What percentage of your retirement income is Social Security?

[stevelb]

48% of spending. 27% of AGI. Probably 2021 was a little light on spending due to various circumstances.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I interpret income to mean income independent of portfolio withdrawals.

The OP specifically included portfolio withdrawals as part of retirement income.

[cyber888]

Zero now. But when DW and I claim Social Security in 4 years, it will be probably contribute around 70% - 72% of our monthly expenses (based on my projected expenses by the time I get social security).

[jollystomper]

Currently zero. Assuming we are both alive at these future dates, at my FRA it will be 35% of income, if I wait to age 70 it will be 40% of income.When RMDs hit it will be around 33% of income.

[Still Learning]

37% of our monthly income is SS. Our investment withdrawal is under .007% and we take no money from savings. Just living on SS and a pension with extra money left over for discretionary spending for another 7 years +/-.

[N02L84ER]

0% currently. In 8 years, our combined SS is projected to be 70% of expenses, 50% of income.

[Out of Steam]

So far, zero.

Next year, with one of us filing for Social Security and the other deferring, between 20 and 25%.

[TheWizard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarieIG Re income: I run two separate set of books - in my head. For the IRS, I include any IRA conversions I make, or distributions DH takes. But this certainly does not "feel" like income, rather a withdrawal with the corresponding payment of tax liability. Income I think of as DH's pension, interest on bonds, and dividends (although I can see how dividends may be phantom income). But I can also see how, in these threads, YMMV.

I understand how you feel.
Certain money is like cash in your wallet after all taxes have been paid. That includes your Roth IRA.
So Roth conversions count as income even though you have no need to SPEND it all this year.

Money in your tax-deferred accounts is NOT equivalent to cash in your wallet because you haven't yet paid the ransom to get it out of tax-deferred.

Hope this line of reasoning helps...

[TheWizard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 The OP specifically included portfolio withdrawals as part of retirement income.

Tax-deferred or taxable or Roth?
They're not at all the same...

[marinauser]

Zero currently and for the next 2.5 years. One of us will hit 70 then and spouse the following year. Hard to tell what the percentage will be then since capital gains can fluctuate significantly from year to year right now. But once both collecting, I expect it to be about 30% of income coming from SS, dividends and interest. Smaller percentage if you take into account capital gains that are included in income.

[Ronstar]

I've never taken any portfolio withdrawals. I live off SS and a similar monthly payment from an annuity. SS is roughly 40% of expenses.

[rk911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondAttempt I am curious what percentage of your retirement income from all sources including withdrawals is from Social Security.

we don't count dividends and interest payments into our annual income estimate since they are unpredictable. our income streams are SS and three state and local defined benefit pensions. of that our combined SS is ~24% of our total.

[martyp]

My income is a work pension plus Social Security. SS is 20% of my income.

[Timeisprecious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarveyS So far, zero.

+2. If social security keeps getting increased at the same rate as military pensions and disability payments, I'm estimating 27.84% before taxes when I take it at age 70.

P.S. I'm not including withdrawals as part of this estimate.

[Teacher Terry]

1/7 of my retirement income is SS. Due to WEP my SS is small.

[SecondAttempt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarveyS so far, zero. As clarification, you asked retirement income. Is that what you want to know, or is it retirement annual spending or retirement annual budget. Most here do not spend all their income.

Thanks for the responses so far!

Sorry, I was not clear.

I went to a retirement planning seminar (not in any way a sales pitch, put on by a retiree from my company and very well done). He mentioned that Social Security was never meant to provide all retirement income but rather X % of retirement income and he noted that that number is pretty close to what the average amount for retirees is now. I'll tell you the actual % he gave in a few days.

He speciifically said "income" but included investment returns and withdrawals and one source of income, pensions being the other.

So I guess given that net income=expenses by definition for a retiree, % of expense would give the same answer. (If your income exceeds your enpenses that excess just goes back into savings, right)

I'm interested in seeing if the experience of people here is close to the average and the original intent of SS. If you are not yet taking SS then I would say it does not make sense to answer unless you want to report what you plan it to be.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 The OP specifically included portfolio withdrawals as part of retirement income.

I saw that, but I think it is a mistake to do so. Some witdraw to support their spending, others to manage their tax burden when RMDs start, and others maybe to simply reallocate their portfolio. And then there is a situation like mine, where my portfolio withdrawals have been negative. There is little if any useful information to be gleaned from studying portfolio withdrawals compared to social security income.

[SecondAttempt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I saw that, but I think it is a mistake to do so. Some witdraw to support their spending, others to manage their tax burden when RMDs start, and others maybe to simply reallocate their portfolio. And then there is a situation like mine, where my portfolio withdrawals have been negative. There is little if any useful information to be gleaned from studying portfolio withdrawals compared to social security income.

Fair points. I'm trying not to overthink this. Maybe I should have said what % of expenses. We all have expenses whether extravagant or very frugal. What % of those does SS cover? It will obviously vary depending on your stage of retirement. Early = high travel and activity costs, mid = lower costs, late = higher medical and possibly assisted living costs.

[TheWizard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondAttempt ...So I guess given that net income=expenses by definition for a retiree, % of expense would give the same answer. (If your income exceeds your enpenses that excess just goes back into savings, right)...

Especially after starting SS two+ years ago at age 70, I now have sufficient income with my pension/annuity that I don't need to do portfolio withdrawals for routine spending.
So I have a negative withdrawal rate as some others here apparently do.

There's a mishmash of terminology if we're not careful.
At age 72 now, I have three income streams hitting my checking account each month. They all contribute to my AGI. From largest to smallest:
1) my pension/annuity
2) my SS
3) my RMD (taken as twelve equal monthly payments)

I'm not one of those who claims to be reinvesting his RMD. My records show considerably more than my gross RMD going into my taxable account settlement fund from checking each month, on average.

I actually have two more income components that I pay income tax on:
4) dividends and interest in my taxable account
5) Roth conversions (much smaller now that I'm in RMD land)

I'm planning/hoping to buy a new car next year to replace my 2008 one. I'll pay $40,000 cash for it by selling stock index funds in my taxable account. This obviously will be a Portfolio Withdrawal but will be managed so as NOT to create more taxable income. I'll quite likely have a Capital Loss on that withdrawal.

If things were different and my taxable account components all had GAINS, then I would withdraw most of the $40k from my Roth IRA instead.

Hope this clarifies things...

[old medic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpeirce Nada. This is a retire EARLY forum after all

Well seems 33 are zero and 30 collecting somthing..