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Old 04-28-2014, 08:59 PM   #21
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Remember to take inflation into account when evaluating the best age to take SS - the only COLA'd pension many of us will ever see.
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Old 04-28-2014, 09:06 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by rodi View Post
My husband started at 62 because our minor age children qualified for benefits as the children of a retired person.

We would have held off - but this totally skewed the spreadsheets in favor of him taking it earlier.

We'll play it by ear for me. I'm 10 years younger than him - and have a higher benefit amount even if I stop working today... The idea of him getting a bump if I take it later, and die first is kind of negated by our age difference... so that's less of an issue for us compared to many couples where the spouse with the higher SS earnings delays taking it to provide an income safety net for the lower SS spouse .
This is basically our situation. DH retired and started SS immediately when he was a few months shy of 63. We had 2 minor kids at the time so him taking SS then was clearcut.

I'm 6 1/2 years younger than him and just turned 60 last Friday so I've not yet decided what I will do. Had I worked full time until 62, my SS taken at the same age he took it would be higher although not a lot higher. I've been working very part-time for the last 4 years though so mine now will be about the same as his.

The options that I see are for me to take spousal at 66 (my FRA) and then wait until 70 or I just go ahead and take it at 62. Firecalc currently says we can spend a little more if wait to take it until later but it really isn't a big enough difference to drive the decision.

Basically I'm just going to wait until 2 years from now to decide.
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Old 04-28-2014, 09:18 PM   #23
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Remember to take inflation into account when evaluating the best age to take SS - the only COLA'd pension many of us will ever see.
You get the COLA regardless of when you begin SS and unless you beat the mortality tables you will receive the same dollar amount.
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Old 04-28-2014, 09:24 PM   #24
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Waiting till 70 is always a loser..
If your are single, or if you spouse has their own funds, that is true. For my DW, she needs my survivor benefit. So If I wait until 70, the survivor benefit is higher for DW. Everything about SS is situational.
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Old 04-28-2014, 09:35 PM   #25
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Waiting till 70 is always a loser. ....
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Originally Posted by timo2 View Post
If your are single, or if you spouse has their own funds, that is true. For my DW, she needs my survivor benefit. So If I wait until 70, the survivor benefit is higher for DW. Everything about SS is situational.
+1

But for god's sake timo, let's not confuse the question by using facts.
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Old 04-28-2014, 09:41 PM   #26
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Everything about SS is situational.
Amen!
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Old 04-28-2014, 10:13 PM   #27
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Many people make important financial decisions based upon incorrect information. So go right ahead and do what you are sure is right.
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Old 04-28-2014, 10:58 PM   #28
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Waiting till 70 is always a loser. For 30 yrs and for 40 yrs.
When I calculate mine, I do not get these results. If your situation means you should take it early, feel free to do so. But I hope you are basing your decision on correct facts. Too many people make a decision, then look for facts to support their choice, instead of looking at the facts then making the decision based on what they find.
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Old 04-29-2014, 06:25 AM   #29
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That's pretty funny!

I assumed that the OP created the post because he wanted some feedback, in spite of the writing style he used where he made declarative statements about how things really are.
+1 Ha's post was funny.

I interpreted the OP as a lecture more than a request for feedback. Ha nailed it.

OP's rationale = Ready. Fire. Aim.
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Old 04-29-2014, 07:57 AM   #30
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Ha was just trying to "advise" him the conventional "advice" given on this forum
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Old 04-29-2014, 08:40 AM   #31
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My current plan is to take SS at 62. But, I'm only 44 now, so that's still a ways off. I figure I'll re-adjust my plan as necessary, as the time gets closer.

I used to think that your SS benefit went up about 4% per year, until you hit 62, and then, for every year you delayed, it went up about 8%. But in plugging in some formulas, that's not quite the case.

