Are we sure that the chart is showing what the IRMAA brackets will be in 2026? I think they show what income, based on 2022 AGI, will affect IRMAA in 2024.
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Excellent point! I assume that the IRMAA brackets will only move upward(?), giving more factor of safety. Here is some speculation on the topic - 2024 2025 2026 Medicare Part B IRMAA Premium MAGI Brackets
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My completely uneducated guess is that if you aim to remain within the '24 brackets then you should be in good shape if starting Medicare in '26. I realize that means you will leave something on the table (in terms of not converting as much Roth as you would have if you had known the actual upper limit).
As with everything, individual calculations and risk tolerance will apply.
I remember thinking the first time I looked at the IRMAA surcharge table just how narrow those brackets are compared to Fed income tax brackets.
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DH and I are early retirees. When we planned our retirement we chose to take social security out of our calculations so we wouldnât have to worry about SS cuts/changes.
Most people cannot do that and so I hope people are paying attention to what is happening concerning the âFiscal Commission Act of 2023â, a bill some believe is designed to cut Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors. Elections are important. Transparency is important. Pay attention, folks.
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I have a public pension that is our main retirement money source, so we both took our SS at 63âyeah, we could have gotten more by waiting, but (a) SS will not be an important source of our retirement (especially for me, thanks to WEP) and (b) we figured we should get that money while we can still make use of it.
We have no debt and pay off credit cards in full each month and have substantial savings. It all works for us, 6 years into retirement.
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Yup, they want to cut SS and Medicare under cover of a bill in which Americans wonât know what hit them until itâs too late. I would much prefer that our elected leaders figure out how to get the really, really ridiculously rich to contribute a more equitable share to the greater community than to keep squeezing the middle and lower classes further down. But thatâs just me.
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Who is they?
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Rep. Bill Huizenga and those in support of his bill.
Entitlements consume about half of the entire federal budget, and as people live longer and consume more resources, the percentage will keep growing. I know entitlement reform is going to hit us hard because of our pension income, and no doubt higher income folk will get reduced benefits, but it does seem like theyâre going to have to do something before it all explodes. I just plan on that in our retirement calculations, and wonder if we should take SS earlier, in order to get something at all.
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Yea, it has crossed my mind to get grandfathered (grandmothered?) into coverage to minimize risk of plan changes. But probably any reductions would need to somehow get spread across a whole age group equitably. The more likely scenario seems that our kids get subject to future cuts more than our generation.
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Not probably. Under current law, if automatic cuts occur in ~2034, everyone receiving a benefit at the time will be cut the same ~24%, as will future retirees. (absent action by Congress.)
So what do you think the chances are that social security benefits will decrease in the future?
High.
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I like that, âgrandmotheredâ.
Just another thing for our kids to resent the Boomer generation for. The financially fortunate Boomers have the houses, the pensions, decades of 401K growth, plus all the benefits. I suspect many donât see the decades of hard work and sacrifice, plus the Boomers that are struggling with next to nothing. However, I do think many in my generation are fortunate for timing, luck and low cost of living that many of the younger generation are missing out on.
Each generation can capture what is going on with their life/lifestyle/paradigm.
The one thing that may be a pull back is housing - that is getting âtougherâ financially for everyone, but there are areas of the country that have lower cost housing, that if a job can be on-line, that is an advantage the current younger generations have that boomers didnât have. Retirees often have choices in where they desire and where they can live.
DH and I (as many on this thread) had chosen to have very limited expenses early in adulthood in order to get into home ownership ASAP. It does take a little longer for a single person, but they have choices on their spending priorities and what are their goals.
IMHO, the youth, in part due to the instant media access/cell phone/instant everything, have a different mind set, and they choose to a certain extent how they allow those influences to affect the choices they make on everything in life.
Some people in the boomer generation have not made good choices in their life, and as a result may not be financially secure in retirement (or donât have the ability to retire due to finances).
Currently, we all have better access to financial knowledge, choices and management of funds.
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Our one year new subscriber promotion to New York Times is coming up to ending. Their rates would jump a lot if automatic continuation. However, going into a chat messaging on subscription, I first was offered all access special promotion of $2/week which would be billed $8 every 4 weeks. When I asked if I could pay one time $100 for the year, they checked and indicated I could have the $50/year pre-payment (which was the new subscriber promotion). With tax, $53.57. Had to be renewed with todayâs date and initially said they would prorate what was left on my subscription (5 weeks), but the deal was great. I typically only look at news and real estate, but access to everything for another year at a great price.
Regular âall accessâ is $6.25/week; $5/week for just news.
Someone posted a while ago about renewing NY Times to gain special subscription rate, so I thought I would post for others in their first year of promotion rate for NY Times.
How it relates with this thread - keeping ongoing costs to doing well in retirement. Also makes one think of how one is spending the money ongoing.
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My parents are some of the oldest Boomers and I am GenX. They did get their house cheap in 1971, but it was nothing special at all. 1300-1400 sq ft. 3 beds but all the rooms are small. Dad was in the union in construction. Mom stayed home until I was in 3rd grade and she became the school secretary. We had to live frugal to survive. No airplane vacations. Vacations usually were visiting/staying with relatives in other cities to keep the costs down.
They stayed in the same house. My Mom still lives there. They have a comfortable retirement because of pension and SS. But Mom eventually told me when I was young she would go to the grocery store on Thursday afternoons because she knew the check she would write wouldnât clear before my Dad deposited his paycheck on Friday.
So they ended up fine but they also lived well within their means. I think all generations have people that do well and are successful and others that struggle. There have always been poor people and rich people. How well you do in life is usually about 80-90% based upon your own decisions.
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DH sometimes had âcorn meal mushâ for supper when they had to wait for getting groceries/waiting for next pay check â this was generally avoided. Two brother bakers lived a few houses down, and MIL arranged to purchase day old bread (and these wonderful brothers were great to the family) â this DH and his 3 brothers always were able to eat several PB/J sandwiches right after school to hold them over till supper.
Food insecurity is a problem with many in the US. Sometimes older people/retirees may do without instead of seeking out resources due to their very limited finances.
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Itâs estimated that there are 40 million people who are experiencing food insecurity in the US today. Thatâs a huge number of people and itâs not just retirees.
That figure is from my son-in-law who works for a non-profit group in DC dealling with the issue.
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for future retirees, absolutely, but that may be only for those under 30 today.