Basic Social Security question

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakowitzm Thanks Dtail. That's what I thought i remembered, but these days trusting my memory is a very risky proposition. In my case, with 9 years to go, that's a significant increase.

Remember, the COLA is based on the CPI, so in today's dollars it should pretty much stay the same. That's why I don't bother calculating the COL increases. I'm thinking of retirement expenses and budgets in today's dollars, and I expect my portfolio to outperform the CPI (by a lot!), so it's simpler to just think of it in today's dollars. If you do estimate the SS COLA year over year, you should also adjust your projected retirement spending accordingly, with the exception of fixed-payment contracts like leases and mortgages of course.

[thefist]

Going straight to the estimator without logging in seems to be the trick. I had the problem months ago.
2019 was my first w/o earned income (age 54). This time, the estimator asked for income, then assumed 0 for the calculation.

[Hdhead]

I have had zero income since I was 52. Now am 66, just started receiving SS. There was no reduction in the amount reported since I stopped working. Just small incremental increases in the amount due to the inflation adjustments during those 14 years.

I just wonder what is in store for future beneficiaries since the system will be broke within the next 14 years.

[OddGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hdhead I just wonder what is in store for future beneficiaries since the system will be broke within the next 14 years.

" According to the 2019 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the trust fu"nds that disburse retirement, disability and other Social Security benefits will be depleted by 2035. That does not mean Social Security will no longer be around; it means the system will exhaust its cash reserves and will be able to pay out only what it takes in year-to-year in Social Security taxes. If this comes to pass, Social Security would be able to pay about 80 percent of the benefits to which retired and disabled workers are entitled."

https://www.aarp.org/retirement/soci...ity-be-around/

[ShokWaveRider]

By 2035, I will be 6ft Under, Pushing Up Daisies, so WTF do I care?

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider By 2035, I will be 6ft Under, Pushing Up Daisies, so WTF do I care?

You will only be around 80 y.o. IIRC, so you never know.

[DawgMan]

I had this same question a while ago. I ran the calculator plugging in $0 income starting now (age 55) and interestingly, it gave me a lower benefit at 70 by $270/mo ($3702/mo vs. 3972/mo) as opposed to continuing to work until 67 with some reasonable level of income. While I have never underwritten SS in my plan due to lack of faith in how solvent it will be once I turn 70 (maybe 75% of benefit is more realistic?), I suppose it's better than a sharp stick in the eye if something is there, especially if I bump it 50% for my non-working DW!

[meleana]

Short answer is yes.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakowitzm Follow up re: Social Security Retirement Estimator. When I click on how they make the estimate, one of the things it says is that your actual amount may differ, due to annual cost-of-living increases. So.... let's say my estimate is $3,000/month and I am 61 years old, and COLA will be 2%/year for the next 9 years (until I start taking SS at 70.) My assumption is that the best estimate of my monthly benefit at age 70 is $3,000/month + about 20% of $3,000, allowing for the additional 2%/year for 9 years, compounded. Thus the best estimate for me when 2029 actually arrives would be $3,600/month. Is that how this works?

Close.... it would be $3,000 * (1+2%)^9 or $3,585... assuming that your benefits statement says that your age 70 benefit is $3,000 and COLA adj is 2% annually.

[NotYourAverageJones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakowitzm Follow up re: Social Security Retirement Estimator. When I click on how they make the estimate, one of the things it says is that your actual amount may differ, due to annual cost-of-living increases. So.... let's say my estimate is $3,000/month and I am 61 years old, and COLA will be 2%/year for the next 9 years (until I start taking SS at 70.) My assumption is that the best estimate of my monthly benefit at age 70 is $3,000/month + about 20% of $3,000, allowing for the additional 2%/year for 9 years, compounded. Thus the best estimate for me when 2029 actually arrives would be $3,600/month. Is that how this works?

I took all of the estimates we got from using SS.gov benefits estimator tool and plugged them into Mike Pipers: https://opensocialsecurity.com/about/ calculator. Gave us a lot of useful insight into how much we both will get and at what ages we should take it to maximize the benefits. It also allow you to estimate a few different scenarios, if their advice doesn't work for you. As always, garbage in garbage out. So make sure you are estimating the same benefits. i.e. the same $ amount either in today's or future dollars.

Also, we were given this link for a online calculator by our former FA to use as a reference as we get closer to retirement. It costs about $40 for a 1 year access, but apparently it gives you way more options and ability to run many different scenarios. Just a thought.

https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/

[Teacher Terry]

With a large number of seniors living on just SS I doubt that they will cut it. Since mine is only 377 and my husband’s will only be about 600 it wouldn’t matter to us.