I'm 62, almost 63, and since my fall, I've been thinking about retiring.

Rattlesnake and I dont own a lot, but its all paid for, so it doesnt take as much to make it each month.

I'm going to go talk to the SS folks because I got a some questions that I need answers to. Such as, how much will I get each month; is this money taxed; if so, how much; if I decide to go back to work how will it effect the SS; how much will I be allowed to make before it effects the SS? Just those kinds of questions.

I want to try and get all the facts up front and have no surprises later on, but never having had any experience with this before, I'm not sure I know what questions need asking.

If anybody knows other questions I should ask... Please let me know.

Be sure to look into health care options. Dont know what you have for insurance now but I recommend trying to carry some of some kind if you can swing it. Some folks have employer related health insurance. If you do be sure to check into how that changes and if you can pay for it out of pocket, if so - how much, etc.

And btw - I'M JEALOUS! 9 years left in teh traces for me!

Filing joint return, between $32K-44K, 50% of your benefits are taxed. More than $44k then up to 85% of your benefits are taxed.

That's EARNED INCOME

What Scott posted is true....... and a deal killer for some. And since Medicare is still a couple years in your future, that's another "agin it" vote.

My retirement income is higher than for most working folks, but still only about a third of my pre-retirement income so lifestyle changes were required.

But...... these are still the best years of my life, so go for it, Randy.

If you didn't get a SS printout lately you can go to their website and plug in all your information and get the $ question narrowed down.

That is the only way to get the information anymore. They quit mailing statements out several years ago.

Some states don't tax SS benefits, some do.

If you have your last statement it should be fairly close to what's current yes??

Probably a dumb question but if you have Medicare do you need anything else or any part of this stupid O care scam? IOW, is Medicare enough??
.

Just from what I'm seeing, it would probably be a good idea to see my tax man also. He should know about the tax questions and might know some ways to eliminate or lessen the tax amount.

Thanks

Be sure you buy long term health care insurance. Without if, if you end up in a Nursing home, you will run through all your savings, then will have to go on Medicade. After you die, the governement will then come back on your estate and take anything of value to pay for what they paid in Medicade. It's a dirty little secret.
Know a woman whose kids lost a $500,000 house, a $200,000 cottage and her late husbands large gun collection because she had no long term health care insurance.

If you wish to maintain your lifestyle, you will need 2/3s of your pre retirement income and inflation will cut into that every year you live.

Having you house paid off is a terrible choice. It's not earning you a thing. While you are still working refinance it (you can get 100% if your a vet) at about 3.5% after tax interest rate. Invest that money that and decent broker can get you 5-6% on.
Now you have an income stream to pay the mortgage as well as a large lump of money you can get at.

Been retired 20 years and invested every dime we could "back when" in IRAs and 401s and the market. Am self employed (work when I want) maybe 20 hours/week.
Our lifestyle and assets are the same as the year we retired.

Get out as soon as you can ..... so much to see and do.

Also I don't think you can get medicare until your 65.

Social Security withholds benefits if your earnings exceed a certain level, called a retirement earnings test exempt amount, and if you are under your normal retirement age (which for you is probably 66). Definitely talk to your CPA.

They'll look at your earnings for the year to date. It all counts against whether you've exceeded the limit for the year. So, if you decided to start right now, anything you've earned up through today will determine how much you will receive for the rest of the year.

Local gentleman recently had a stroke requiring long term care. Just before entering the facility, he and the wife divorced and were successful in protecting all their assets.

Retirement is much better than it's cracked up to be.

I hope you get the answers you need Randy, one thing to think about....is Rattlesnake gonna put up with you being around that much without striking?

My parents were forced to do something like that when Dad got Alzheimers. It's not really a divorce but it is a division of assets. The government handles it like a divorce.

Hey, I aint skeered of her! I wear the britches in my house!!!

I'm 57 and will be retiring from the Fed Govt next year...I absolutely can't wait. Good luck on your end!

While that may be worth considering for many people, I've got to disagree with your assertion that having the roof over one's head paid for is a "terrible choice".
I've been making a mortgage payment most of my adult life. My first house is paid for and now producing income as a rental. My primary residence will be paid for in the spring, shortly after I turn 50. I've got almost 400K in retirement funds now and there will be plenty of money for a broker to work with in the next 10 to 15 years since I won't be making mortgage payments.
There ain't nothin I will need or want in retirement worth mortgaging my home for!

+1000 Having a mortgage payment is about as dumb an idea as I can think of going into retirement.

I started collecting at age 62, mainly to bump my wifes check, she is ten years older, which did work. But I continued to work, S.S. never could get it straight as to stopping payments as i made too much money and they didn't like it. I bet i got 30 letters from them, mutually contradictory. I finallyl went down and paid them a big check for the amount they said i was inappropriately paid. But even with that, about a year later i get a letter confirming they were giving me an extra amount cause they had withheld too much. and another one a couple months ago bumping it because i continued to work. Everything equal, even starting early at 62 i am getting now at age 67 about what full benefits would have been if i had waited to 66. The bugger is insurance. Until i could pop medicare, i was paying out a premium for a high deductible policy for major medical which i never used. What is interesting to me is when i got the letter getting the recent bump, they didn't bump my wife's which is suppose to be half of mine.

