40-70yrs. At 40yrs we’ll be at 4%WR and that’s with pitiful 3% estimated returns.
Spending down tax advantage would avoid tax torpedo. Downsides?
If you are cutting things this close, you need to be absolutely certain of how much you spend. So I hope you are since your life depends on it IMO. Be sure to include income tax, medical, and unusual/unexpected large expenses. Also, depending completely on one income source, even SS, is something I personally would never do, but whatever.

As for the question in the title of this thread, "Retirees, does SS cover all your needs?": Even though I waited until 70 to claim my SS, during 9 years of retirement my spending has been between 151%-212% of my 2019 SS. My house is paid off, so no rent or mortgage. I could probably live on SS alone, but not comfortably at all. I doubt I will ever have to test that, since I also have income from a small pension, TSP equal monthly payments, and my investment accounts.
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Old 12-15-2018, 10:32 PM   #71
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So ... my answer mirrors others with that rare DBP plan. My PENSION covers all my needs. I get a little less than 2500m. But then I've got Prop 13 & a pd off house in a sunny state (California). My investments throw off 1k a month for travel
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Old 12-16-2018, 03:23 AM   #72
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[QUOTE=Spanky;2157473]Sadly, SS would only cover about 40% of our estimated expenses. What we really need is one of the those public pension plans that pay a large percentage (i.e., 80%+) of your salary for life.[/QUOTED

DH has such a pension with a cola too! Just ask him and he will say he choose well!

Not only will he never collect SS but he won’t be able to collect mine if I should die before him.

Oh and he has paid into his pension for 31 years forgoing pay raises several times over the years. Since he has surpassed his 30 years he is basically working for 10 cents on the dollar because he is dedicated and loves his job.

Most people wouldn’t want to do his job. Instead of being envious of his public employee pension maybe a little gratitude for those who serve others is in order.

You too could have choose service and a pension over whatever career path you took.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:10 AM   #73
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SS covers 27% of our 2019 budget. At no time during our careers did we consider SS as more the one leg of our 3 legged stool.


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Old 12-16-2018, 06:17 AM   #74
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Doesn't come close. But then I have 5 years until I can take it early. I can't quite live on nothing.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:23 AM   #75
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At FRA (currently 58/59), SS will cover about 40-50% of our inflation adjusted budget (not sure how future tax situation will play out - currently low tax spending from taxable accounts). But, we will likely spend more by then. We are still in the first few years of FIRE and keeping gifting to family lower than our long term plan.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:25 AM   #76
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Doesn't come close. But then I have 5 years until I can take it early. I can't quite live on nothing.
Right, I forgot to mention that too for me. (besides being small amount)

Folks retiring early before 62 don’t even have the option of drawing on SS for a while.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:30 AM   #77
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My husband started collecting at age 63 and I just took age 70 benefits. Yes, those two would cover expenses, for now. However, it is more likely than not that expenses will increase more than COLA over the near future and beyond.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:45 AM   #78
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NW you used that top pic of our home without our consent..........lol
this is awkward. that's MY home. The place is so big neither of us knew we were each sold the place, and as of yet we haven't bumped into each other.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:50 AM   #79
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SS could cover all of our needs if we downsized our housing and downshifted our lifestyle.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:53 AM   #80
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SS could cover all of our needs if we downsized our housing and downshifted our lifestyle.
+1

It could cover our needs and we could save a little every month (like my parents did) - if we didn't spend so much.
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