Social Security, when to apply?

Well bond funds are basically like cash, what's the return on them? At 3-4%, that'd just be $300-$400 on 10k.
Close, but no cigar... Ha!
Bond returns are low, that's why I said I hated this fund. But bonds are still better than cash.
In my particuliar case, the CA double tax free is a hedge against taxes; additionally it balances volatile equities.
While there is no such thing as a 100% safe investment, this one is pretty darn conservative.
And the money is working for me, which is better than cash.

I know we agree that each person's situation is different; this one is part of my portfolio.
 
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I'm going to turn 70 in another 8 months. And I've been collecting for 7-1/2 years thus far...... And enjoying every moment of it, only because my health has held up so far. While 3 out of 4 of my high school buddies are dead. Will I make it another 7-1/2? I hope so, but even if I do, there is no guarantee on what kind of shape I'll be in. That could change with the next check up.
As I said before, the average social security payment is $1647 and as you took it early probably even less, just how far does a social security payment even go to enjoy?
 
As I said before, the average social security payment is $1647 and as you took it early probably even less, just how far does a social security payment even go to enjoy?
As I said before, it was never meant to live on. The difference, (to me anyway), between 62 and 65 sure wasn't enough to keep me working for another 3 years of my life. And certainly not for another 8, in order to take it at 70.
 
As I said before, it was never meant to live on. The difference, (to me anyway), between 62 and 65 sure wasn't enough to keep me working for another 3 years of my life. And certainly not for another 8, in order to take it at 70.
Depends on your situation, same as people who retire early and don't even have taking early SS as an option.
 
As I said before, the average social security payment is $1647 and as you took it early probably even less, just how far does a social security payment even go to enjoy?
When coupled with my pension , it allowed me to not take any monthly disbursement from my 401k to date .
 
As I said before, it was never meant to live on. The difference, (to me anyway), between 62 and 65 sure wasn't enough to keep me working for another 3 years of my life. And certainly not for another 8, in order to take it at 70.
You don't have to keep working to 70 to start collecting SS at 70.
 
As I said before, the average social security payment is $1647 and as you took it early probably even less, just how far does a social security payment even go to enjoy?
What's that average $1647 a month payment correlate to the average salary per year? Lots of people have some pretty good careers and make lots of money, so there SS payment will be much more than that.
 
What's that average $1647 a month payment correlate to the average salary per year? Lots of people have some pretty good careers and make lots of money, so there SS payment will be much more than that.
Who knows, it's just a number that social security puts out.


Also while there's lots of talk of people making lots of money, the average isn't as high as you think. Average income is 63k and median income is 44k. So half of people out there making less than 44k means lots of people aren't killing it either with good careers and lots of money.

 
^^^ "Lots if people" doesnt mean more than the number of average wage earners, but what I'm saying there are lots of people who will be getting more than the avg SS payment based on their career and how long they worked.
 
^^^ "Lots if people" doesnt mean more than the number of average wage earners, but what I'm saying there ate lots of people who will be getting more than the avg SS payment based on their career and how long they worked.
Well it's not as if people are bring in 10k a month in Social security payments. Social security taxes phases out after a certain income so it doesn't matter how much more you made, there's a max for social security benefits which is about $4194 if you waited til 70 to collect and just $2364 is the max if you retired at 62. The max at full retirement age in 2022 is $3345.

 
Well it's not as if people are bring in 10k a month in Social security payments. Social security taxes phases out after a certain income so it doesn't matter how much more you made, there's a max for social security benefits which is about $4194 if you waited til 70 to collect and just $2364 is the max if you retired at 62. The max at full retirement age in 2022 is $3345.

Depending on the situation, it could be substancially more than $1647. That's my point.
 
Depending on the situation, it could be substancially more than $1647. That's my point.
Yeah my point of using $1647 was to point out the average. Couldn't really use a specific number as no one would actually say what they're getting and everyone would be different but sometimes it's helpful to spell out exactly how much money we're talking about.
 
