Hi my job was just eliminated at age 63

[joeea]

I do not want to tap my savings AND if I am not contributing to SS, I am trying to decide if I should take my benefits early.

If you need to start collecting SS early, then you have no choice.

But remember that your benefits may be reduced for the rest of your life if you take that route.

If you were married for more than 10 years, and if your ex has already started to collect, then you could choose collect spousal benefits (again at a reduced rate now). See: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html

 

[Another Reader]

OP will qualify for Medicaid, not an ACA plan, as she has insufficient income. With less than two years until Medicare, that might be the way to go, unless DC Medicaid is as useless as it is in California. The advantage is that unlike an ACA subsidy, benefits do not have to be paid back if her income goes up. DC is an expanded Medicaid entity, so this might be the way to go even if she has some small amount of income this year.

OP should also be aware that if she takes her own benefits, earning income will cause her payment to be reduced if her earned income will be over the limit, around $17,000 this year. The decision is made monthly, so if you go over the annual income divided by 12, the payment is reduced for a later month or months. You get it back when the earned income drops. Not sure what happens when you take the divorced spouse benefit, worth looking into.

 

[Ready]

I'm sorry to hear about the job loss. I can imagine how stressful things may be for you.

If you log on to the SSA web site you can find out what your benefits would be if you were to begin collecting SS today vs waiting. If you want to post the numbers here we may be able to give you some guidance on best strategies. Ideally if you can cover your living expenses for a few more years to maximize your SS payments that would be ideal. But there are always a number of factors to consider when doing this analysis.

How many years of living expenses do you have in your retirement accounts? This will help us to give you more specific advice on where to go from here. And of course, if you do find full time work, that will give you a chance to reevaluate all of this.

 

[Tetto]

In California, the Episcopal church is now required to pay unemployment tax OR let their employees know that they are not covered from day one of employment in their employment letters. That state is different from many others and the District of Columbia where I live. I have $20,000 in immediate savings that I can tap without going into my retirement accounts. Of course I am trying to preserve what I can before I go there. I also have a business I started as a personal Concierge and that is just now getting off the ground. I love helping others organize their lives and solve problems. I am paid monthly, so my last official paycheck in the severance package is January 25, 2018 which will take care of Feb 2018 bills plus two weeks of unused leave which I am to be paid as well and that may help me into March, if needed.

Your concierge business is a very good business to have! There is a good demand for this type of business in Florida. I would at least consider a relocation to a lower cost of living state like Florida, where you could grow your business there. Good luck!

 

[Bestwifeever]

I would think in DC that you could also find temp office jobs to supplement your severance and savings. Best of luck to you—you are getting helful advice hete!

 

[aaronc879]

Take your spending and subtract your SS benefit income. Take that number(annual) and multiply by 25. If you have that much or more in your savings then you don't need to find another job. Example: $24,000 spending minus $15,000 SS income equals $9000/yr needed to live on. $9000 multiplied by 25 is $225,000. Do you have that much? You may not even need to get another job if you are willing to live rather cheaply.

 

[Callitaday2022]

You should collect unemployment after the 2 months severance runs out. That would give you some cushion and time

 

[Amethyst]

Jennifer - Others have given you great advice. Do you have a LinkedIn account? If so, you're well aware that it can connect you with other administrative assistants who can give you leads, and of course to potential employers.

I am in MD not too far outside D.C. and would love to have access to a concierge service! If you have a LinkedIn, feel free to PM me with a link

Best of luck!

Amethyst

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your job loss. Lot of good advice here already. My only contribution is to use both your administrative assistant skills and your concierge skills. For the AA, being tax time there might be some good work at an accounting place for the next few months? Continue pursuing the concierge business, but stay diligent on the job search. Can you go back to the medical side for AA positions? For sure, you have good skills that someone will be happy to have you working for them. Yes, age discrimination does exist, but show you have the ability to immediately become productive and contributing. There is a position waiting for you.

 

[MRG]

I would think in DC that you could also find temp office jobs to supplement your severance and savings. Best of luck to you—you are getting helful advice hete!

+1
DW did that for a couple years. Better pay than a full time job. She eventually took a permanent position that she'd temped at.

 

[DCJennifer]

You are all wonderful! Thank you for the advice. If I collect SS now I would get $1700 per month. If I wait until I am 66 it is $ 2100 and if I wait until 70 it would then go up to 2600. I have rounded the figures to make it easy. I am in good health and am told I do not look my age which I hope will help me and I am an organizer as well as skilled in Google Suites, Microsoft and Excel. I am accustomed to keeping calendars and schedules as well as Event planning and execution. I also have great follow-up skills. If I were to do a job I thought that a Family Assistant would be a fun and good fit. My Personal Concierge/Travel Assistant business focuses on those who need assistance, but whose adult children are away and are not able to be present. My website is: Assistedjourneys.com.

 

[MissMolly]

If you need to start collecting SS early, then you have no choice.

But remember that your benefits may be reduced for the rest of your life if you take that route.

If you were married for more than 10 years, and if your ex has already started to collect, then you could choose collect spousal benefits (again at a reduced rate now). See: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/divspouse.html

She says she is only 63 so she cannot collect spousal and allow her own to grow. That option is off the table for those born after 01/01/1954. However, it's possible she could collect survivor depending on how long she was married and if her ex-spouse is deceased.

 

[Yarnstormer]

I’m not sure, If you can collect spousal benefits now, I believe you can wait to claim your own benefit and let it grow.
Def file unemployment.
Check out healthcare.gov for insurance
Check on your exes pension for sure!