They started back up this year. LINK

Not for everybody Jack.

I also disagree that it was a bad choice of paying off your house. I did years before I retired. Then I took the money I would have paid in house payments and saved. The interest on the mortgage was a lot more than what you reduced your income tax by.

There is a maximum earnings amount after you start drawing SS that you can make without it reducing your benefits.

Your biggest worry is getting health insurance until you reach 65 when Medicare kicks in.

Must have been enough resistance by the general population to have that happen I guess.

YOu will probalby find that you would be measurabley better off if you stuck it out until 65, not only for Medicare but a 25% increase in SS.

Also talk to your CPA about the impact of ObamaCare on the medical insurance side of your question. If you have enough savings/investments you can reduce your modified adjusted gross income (line 37 on your 1040 plus interest from municipal bonds)to a point where you can get substantial federal tax credits to reduce you medical insurance premium. A reduction to a level that I would consider to be "reasonable". Especially given that you only have two years until you hit the Medicare age.

By long term health care insurance plan I'm assuming you mean nursing home where one is unable to bathe, feed, clothe, toilet etc. What is the average premium cost for someone in their early fifties, (which I have been told is the right time to sign up) and does that simply supplement Medicare??

I didn't know Medicade could recoup costs....assuming that means you have assets. Also, assuming they cannot collect from your siblings. Yes? Thanks

[quote=byc What is the average premium cost for someone in their early fifties, (which I have been told is the right time to sign up) and does that simply supplement Medicare??
[/quote]

Mine runs about $1100/year for $150/day. .Medicare only pays fro a short stay in a nursing home.

A couple of basic points:

Retiring too early can be very bad. Real easy to burn through your savings.

Best to enter retirement debt free.

Know your health insurance costs, don't' think you know.

Each year you delay taking social security will increase your payment by 7%-8%, until you max at age 70.

When you combine the effects of paying for health insurance with the increases in social security by delaying receipt, it is best for many to postpone retirement.

405wcf

.

Take some arbitrary age, say 85, and figure out how much you will draw from 66 to 85 if you wait until FRA. Then figure how much you will draw from 62 to 85 if you take it now.
I did mine back in 2003 and the difference was about $33,000. Not enough to keep me from starting to draw at 62. We figured my wife's this year and it was about the same also..
Then there is always the possibility that you kick off earlier and loose all that anyway .

If money is a concern, you can maximize your social security payment by delaying collecting. For each year past your full retirement year, you get a permanent 8% boost in monthly payments. I waited until I was 70 to collect and it is worth it.

Long term health insurance s a good idea IF you can afford it. My LTC insurance (pretty good coverage) is about $2,500 and my wife's is about the same or, about $5,000 per year. If you got the money, have it; but many can not afford it and still eat.

pfffft!,...fug that/

,...chit and die at 69&1/2 and it ain't worth it.

People talkin' 'bout, "Don't retire 'till ya 85!!"

sheeeeeeeit,....I know my family history.

I ain't 60 yet and I've been surprised to hear the alarm clock go off every mornin' for 15 years.

That is why SS wants you to wait and play you with that 8% a year. They know the tables don't lie and you won't live very long after that. Money in their pockets

Ok, but I'm all against loading up lots of money into a house. Lots easier to leave if you only have 10K invested vice 150K.

Nowadays the cost of 24/7 basic care (3 hots and a cot) even in the cheapest of nursing homes generally starts at at least 5K a month per resident and goes on up from there and is subject to continuing periodic increases.

Even with insurance be sure you understand every little 'fine print' detail and abide fully to every requirement.

My wife's dad had insurance but they denied 100% of the claim. According to their 'fine print' a rest home must have at least one registered nurse on duty in the facility 24/7. The nursing home my wife's dad was at had a full time RN on duty 1st and 2nd shifts but for 3rd shift a RN was on-call.

I've BEEN retired for 20 years now, since age 53, and never had any desire to go back to work. Why? too many things to do, and seems even busier at times, than when working, but that was because we didn't even try to do some things when working. If your house (don't agree with the roof over your head a terrible choice).. it can be base camp and go from there. Expenses not going to go up like rent, etc if you own the place. Actually, someone who'd say something like that some kinda strange. As I used to tell folks, when working in the retirement pension field, make sure your house paid for and a relatively new car paid for. Then can live on the less you'll get. As far as taking SS at 62, it takes a minimum of 10 years to recovered in post 65 money, what you gave up in taking it at 62. MOST people not going to necessarily see 70, let along 85. SS was set up based on the assumption that MOST people would die with a year or two of 65. I'm doing okay, not getting rich, but if I want to can go on a nice hunting trip every year (been to Africa 3 time in the last 5 years).