Yeah my point of using $1647 was to point out the average. Couldn't really use a specific number as no one would actually say what they're getting and everyone would be different but sometimes it's helpful to spell out exactly how much money we're talking about.
Of course, that's why everone needs to do their own specific analysis. Not use an average number, or think that's what they'd get a month if not familiar with how SS works.
 
Isn't it intuitive that on average, individual rakes in more money from SS than they put in even including inflation? A simple premise is that economy as whole expanded over the entire career of that individual and the incoming money was from forty years ago but outgoing money is from today's revenue. If you can NOT grasp the idea of what you put in is only tangentially related to what you can get out, this might get the light bulb to go on?

For rational people, go to the open market and try to price the joint and inflation protected annuities (SPIA) and then compare it to hypothetically delaying the SS benefits. That might tell you the answer to "why should I spend from my investment instead of taking SS right now".

Once you make assumptions about your health and longevity, rest of the stuff is all analytical but if math or stats is something you always shied away from in your life, then just use your fear based emotion to make the decision. It has served you well so far :devilish:
 
I've really never understood the fixation with having your house/car paid off.
My budget allows for a new vehicle and a larger house payment.
If you retire when you just have enough to pay bills, why retire?
I think that is the answer right there. Most are looking to retire when the numbers just barely add up in the budget—or are forced into that decision, either fate or poor planning.

I know that for myself, mortgage is over 10% of my income, thus it is no small line item in the budget. In retirement, if I stop saving 20%, and stop paying 10% to a mortgage, then theoretically I could retire on 70% of my income. In my case that is around 10x salary in retirement investments and waiting until 67 so as to get my 30% SS (I have yet to hit the cap but its payout percentage decreases).
 
I think that is the answer right there. Most are looking to retire when the numbers just barely add up in the budget—or are forced into that decision, either fate or poor planning.

I know that for myself, mortgage is over 10% of my income, thus it is no small line item in the budget. In retirement, if I stop saving 20%, and stop paying 10% to a mortgage, then theoretically I could retire on 70% of my income. In my case that is around 10x salary in retirement investments and waiting until 67 so as to get my 30% SS (I have yet to hit the cap but its payout percentage decreases).
The person who pays most taxes is a typical W2 wage earner. If your income is from investment (NOT deferred like 401K or IRA) then you pay less in taxes than earning that income as salary. In general, retired person would pay less in income taxes as percentage of their income. Theoretically speaking, you would need even less than the 70% of your pre-retirement income assuming you keep the rest of the expenses same.

Here is a big BUT for that thought. When you are working, you are limited to how many days you can be vacationing. Once retired, there is no theoretical limit to that expense as you are not constrained by your time off. Many of the upper middle class couple would end up with much higher spending in retirement than in working. However, all of that will be discretionary and can be cut down if things go sideways. Just for an example, on an average our per day expense in a typical vacation easily crosses 4 figures when everything travel, lodging, food, attractions, entertainment, cellphone bill (!) is included. If we wanted to vacation 12 months 365 days in retirement, we would spend $365K per year just for that!
 
Just curious what your plans are for enjoying anywhere from $1000-$2400 a month. I think $1657 is the average social security payment.
Use it to travel, put into my 1970 Monte Carlo, use it to just enjoy life. I also have a pension and a decent TSP balance which I draw a little bit of each month and I'm debt free. I can live on just my pension alone so everything over that is just cake. Plenty of my former co-workers died before even reaching SS age much less FRA. My step-father died suddenly of Pancreatic cancer at age 66 and he had hardly ever been sick his whole life.

I live comfortable and see no reason to keep building a huge retirement balance. If there is anything left for the kids, great. If not, oh well. I didn't save and sacrifice all of those years just to leave a bunch of money to someone else at the end. I intend to enjoy it for as long as I can.
 
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