Sorry for your situation. It does not seem right.

 

[harllee]

I know it seems bleak now, but i will bet you get your side business going and growing and in a year from now you will post here and say that losing your job turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

 

[DCJennifer]

When does your HI end? My immediate advice would be to file for ACA insurance showing you have no W-2 income after 1/18... your cost would be minimal ..I don't know what DC has for expanded Medicare. Then you won't have to add much HI coverage expense to your budget. Do you realize the Christian HI groups all have a certain waiting period before they cover pre-existing conditions and virtually every issue you've ever had wouldn't be covered. This exposes you to possible huge medical bills.

Spend a little time expanding your business and see where it leads. Live off your 20K for a little while. Look around for a full/part time job that you would like. Many churches do like part times workers.

Be aware of the fact that you do obtain full time work early in the year you might need to pay back some of your HI subsidy, depending on your income total at the end of the years. It seems that if you can find part time pleasant work and take your SS early, you could qualify for subsidized HI, pay your bills and have a little left over for fun money. Don't panic..think of this as an opportunity to think about how you might like to spend the next 10 years..Your condo payment should be done by then, which will free up some cash.

My health insurance ends January 31, 2018.

 

[DCJennifer]

She says she is only 63 so she cannot collect spousal and allow her own to grow. That option is off the table for those born after 01/01/1954. However, it's possible she could collect survivor depending on how long she was married and if her ex-spouse is deceased.

My ex-spouse is also 63--will be 64 on March 15. he is still alive...I know that I could collect survivor benefits if he was no longer living...but he is. We were married 15 years.

 

[DCJennifer]

I could sell my car--it is paid off-- and has only 11,000 miles and thus no garage fees in my co-op fee and no insurance costs. I know the public transportation system well and used Uber now and then when I worked at the Church which was in Georgetown. It is a 2008 VW Jetta SE and has been garaged since I bought it.

 

[DCJennifer]

I’m not sure, If you can collect spousal benefits now, I believe you can wait to claim your own benefit and let it grow.
Def file unemployment.
Check out healthcare.gov for insurance
Check on your exes pension for sure!

Sorry for your situation. It does not seem right.

Spousal benefits would be less than I would get from SS in my own. He makes a six figure income, but they have a maximum SS benefit and that is 2670 or so this year. I would get $1700 on my own now.

 

[ivinsfan]

My health insurance ends January 31, 2018.

This is the first thing you need to take care of , please carefully consider my comments about pre-existing conditions. The last thing you need now is a large unplanned medical expense.

Use the government website or look for an approved ACA broker the sooner the better. I'd start tomorrow.

 

[DCJennifer]

Since I was once a nurse, I know about the pre-existing conditions, but I really do not have any. Even in nursing I was in Administration not clinical. Thanks for your wonderful reply.

 

[DCJennifer]

One thing I would do if you haven't done so already is see where you could cut back on expenses. How much could you trim off the budget ? Almost everyone has things they could eliminate and still survive if they had to. See how low you could get your expenses.

That you will give you a better idea of how much you need to survive without a job. One thing I learned is I could survive on a lot less than I thought I could. It may not work for everyone due to where they live and other factors, but it is so worth making the effort to try it.

Here's something else I've learned: The phone companies and the cable companies and just about any other service provider will be more willing to lower your bill if they understand why you want it lower. Especially if they think you will cancel their service if they don't magically come up with a promotional offer that lowers your bill.

I just renegotiated with Xfinity/Comcast last week for a better rate for Internet service only. I told them I had lost my job and got NO sympathy. Instead of raising it to 109.00--they lowered it to $76.00 (not including taxes) which will keep it at about the same rate for a year. Our apartment building is not able to connect to FIOS and so Comcast knows it is the only game in town for us. Many of us here would love to have RCN, but Comcast will not allow them to use their cables -- which is what we have--understandable from a business point of view.

 

[DCJennifer]

This is the first thing you need to take care of , please carefully consider my comments about pre-existing conditions. The last thing you need now is a large unplanned medical expense.

Use the government website or look for an approved ACA broker the sooner the better. I'd start tomorrow.

I totally agree with you and will do so this week. Many thanks for your response. In medicine I have seen too much of this happen. No one can predict a broken bone or God forbid cancer as well as other conditions we can not predict.

 

[DCJennifer]

Your concierge business is a very good business to have! There is a good demand for this type of business in Florida. I would at least consider a relocation to a lower cost of living state like Florida, where you could grow your business there. Good luck!

I have an Aunt who lives in Naples, Florida and Hurricane Irma just about did her in. To replace her pool cage on her pool, which is covered by insurance and to repair the roof will cost $10,000 in deductible funds before the insurance will kick in and this is on a new home in a gated community. She moved there in October 2015.

I am not interested in Florida as a residence, but my business does accompany seniors to their Florida homes in the winter and their Maine homes in the summer when their adult children cannot take time off from their busy lives to do so. I also make sure their living arrangements are set for the season before I leave them to come back to DC.

 

[DCJennifer]

You are divorced, but were you married 10 years or more/ If so, look at your options with filing for spousal SS.

I was married 15 years and have checked into my options. We were divorced in 1995. Thanks for your reply, very kind of you to respond.

 

[DCJennifer]

I think, unless you signed it away in the divorce, you would be entitled to a portion of his pension.

I will look into that option. No I did not sign away any pension rights that I am aware of, he is a Federal Executive with DOE now and has been with the federal government most of his working career. He makes a large income now.