Most of my trip money, etc. from money I skimped and put away and invested while working.

Thanks! That's about what I figured!

I would never buy LTC insurance. I'm sure they ain't all the same, but I've seen premiums increase dramatically.

If it comes time, I'll opt out before being spoon fed and having my diapers changed.

Don't think I would either. All my kin believed as long as they could bathe, feed and wipe themselves then they were good up to the last 10 days or so on their own. Those last 10 days usually ended with sudden death or starvation. So far they were all right.

Think I'll just adopt their legacy.

10K house? WTH are you talking about? I want to do some traveling in retirement, but I also expect to spend a lot more waking hours at home than I do now. Livin' in a 10K house ain't livin' a'tall!

Trouble with reading comprehension eh?

I've been thinking, wishing, planning, and talking about it for 45 years.I'll be 65 in 3 yrs., I hope that I finally get it done!!!!!! memtb

Yeah, I guess so. Do you care to explain what he meant?

5K a month? Try 8K a month for a rat hole, and you still better have some private care people to look after you and family members to show up every day and watch the staff like a hawk. There also are 60 or 90 day exclusion periods before it even kicks in. LTC insurance is a waste of money. It saved some money for my MIL who just died, but none for my FIL who never made it through the exclusion period. Use the money to move to a cool place in Portland and get a prescription for the needle.

Oh, oh! I think I might have figured it out.

Steelhead is suggesting that if you keep your house mortgaged to the max and give the money to a broker to get a better return,,,,,if the economy goes in the a schitter again and the scheme unravels like a cheap suit, it will be easier to walk away and leave the bank holding the bag if you only have 10k of your money tied up in the house. Is that it?

I still say that's no way to live in retirement (or any other time),

Good advice "bubahome" Larry Root?

Are you the only retarded one in your family?

True, may not be a good blanket statement, but I suspect I'm right for 80% of Americans. Obviously some people are more prepared than others. Let me know when you are driving up from Texas or down to Texas. I'll buy lunch.

I like that advice. I hope if/when I get to that point that society has agreed to treat people at least as well as we treat our pets.

At the risk of dragging out my "creds", I have an MBA in finance and spent 30 years in the field managing millions of dollars for a large NY utility.

Rule # 1 is always work with other peoples' money. I am 72 and both of my houses have mortages that are at least 2% less than I can earn with that same money in the market (If you have an excellent broker).

Rule # 2 is to have long term health care insurance and get it at least 5 years before you may need it. (See Medicade lookback rules).

Rule # 3 live modestly. For example, my wife and I have 4 vehicles dating from 1991 to 2005.
None have 100,000 miles on them and being well maintained should outlast us.

Rule # 4 Do not call any of the TV or junk mail ads promising to make you rich or protect you from ever losing money.

Rule # 5 Move to a low/no tax state and check the inheritance laws carefully.
We live in WY & FL.

Rule # 6 If you can afford it, give your kids the maximum tax free gift every year.

Rule # 7 If you are a Vet, get hooked up with people who know all the benefits you may be entitled to. Were you ever in South East Asia on land, sea or air ? Did you get cancer or other pesticide related illness ? If, so you can get a nice tax free check every month and almost all your meds free. The VA will fight you tooth and nail, it took me three years of appeals, reexaminations, digging out government records etc,. but in the end I won and was reimbursed from the date I filed my claim plus a monthly check and all meds free.

Rule # 8 Take appropriate supplements to replace those you lose as you age. Leutein, Vita D3and a daily asprin are just 3 you shold be on. Also a small glass of red wine daily.

Rule # 9 Get an annual physical with a complete blood work up. Also a get a colonoscopy the day you turn 40 (recently moved back from 50) and repeat based on findings and Dr.'s orders.

Rule # 10 Don't: smoke, do snuff, drink hard booze. Walk a mile/day, get 8 hours sleep and avoid sun tans/burn.

My goal is to outlive the trolls who waste their lives and raise their blood pressure by constantly reappearing on the site each time they think they win by banning me. Ironic that a site with 50 thousand odd members is totally controlled by 8-10 cowards.

You had your MBA at 22 and immediately went to work for the large NY utility you retired from?

Bluedreaux,

You mean you don't believe Larry Root?

Well, I guess oldman Larry isn't going to regal you with his heroic exploits during his 3 tours in 'Nam as a THUDS / F-105 "Fighter Pilot"... Nor about loosing his friends over the Red River....bunking with "Marine Snipers"... his expert Marksman Badges with four different weapons... 600 and 1000 yard matches that he won while in the Air Force... his much claimed and touted combat service...

Now that you've asked pointed questions, and called into question Larry's honesty, you're going to miss out on those absolutely riveting and fascinating tales!