How are you spending your SS money?

[frank05]

Possibly faulty memory. I knew I was going business class, no matter what, so I was not paying a great deal of attention to the alternatives. I have flown economy overseas many times, and it was miserable every time. After flying business class (for the first time) to Cairo two years ago, I swore I would never fly economy overseas again, and I have not. Thankfully, we have the money to do it.

If you fly Qatar business to a mideast location like Egypt, you get access to the first class lounge in Doha since they only have first class seats on their smaller jets. Unfortunately flying back from Egypt, you don’t get access and have to use one of their business lounges.

 

[Winemaker]

Ivansfan, sorry, I was away to reply.

Yes, she was the low earner, somehow that didn't make it to the post. Her benefit pays for our Medicare and IRMAA penalties, and our Medigap health insurance. Yes, I'm 66, she robbed the cradle. We are doing Roth conversions until we die, but now it's cheaper, tax wise unless the Tax cuts get extended.

We are following the opensecurity.com recommendations.

 

[tmm99]

Not collecting any yet, been waiting nearly a year on my SSD claim.

I read your thread a while back. I hope it comes through soon.

 

[motley]

For us, it's another income stream that we need. We have been withdrawing 6 figures from our savings/investment each year to support our lifestyle,

If this is nosy, ignore and pardon, but I have to ask: on what? I've been crunching expected numbers in retirement and even allowing for a generous amount to blow on whatever, don't hit even half that amount. So...summer home mortgages? Constant travel first class? Yachts?

 

[motley]

Travel has always been on Uncle Sam.

?

 

[grasshopper]

?

A yeah you had to be a DeadHead......us blues lyrics

 

[old medic]

I read your thread a while back. I hope it comes through soon.

Us too...

 

[RetiredHappy]

If this is nosy, ignore and pardon, but I have to ask: on what? I've been crunching expected numbers in retirement and even allowing for a generous amount to blow on whatever, don't hit even half that amount. So...summer home mortgages? Constant travel first class? Yachts?

There is another thread which asked me to breakdown my spending and I did, so I am not going to repeat the details here.

- Travel 3 months a year, snow and summer birding but relatively cheaper through use of timeshare. Only fly business or first class. Good thing is that we no longer cruise as we used to cruise 2 to 3 times a year in suite staterooms. We stopped because we cannot golf at sea.
- Belong to a fairly exclusive country club as we are avid golfers. We also spend alot on golf when we travel during the 3 months away. Playing at good courses is not cheap. Husband loves new equipment every year or two. I go with every 3 years.
- Fairly high HOA fees, actually 3 HOA fees, including 24x7 guards. HOA fees do not cover anything for the home.
- New car every 3 to 5 years.
- Eat lunch out everyday and tip generously. Never fast food joints.
- Last but not least, my health insurance premiums are unsubsidized because we have too much income. My premiums are $16K this year and going up each year until I reach 65.

We have more in our bank now than when we retired 8 years ago. Life is good.

 

[tmm99]

There is another thread which asked me to breakdown my spending and I did, so I am not going to repeat the details here.

- Travel 3 months a year, snow and summer birding but relatively cheaper through use of timeshare. Only fly business or first class. Good thing is that we no longer cruise as we used to cruise 2 to 3 times a year in suite staterooms. We stopped because we cannot golf at sea.
- Belong to a fairly exclusive country club as we are avid golfers. We also spend alot on golf when we travel during the 3 months away. Playing at good courses is not cheap. Husband loves new equipment every year or two. I go with every 3 years.
- Fairly high HOA fees, actually 3 HOA fees, including 24x7 guard gated. HOA fees do not cover anything for the home.
- New car every 3 to 5 years.
- Eat lunch out everyday and tip generously. Never fast food joints.
- Last but not least, my health insurance premiums are unsubsidized because we have too much income. My premiums are $16K this year and going up each year until I reach 65.

We have more in our bank now than when we retired 8 years ago. Life is good.

Yep, your life sounds very good indeed! Your insurance premium sounds quite steep. Living in Canada now, I pay much higher taxes, but definitely not by 16K (more like 6K). I'm getting a nice bump on my US money (100 USD to 133 CAD), so that helps offset things some.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Yep, your life sounds very good indeed! Your insurance premium sounds quite steep. Living in Canada now, I pay much higher taxes, but definitely not by 16K (more like 6K). I'm getting a nice bump on my US money (100 USD to 133 CAD), so that helps offset things some.

I looked very hard at all the health care options, including health share, but I do want the best coverage and settled on a Silver plan with an off-exchange individual private insurance. I have 3.5 more years to go before Medicare and my health care cost will be much cheaper. I cannot wait to grow old.

 

[tmm99]

Hahaha, I hear you! I just turned 65 and my prescription drugs are now free, and my optometrist called to tell me that my vision exams are now free as well! There are some perks to getting old.

 

[jazz4cash]

It's true that we (all) knew SS was coming - eventually. Still, when it started, it seemed quite a shock. We suddenly had more money than we knew what to do with. That's a good problem to have.

