Ready
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I'm still about 20 years off from claiming Social Security. DH is 14 years away. Both of our monthly estimates if we claim at 70 are about $3,500 per month. So combined that gives us $84,000 annually. Our annual expenses excluding non-recurring costs like new cars and major home repairs is right around $80,000.
I've always heard that Social Security only tends to cover about 30-40% of your total expenses. I've been wondering if I'm overlooking something. It seems too good to be true. Granted I could worry about whether the funding will be there in 20 years to cover it, whether means testing will come in to play, and on and on. But ignoring all of the what ifs, it would seem like our social security should cover all of our run rate expenses.
Is this unusual? We both were high earners, so we typically earned in excess of the cap each year. And we both have over 35 years of income history. I've run the analysis if I were to stop working today, and it only drops each of our payments by $300, so not that significant.
Am I missing anything or just very fortunate?
I've always heard that Social Security only tends to cover about 30-40% of your total expenses. I've been wondering if I'm overlooking something. It seems too good to be true. Granted I could worry about whether the funding will be there in 20 years to cover it, whether means testing will come in to play, and on and on. But ignoring all of the what ifs, it would seem like our social security should cover all of our run rate expenses.
Is this unusual? We both were high earners, so we typically earned in excess of the cap each year. And we both have over 35 years of income history. I've run the analysis if I were to stop working today, and it only drops each of our payments by $300, so not that significant.
Am I missing anything or just very fortunate?