Right now, it looks like every year I keep working adds about 3.6% to my SS payout at 62. But, there's a diminishing rate of return. While delaying from age 44 to 45 boosts it by about 3.6%, delaying from age 50 to 51 ony boosts it by 3.1%. Pushing it from 55 to 56 only boosts it by 1.18%. And oddly, delaying from age 61 to 62 does not change it at all. But then, working until age 63 boosts it by 7.57% versus 62. And each year onward adds between 7.1 and 8.78% per year. Odd, I didn't think there would be that much variance from year to year, but that 8.78% boost is delaying from 64 to 65.

Now, to get these numbers, I just used the quick calculator, so your mileage may vary. And it assumes that I actually keep working each additional year, not simply delaying taking SS.

Once you get so many years in though, I don't think an additional year of earnings changes things all that much.
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Old 04-29-2014, 08:56 AM   #32
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Need to do the math still so have not decided.

But in my head I'm thinking get the money while I can (at 62).

Might be the wrong decision if I live to 100 but then again I'm not thrilled about counting on the government/uncertainty for that many years.
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Old 04-29-2014, 09:07 AM   #33
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Need to do the math still so have not decided.

But in my head I'm thinking get the money while I can (at 62).

Might be the wrong decision if I live to 100 but then again I'm not thrilled about counting on the government/uncertainty for that many years.
That's pretty much my sentiment. I figure the sooner I get in, the better off I'll be. Wait too long and they just might change the rules! Of course, they can still change the rules in the 18 years I have left until I turn 62.

As I get closer to 62, I might think about delaying it. After all, that 7-8% boost does sound pretty tempting. I'll just weigh the pros and cons as I get closer to that point.
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Old 04-29-2014, 09:40 AM   #34
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Once you get so many years in though, I don't think an additional year of earnings changes things all that much.
An important point is that SS bases your benefit on your highest 35 years of earnings. This probably explains most of your calculations.

The Social Security Detailed Calculator lets you make a very good estimate by plugging in your expected earnings (even if they are zero).
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Old 04-29-2014, 09:41 AM   #35
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But in my head I'm thinking get the money while I can (at 62).

Might be the wrong decision if I live to 100 but then again I'm not thrilled about counting on the government/uncertainty for that many years.
I feel that way, too. You might as well enjoy what you can while you can. Life is too fleeting.
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Old 04-29-2014, 10:53 AM   #36
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That's pretty much my sentiment. I figure the sooner I get in, the better off I'll be. Wait too long and they just might change the rules! ....
When was the last time there was a substantive change to the rules for people 62 or even 55?

Never to my knowledge. There are too many people and they vote regularly so a significant change to beneficiaries 55 or older is very unlikely IMO. I concede they might nibble at the edges, like replacing CPI with chained CPI.
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:02 AM   #37
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If you had a spouse who didn't work much, delaying getting SS makes more sense, no? Is there a SS calculator that calculates that also?
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:46 AM   #38
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I think for some people it is optimal to take SS at 62; for others it is optimal to take it at 70. For everybody else it will be optimal to take it somewhere between 62 and 70.

My point is that the membership here covers a wide variety of situations; from multi-millionaires to several thousand-aires; some with juicy pensions, and some with no pension; some with significant after-tax savings and others with nothing but retirement savings.

You can't just make a blanket statement like "It is always better to take SS at nn". It just depends on the individual's situation, and those vary widely.
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Old 04-29-2014, 01:30 PM   #39
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If you had a spouse who didn't work much, delaying getting SS makes more sense, no? Is there a SS calculator that calculates that also?
This one should work pretty well for many cases:

Social Security Benefits Evaluator - T. Rowe Price
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Old 04-29-2014, 01:38 PM   #40
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Waiting till 70 is always a loser. For 30 yrs and for 40 yrs. days.
I won't argue with this, but I will say that FireCalc is just one tool, and it does not take into account certain factors that are important to people. For example, I like to balance my sources of retirement income close to 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, with the idea that 2 of the three sources will provide for basic expenses. That allows me to sleep well at night. This may be a suboptimal according to FireCalc, but it works for me.
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