Haven’t started yet but that’s how I’m feeling right now. I knew of relatives getting $1200-$1500 per month and many that never participated. Even with my spreadsheet and SS estimates I am kinda stunned at the prospect of getting >$2500 per month. It feels like “Oh crap, I can’t muck this up”. Come to think of it I always used 75% of the SS estimate figure and DW could’ve been in the sub $2k group but her earnings jumped up.

 

[Teacher Terry]

My SS is small because of WEP and when married wasn’t that important. Now being single I need it for my budget.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Our SS money will cover about 2/3 of our expenses, between my benefit and DH's spousal. We plan to start at my FRA, which will be in July of 2026. I'm not waiting until age 70, because it will give us more room for the portfolio to grow, to gift equities to DS, and pay orchard expenses until the new trees start producing in 2027-2028. We can w/d from the portfolio for lumpy expenses. We're thinking about a kitchen remodel-mostly new cabinets and countertops, not a complete redesign.

 

[Pellice]

I just applied for SS, to start a bit before my 70th birthday. It was always planned that my IRA distribution would be reduced equivalently, but it turns out that I can reduce them less than originally planned, and that, along with reduced housing expenses after my upcoming move is going to give me a decent "raise." I have to equip the new place next year, though I hope my home sale here will provide those funds. Otherwise, I plan to be a "joiner" for a bit. I would like to subscribe to some symphony performances, pay into a fancy library, maybe hit a Reds-Cardinals game or two, Probably another birding tour yearly, at least after next year. And maybe, maybe, upgrade the plane tickets! (though as a short, small person, I've always convinced myself that economy is fine!)

 

[TheWizard]

I looked very hard at all the health care options, including health share, but I do want the best coverage and settled on a Silver plan with an off-exchange individual private insurance. I have 3.5 more years to go before Medicare and my health care cost will be much cheaper. I cannot wait to grow old.

Cheaper, yes, but in the topmost IRMAA tier...

 

[RetiredHappy]

Cheaper, yes, but in the topmost IRMAA tier...

Still cheaper but we won't be in top IRMAA tier, just a couple of rungs... My premium is $16k a year now with a Silver plan.

 

[meleana]

It goes into checking and is $3200 less than we have to withdraw from savings to live. Husband just started collecting at 70 and I’m
68 and waiting also.

 

[mtheulen]

I have decided to start my social security this November (a few months shy of my full retirement year.) I retired at 55, so I haven't contributed anything to SS since then, but the amount of SS I will be getting is pretty good. Until now, I have been withdrawing about 3.5% of my liquid assets (401K, IRA, etc.) and living off that, along with my small company pension. My calculation tells me that if I continue with the same withdrawal rate from my portfolio, I will have around an additional $35,000 after-tax money I can spend every year once my SS starts.

I knew I would get SS eventually, but now that I am actually going to get it, I'm kind of dumbfounded. That's a lot of money at my disposal that I didn't have before.

I know a lot of you lowered your WR once the SS started. I am not going to do that, as I don't have any children to leave money to, etc. and I want to actually enjoy spending the extra. But on what? This is something I actually haven't thought about at all, for whatever reason. I'm not much of a spender to start with. (Probably only posted a few times on the BTD thread.)

So my question is... What are you doing with your excess SS money?

 

[imnontrad]

I am assuming you do not have a spouse either. If you do and your spouse has a lower SS benefit AND may outlive you, you may want to hold off filing for your SS.
You could consider setting aside this money in a separate fund. Then that can be your "fun money" or for donation to charities.
But there may come a time in your life when your expenses will be more because you are not as mobile and need to hire outside help. Or are you looking to move to a CCRC? If so, there may be an entrance fee and you can set aside this money to help fund that.
Or if all that is handled, you might get a lot of joy in doing things like funding a scholarship, paying a major expense for a local non profit (including church) that you are passionate about, doing something like organizing something like a BBQ for the neighborhood.

 

[Perryinva]

Like many here, our SS gets deposited and is just part of the income stream. Like some here, between our pensions and SS, we have about the same gross income now, as we did maybe 6-7 years before I retired at 61. (Now 66, started SS@66+3) The big difference is that we don’t have the rather substantial automatic retirement savings withdrawn upfront from paychecks that we had and don’t have FICA/MED deducted. So the actual net income is much higher than we had while working, ever. We still have a mortgage @2.75%, so not in any hurry to pay it off, as we carried a mortgage all our married lives, used to it and it is less than 25% of income, and this is the lowest rate I’ve ever had. It definitely amuses me to be actually making money on a loan. We travel BC international typically twice a year, (about 7 years now) and stay in nice places. With CC points and deals we’ve paid usually between $1800-$2500 for two BC RT tickets. Easily worth it to us. This Dec, we go back to Paris for the Christmas market experience and decided to fly Air France, BC going and Premium Economy return as an experiment. Was about $4000. Why not. Nice, but not crazy expensive cars (about $50k ea)

Watching many people we know getting the C DX, out of the blue (neighbor @68 never smoked a day in his life just found out he has Stage 4 lung cancer, about a year to live) so we constantly say that “we are one day from a diagnosis that trashes our life’s plans” so enjoy it while we can. In 7 years when my more substantial RMDs come in to play, it will just be a tax paying rise in income that hopefully will not get us in to IRMAA. We don’t look to BTD, but we definitely don’t frugalize everything. DW loves hitting her Marshalls.