Because I was primarily a stay-at-home mom. I quit working full-time when ds was 2, so once I was 35 years old, dh was the primary breadwinner in our household. I quit working part-time when ds was 6 to home school him. So, once I was 39 years old, dh was the only breadwinner in our household. I homeschooled ds until he entered high school, and I never re-entered the work force after that. I didn’t earn nearly as much money as my dh - that’s how that works! Ha ha! I also had three non-working years in my 20s when I was in law school.
ETA: For clarity - that percentage is within our individual earnings records. NOT considering any spousal benefit. I didn’t mean I would only get 28.8% of dh’s. I meant looking at hard numbers, my benefit on my own earnings record would be that. Eg - my age 65 benefit per SS on my own record would be $983 whereas dh’s at age 65 would be $3,413.
No, I have not. But, it seems like I read here (or elsewhere) that you had to know exactly what you wanted to ask them. They could and would give answers to specific questions but not necessarily, “advice.” But idk.
The reality is that it is a numbers game to some extent no matter what since no one knows when they are going to die!
I’m LinkedIn connected to someone who just completed a Social Security (certificate of some sort). She’s a financial planner, and has a $250 fee just to look at Social Security scenarios.
I’m waiting for her to send her forms as I am looking forward to her analysis.
Last week I attended a “free” social security seminar but it wasn’t very helpful as it was really just designed to be vague and generate more leads for the firm.
I elected to start my SSA at about age 62 1/2. My first job was under the Federal pension system, and my second job that fully qualified me for SSA wasn’t all that high paying. We knew husband would be way higher. I calculated the break even point if I waited for full benefits and I think it would have been my late 70’s or even early 80’s. So I took reduced benefits and the extra income came in handy for several years. It helped keep us from dipping into savings a little bit.
Husband waited for full benefits and I automatically got converted to spousal benefits at that time, at the same reduction percentage as my own benefit had been. And now we’ve entered the RMD years. And we both have traditional pensions and there are life insurance policies.
So my reduced individual benefit helped when we could use the income, and is a much smaller factor in our finances in the mid- retirement years.
Neither my disabled dependent D nor my H could qualify for SS until I started getting my benefit, so I started earlier than I had planned so D could apply for SSDI and now H is applying for spousal benefits. I had wanted to wait until I turned 70, but life happens. Once we decided D should try to get SSDI, I had to apply so she could get benefits from my record since she has no SS earnings.
I’m assuming you are receiving subsidized insurance under your husbands healthcare plan at his company? Is there a big difference in amounts between 62 vs 65 vs 68? If yes, and you don’t need the money, then I’d wait. If it’s minimal, then I’d consider starting.
I started at 65, DH is waiting until 70. We are both on Medicare. The reason I started is his health insurance is not subsided. Since he’s still working, my health insurance thru Medicare is the same as before ~ $650 a month. So, I elected to receive SS, and have that deducted out of it. Now, I’m not paying any doctor bills.
My husband and I are both thinking we will file at full retirement age of 67.
Not waiting until 70 for my husband because if he were to pass away before me and the odds are great that we will, I will only collect his social security at his full retirement age, not what he would collect at 70. Am I correct in that?
Also we are doing fine with our current income stream, our RMD’s will kick our income up quite a bit. I figure if things go in the toilet we have the option to file.
My social security will be low and I won’t get a bump to half of his until he files anyways.
He will get a stipend to pay for his Medicare. Maybe I’ll file at 65 so it could pay for Medicare but I haven’t thought about it much.
Yes, we are getting somewhat subsidized health insurance through dh’s company. Definitely less than what we were paying on the exchange before he started working there.
We are going to be subject to some level of IRMAA whether dh is working or not, so that is a valid point. I’m not sure how long dh will work.
And then I get confused about going from COBRA into Medicare! I think I’ve read it’s not considered, “creditable” insurance??? So, if he leaves the company before he is 65 we will need to research whether or not we do COBRA or not at well.
I believe he can cobra before age 65. He can not cobra after age 65 as it is not considered creditable insurance. If he continues to cobra after 65 and not apply for Medicare he will get penalized when he does start Medicare. At least that’s how I understand it.
I’m not sure a call to SSA will give a lot of help on the decision when to take social security. For us it was just one of many pieces of the equation, part of which included 1.another option to raise spendable income now, instead of SS, is to sell equities such as some highly appreciated stocks, incurring taxes. 2. In the future, mandatory RMDs which bump up our tax rate will also bump up the tax rate on SS. Then there’s IRMAA and net investment tax to consider. Our decision after considering these and several other things was to take SS at full retirement age. Not having to see/pay Medicare charges every month (since they are taken out of SS funds) is a plus.
We did the future forecast/payback time calculations, but there were guesstimates, guesses. One was how much we could earn on any saved money from the early take if not spent.
For the record, when I suggested a call to SSA I wasn’t thinking they would help anyone make a decision, nor would they know your individual facts and financial picture but that they could simply plug in a few scenarios of age self/spouse and tell you $ you could expect in each scenario.
Also please realize there are plenty of people who don’t have a portfolio of other financial options or opportunities in play. For many, SS IS what they will largely live on.
Some advise that I heard for SS appointments (a few years ago) - Reps supposedly can answer questions, but not make recommendations. Not sure if true. But it would be a good idea to be ready to ask about various scenarios.
In an effort to be more helpful, there are many websites that explain factors going into SS decision-making. For most people (over 70%, according to a quick google search) who do have more than SS, the decision when to take it is part of an evaluation of other personal financial factors and income amounts and timing. Kiplingers website has a basic discussion of these, for example. The SSA website has personal data with log-in, and the calculator up thread can be helpful.
I realize there are many people who have only SS to live on; I have volunteered for years helping many in or close to that situation with their finances. For that group, when to take it is usually not a decision point. Also this line of discussion would not have come up here - it was indicated that this is not the only source of income.