I turn 65 in November and will start Medicare in January. Because hubbie still works, my expense will be $775 monthly w/o vision and dental. Hubbie turns 65 in January and will also start Medicare. His will be a tiny bit more. We will be paying roughly $19,500 for plans, A, B, D, G and they sock us with an extra $75 each because he’s a high earner.
I can’t decide when to begin my SS. Right now I’d get around $2,600 a month, earning about $200 more each year I wait. I’d be making roughly $750 more a month if I wait until I’m 70. Of course it will be taxed. But my SS will pay for our Medicare premiums for the year and we’d have a bit left over. I did a rough calculation if I lived until I was 85 and if I wait to take my SS when I’m 70, I’ll only be earning an additional $45,000 in that 15 year time frame. Although we don’t need it, it seems foolish to let this money go to waste right now if we benefit from it.
If your H is still working and the company is larger that 20 people, I think you might be able to stay on his plan? Also, $775 for A, B, B, and G sounds a little high. How did you get to that number?
Although my full retirement age was 66, I started at age 65.5 so my daughter would get 60 percent of my benefit for the six months until her high school graduation.
The calculators have me taking it fairly early after 62 with my higher earning spouse at 70. If you are married and don’t need the income, consider having the higher earning spouse wait until 70 so that the surviving spouse will have the max SS possible for the rest of their lifetime.
The agent his company suggests we work with.
Part B is $559 because of his AGI
Part G is $142 with Anthem
Extra $75.
He is an attorney and his company does not subsidize them, only staff We currently are paying about the same in premiums, but it includes dental and vision. We wil save with Medicare because we will have no more doctor bills after the $240 deductible
You REALLY need to study this. I AM NOT an advisor. I’ve just spent the last week in a deep dive on this…
Go to some social security. gov sites with “FAQ” and you’ll get examples.
Very dependent on your age and/or what age your spouse takes retirement.
If you are looking towards spousal benefits (if he is the higher earner)… what you will receive not only depends on when he retires up to his full retirement age but also when YOU take benefits. The 50% spousal benefit only kicks in if YOU are at FULL retirement age and he is also taking retirement.
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So if you take SS benefits at 62 you will lose a good percentage of what you’d receive if you had waited.
And your 50% spousal benefit will stay at the amount from the spouse retirement at THEIR full retirement age. They could be getting a good bit more at age 70 (so worth it for THEM to not take SS) but the spousal benefit of 50%is fixed at the spouse full retirement age.
You can receive 50% of your spouses benefit at their full retirement age if you wait until your full retirement age to claim. You have to check to see that benefit would be higher than your own.
It depends, would you get a lot more later? How is your health? (none of my business, but something for you to consider)
Generally, in a two-income couple, its better for teh higher earner to wait until 70, and the lower income person to collect at their Full Retirement Age.
Open Social Security is a fantastic tool, and it’s free. OpenSS will calculate and optimize the NPV of the cash flows that you woudl receive. Be sure to check teh box (select situations) in the top middle so you can change mortality tables depending on “whether you feel lucky…”
Social Security is best viewed as longevity insurance.
If you assume the standard life expectancy, and you aren’t still working, you will get the maximum net present value by having the lower earning spouse claim just after 62 and the higher earning spouse wait until 70. Any push of age out will push claiming ages out. If you both choose 100, it will recommend both wait until 70. Play with the scenarios above AND press that one of you is still working. It will change the answers.
In addition, delaying SS allows you to spend down qualified accounts reducing RMDs.
It all needs to be taken ibnto account, along with Roth conversions, if you want to maximize your savings.
I don’t disagree, but then I was not suggesting to change the age of death. Just choose the mortality tables to closely match your situation (healthy? non-smoker?). The standard SS tables are based on 100% of the population which includes those who smoke, who abuse drugs, who have chronic conditions, live risky life-styles, etc.
That’s the beauty of OpenSS: it mortality adjusts the cash flows, just as they would teach in upper division Finance class. So that is why picking the appropriate mortality table is important.
Yes, I was agreeing and sectioning out that part of your post for extra emphasis. As you know, the “best” plan depends on your assumptions. You can choose any of those tables, or a specific age. It’s a great tool.
For me (and others on Retirement thread), it supported the recommendation of our advisor…. defer SS or one spouse’s (usually the high earner) as long as possible. Then the other spouse can consider drawing earlier. The key is that whichever spouse lives longest would be able have the higher of the two SS payments after the other dies.
In my case, husband is 7 years older. Twas an easy-ish decision for me to apply recently at age 62 because he will be 70 next year.
Part of our decision for my husband not to take SS at his retirement age, is that I am younger and still getting my health insurance from the state market and we want to keep our income down to get more affordable rates.
We really considered our genetic health when we took our SS at age 66. When my DH reached age 58 he was the longest lived male on his father’s side. All of the men for at least 4 generations died before the age of 58. While DH is alive and kicking at age 75, his genetic history has always weighed heavily on us. His father and grandfather both died of cancer young. His mother died of cancer but she was 92 when she died.