Poll: Total Income from SS & Pensions (Not Nest Egg or Retirement Withdrawals)

[brett]

Is there a point to this survey?

 

[TheWizard]

Is there a point to this survey?

Probably not, given the low range of possible answers...

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Is there a point to this survey?

Is there ever, and does there have to be? Just a fun subject and curiosity.

 

[Freedom56]

Agree with others. Your numbers are way too low.

 

[rodi]

Also agree your numbers are too low.
Between DH's SS, my micro pensions (about 450/month non cola), and inherited IRA RMDs, we're just shy of the top level. When I start SS it will be way over. The inherited IRA RMDs are definitely part of our cashflow... not just reallocating money from tax deferred to taxable. We also have rental income.... But we also have 2 kids in college... so it all gets spent.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Lots of wealthy folks here on ER.ORG.....

I have been thinking about this statement. We don't feel wealthy because we spend every cent of our income stream plus additional withdrawal from taxable accounts. Somewhere in the back of my mind, wealthy people save money, we are not saving money and hence we are not wealthy.

 

[W2R]

Lots of wealthy folks here on ER.ORG.....

The above comment by ShokWaveRider reminded me of Aaron's well taken comment below. Some members may appear wealthier due to dual sets of income in retirement.

Also some of these are probably for one person and some are for couples.

 

[Telly]

We are in the bottom survey group, about $1,100/mo.
Pre-WEP SS, SS Spousal restricted application, and my small pension. Later this year will be moving to just under the top survey group (DRCs!). In two years will be in the top survey group for sure. And later when RMDs start... but RMDs are just my money coming back to me (minus Fed tax, of course).

 

[TheWizard]

....And later when RMDs start... but RMDs are just my money coming back to me (minus Fed tax, of course).

I've started thinking of RMDs more as deferred salary which, of course, is fully taxable...

 

[DayDreaming]

I can't vote because I'm not collecting SS yet. But I just wanted to say that RMDs really aren't income, they're just the transfer for money from tax deferred saving to taxable savings - doesn't seem right to count RMDs as income.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I can't vote because I'm not collecting SS yet. But I just wanted to say that RMDs really aren't income, they're just the transfer for money from tax deferred saving to taxable savings - doesn't seem right to count RMDs as income.

I agree, that was probably a Boo Boo on my part to include TMDs in the Poll. However, it still proves that for the most part this group is pretty well off.

The reason I did not put anything above $5k was it become moot after a while. If you are over $5k you are doing pretty well. I doubt that most folks with a SS + Pension income over $60k a year between them have to struggle. That was kind of the point of the poll. Ours did not include RMDs but it does include both our SS. We do not get a pension.

 

[target2019]

I agree, that was probably a Boo Boo on my part for the Poll. However, it still proves that for the most part this group is pretty well off.

The reason I did not put anything above $5k was it become moot after a while. If you are over $5k you are doing pretty well. I doubt that most folks with a SS + Pension income over $60k a year between them have to struggle. That was kind of the point of the poll. Ours did not include RMDs but it does include both our SS. We do not get a pension.

The pension check is a differentiator for sure.

I understand your purpose. We have more than enough.

 

[RetiredHappy]

The reason I did not put anything above $5k was it become moot after a while. If you are over $5k you are doing pretty well. I doubt that most folks with a SS + Pension income over $60k a year between them have to struggle. That was kind of the point of the poll. Ours did not include RMDs but it does include both our SS. We do not get a pension.

Even when one of us dies, and if the only income that the survivor has is $5K per month, the survivor will have to give up the country club membership, sell the home and move to a cheaper and lower HOA cost home, get rid of $14K per year of timeshare maintenance liability, no more travel and no more eating out. $5K per month becomes real hardship for survivor in our situation, not to mention for a couple. I have occasionally thought about if my husband goes before me since he is quite a bit older, I will definitely get rid of timeshare and reduce travel to ad-hoc instead of being away 3 months a year, and most likely stop the country club membership. I am still looking at about $10K a month for an individual before RMD, and I have to adjust my lifestyle substantially. So it depends on where you live and how you live.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Even when one of us dies, and if the only income that the survivor has is $5K per month, the survivor will have to give up the country club membership, sell the home and move to a cheaper and lower HOA cost home, get rid of $14K per year of timeshare maintenance liability, no more travel and no more eating out. $5K per month becomes real hardship for survivor in our situation, not to mention for a couple. I have occasionally thought about if my husband goes before me since he is quite a bit older, I will definitely get rid of timeshare and reduce travel to ad-hoc instead of being away 3 months a year, and most likely stop the country club membership. I am still looking at about $10K a year for an individual before RMD, and I have to adjust my lifestyle substantially. So it depends on where you live and how you live.

We live in a private Golf & CC in a pretty large home by standards and if all we had $60k it would be more than enough to maintain our lifestyle. As you say, depends how one lives.

 

[5Miler]

This poll is interesting yet can be misleading in some cases. While I am on SS now having started at 68 y 5 mos and have a micro mini pension, DGF is riding the ACA train so has not started her SS yet living off of investments instead to manage her income for obvious subsidy reasons.

On a side note, not sure if this is indicative of many Mega Corp pensions or not but DGF's pension (same place as my mini micro) was so low she was given no option except a cash payout as the value was under $5K (it was $3.5K) even after 16 years of service. My micro mini is after 13 years service leaving at a Director level. Thank goodness for 401Ks and IRAs.

 

[rk911]

Your poll numbers are way too low.

totally agree. waaaaay too low. and we don't count RMDs as income since 100% go either to our DAF or a QCD.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^
Agree, I assume these are for monthly incomes so I didn't vote. Weekly would fit better.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

No matter what one does or tries, no one is ever happy. Perhaps I should have included a $20k a month option. Oh! the Max SS is ~$4,555.

 

[Freedom56]

No matter what one does or tries, no one is ever happy. Perhaps I should have included a $20k a month option. Oh! the Max SS is ~$4,555.

If you just included SS and pensions, you may be surprised at how many are over $9K per person per month. With spousal pension and SS, that figure jumps even higher.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

If you just included SS and pensions, you may be surprised at how many are over $9K per person per month. With spousal pension and SS, that figure jumps even higher.

That was the title of the Poll but for household, and $9k was over $5k the last time I checked.

 

[gayl]

Confused by the title. If just pensions & SSA then why do you later include retirement savings accounts?? Personally I'd be interested in a poll that asks how many include pensions as a major source of retirement income or poll as to # of pensioners who save don't spend their SSA ~~~ but then I forgot my password years ago so I can't answer anyway

 

[Freedom56]

That was the title of the Poll but for household, and $9k was over $5k the last time I checked.

Yes but if you were interested in statistics like median income from SS and pensions, you need more granularity.

 

[tmm99]

Also some of these are probably for one person and some are for couples.

Yeah, it seems polls are almost always meant for two-person households. It might give a better picture if polls restrict the participants to two-person households.

 

[Sue J]

DH has a pension and I have a small SS benefit. Gross total for those two is $4360. But tax withholding and Medicare Part B bring that down to $3945.

We need less than that for normal monthly expenses.

 

[Calico]

Yeah, it seems polls are almost always meant for two-person households. It might give a better picture if polls restrict the participants to two-person households.

Or, here's a totally crazy idea: we could acknowledge that millions of 1-person households exist in society, and welcome everyone to participate in polls, with options to indicate size of household.

" There were 37.9 million one-person households, 29% of all U.S. households in 2022."

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/americas-families-and-living-arrangements.html#:~:text=Households%3A,only%2013%25%20of%20all%20households.