Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
social security changes
Old 11-04-2015, 01:54 PM   #1
Full time employment: Posting here.
mn54's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: mpls, mn
Posts: 761
social security changes

I thought I was already for social security, plan in hand, when they go and completely destroy my plan. No more file and suspend, no more claiming spousal benefits while yours grow from FRA to 70. I notice most of the online calculators have not updated to reflect the new changes. Are there any updated calculators? How have the changes affected others plans?
mn54 is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-04-2015, 02:22 PM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
pb4uski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,204
There are a couple other threads going on this. Search in the google bar above and you'll find them.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.

Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
pb4uski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2015, 03:08 PM   #3
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,021
I added the last 2 threads discussing the new changes to the FAQ's archive

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...-ss-69366.html
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2015, 03:16 PM   #4
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,190
The most interesting thing about the changes IMHO are not the changes per se, but the very, very short fuse Congress applied to the grandfathering period. Effectively if you weren't already of SS age (62 or better) you were/are out of luck.
LARS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2015, 05:40 PM   #5
Recycles dryer sheets
starry night's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 156
With respect, Alan, might you place the threads in the archive so that most recent threads appear first; in reverse chronological order? These are usually the more currently topical discussions. In this case, the older threads about filing strategies are soon-to-be irrelevant.
__________________
The best things in life aren't THINGS!
starry night is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2015, 06:01 PM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
youbet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,149
Quote:
Originally Posted by LARS View Post
The most interesting thing about the changes IMHO are not the changes per se, but the very, very short fuse Congress applied to the grandfathering period.
Yep! I'm proud of 'em! Something needed to be done. They had an opportunity. They did it! And they made it effective in the immediate future.

Doesn't seem like our Congress. Maybe foreign subversives took over in disguise?
__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
youbet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2015, 07:16 PM   #7
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,021
Quote:
Originally Posted by starry night View Post
With respect, Alan, might you place the threads in the archive so that most recent threads appear first; in reverse chronological order? These are usually the more currently topical discussions. In this case, the older threads about filing strategies are soon-to-be irrelevant.
Good idea, I've sorted them by year.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 05:56 AM   #8
Moderator
braumeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,155
Fidelity put what I consider a very concise explanation of the changes on their website.
New Social Security rules
braumeister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 06:10 AM   #9
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
dtbach's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Madison
Posts: 1,337
Now at least I don't have to rack my brain about what the best strategy would be for me and the DW. . . .
__________________
Wild Bill shoulda taken more out of his IRA when he could have. . . .
dtbach is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 07:21 AM   #10
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,021
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
Now at least I don't have to rack my brain about what the best strategy would be for me and the DW. . . .
+1
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 07:30 AM   #11
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,993
I bought the book "Get what is Yours" this year. I guess these changes make the book irrelevant too. I knew changes were possible so probably should not have bought the book!
sheehs1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 07:34 AM   #12
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Dash man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Limerick
Posts: 5,633
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheehs1 View Post
I bought the book "Get what is Yours" this year. I guess these changes make the book irrelevant too. I knew changes were possible so probably should not have bought the book!
I bought the book too. I wonder if Amazon will take it back.
Dash man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 07:54 AM   #13
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Midpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,148
The other threads I found were closed.

Despite their spin, I was very surprised to see AARP supporting the end of file & suspend. I was even more surprised at the tiny % of file & suspenders they cite - I assume most here were planning on it. If the % they report are true, it will do little to help SS solvency. But I think ending file & suspend is generationally fair, even though it'll cost us personally.
Quote:
3. We closed loopholes that endangered Social Security. A very small number of people — perhaps less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all Social Security recipients nationwide — took advantage of so-called file-and-suspend claiming strategies to increase their take. It was all perfectly legal but wasn’t doing anyone (other than the tiny fraction of recipients employing these strategies) any good. As a result, these loopholes — and the unnecessary drain on the Social Security system they created — have been closed.

Of course, some people like loopholes. For example, certain outfits that had been selling software intended to instruct people how to exploit these (now closed) loopholes are making noise and pointing fingers — but, hey, it’s a free country.
Budget Act Safeguards Social Security, Medicare for Older Americans – AARP
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57

Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
Midpack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 08:23 AM   #14
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,190
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
The other threads I found were closed.

Despite their spin, I was very surprised to see AARP supporting the end of file & suspend. I was even more surprised at the tiny % of file & suspenders they cite - I assume most here were planning on it. If the % they report are true, it will do little to help SS solvency. But I think ending file & suspend is generationally fair, even though it'll cost us personally.
Budget Act Safeguards Social Security, Medicare for Older Americans – AARP
Article seemed to be a reasonable response by AARP. Thanks for link. Always interesting to read how AARP reacts (being the 800 lb. gorilla in the room).

Notwithstanding we would have most likely F&S (can't now miss age cutoff) seems a small price to pay and it does/did have that "loophole" feeling about it.
LARS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 08:40 AM   #15
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
youbet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,149
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
I think ending file & suspend is generationally fair, even though it'll cost us personally.[/url]
But it doesn't cost us much. I haven't read a post yet where the poster feels his/her FIRE status is threatened by this minor change. It's the right thing to do, nobody receives less SS based on their own earnings and corrects an unintended consequence of the recent 2000 legislation that enabled it.

It's reminiscent of the recent change where we can now no longer start SS at 62 and, if desired, pay back the accumulated benefits (without interest!) and then receive a higher SS.

IMHO, there is still much cleaning up to do in the SS rules and regs to return the program to what it was intended to be. I hope Congress has the gumption and smarts to keep moving on these sort of things.
__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
youbet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2015, 08:40 AM   #16
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 754
Less complication is good. Now let's work on the tax code.
__________________
Retired July 2013 at age 49.

Lazy Portfolio Investor:
AA: 55% Stocks
35% Bonds
10% Cash
NanoSour is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2015, 03:18 AM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,098
Quote:
Originally Posted by mn54 View Post
I thought I was already for social security, plan in hand, when they go and completely destroy my plan. No more file and suspend, no more claiming spousal benefits while yours grow from FRA to 70. I notice most of the online calculators have not updated to reflect the new changes. Are there any updated calculators? How have the changes affected others plans?
fidelity had just released their ss tool a few weeks prior . it was for their own in house use and now it has been pulled back .
mathjak107 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2015, 07:10 AM   #18
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,332
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
Now at least I don't have to rack my brain about what the best strategy would be for me and the DW. . . .
+1 ...and miles of spreadsheet!
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
marko is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2015, 07:50 AM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
harley's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
Now at least I don't have to rack my brain about what the best strategy would be for me and the DW. . . .
I've still got to determine/guess whether it would be better to take DW's SS at 62 or 66. Mine at 70 hasn't changed, to lock in the maximum spousal benefit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sheehs1 View Post
I bought the book "Get what is Yours" this year. I guess these changes make the book irrelevant too. I knew changes were possible so probably should not have bought the book!
I made another one of my brilliant/lucky investment decisions and checked it out of the library.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NanoSour View Post
Less complication is good. Now let's work on the tax code.
Dream on.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
harley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-14-2015, 11:36 AM   #20
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,375
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
Now at least I don't have to rack my brain about what the best strategy would be for me and the DW. . . .
gerntz is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
At the gym--are you social or anti-social? hakuna matata Health and Early Retirement 47 03-28-2011 12:41 PM
Social Security "do over' rule changes hogwild FIRE and Money 1 01-13-2011 03:16 PM
Status of Social Security Changes TromboneAl FIRE and Money 22 09-11-2005 03:08 PM
Social Security lauraf13 FIRE and Money 17 06-12-2003 06:58 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:48 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.