To Retire At 56? Or Rough It Out...

[OnMyWay]

7 minutes ago, intrepid said:

Don, read the first line under Max Family Benifits,  I think its correct.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/yourchildren.html

 

I'm familiar with that.  I don't understand what Mike said:

The dependent's amount is based upon your full retirement benefit, not on what you are currently collecting.

My full retirement benefit would be at age 66.4.  However, I will start at age 62.

[intrepid]

6 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

I'm familiar with that.  I don't understand what Mike said:

The dependent's amount is based upon your full retirement benefit, not on what you are currently collecting.

My full retirement benefit would be at age 66.4.  However, I will start at age 62.

Sorry, try this one,  Pg2 How much can a family get.

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10085.pdf

[OnMyWay]

2 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Sounds like people had better watch their backs as it starting to sound like some are worth more Dead than alive.

Just saying G & G's 

In my case my wife can't get anything from SS, so when I die they will lose mine (the base) but the kids will go up to 150% of my base.  Before I die our total will be my base 100% + 50% X 2 kids= 200% total.  So they have a net loss of 50% when I die.

I explained that to my wife and she cancelled her Lazada order of a huge butcher knife.

[OnMyWay]

1 minute ago, intrepid said:

Sorry, try this one,  Pg2 How much can a family get.

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10085.pdf

Yes, I have read that before and now I see the words "full benefit" in there.  I hope that it is true that they will get 50% of my age 66.4 benefit!  That would be another windfall for us!

[MikeB]

7 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Mike, can you clarify this part for me or do you have a link?  I have looked for info on how SS calculates the child benefits, but I was unsuccessful.

We are getting off topic so PM me if appropriate.

I don't think it's off topic. Intrepid already posted a link but this explains it best:

"The dependent child benefit is equal to 50% of the unreduced benefit the parent would receive at full retirement age (i.e., their Primary Insurance Amount or PIA), which means even if the parent starts early (reducing their own benefit) the child’s benefit remains the same."

The article I took that from is a few years old and some of the info is no longer accurate (like "file and suspend") but the part I quoted is still valid. If you have children under 18 this could definitely affect your decision on when to start collecting. I couldn't remember that acronym, PIA. The bureaucrats love them. 

https://www.kitces.com/blog/why-social-security-dependent-benefits-for-a-child-can-make-it-a-good-deal-to-start-early-and-not-delay/

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, MikeB said:

I don't think it's off topic. Intrepid already posted a link but this explains it best:

"The dependent child benefit is equal to 50% of the unreduced benefit the parent would receive at full retirement age (i.e., their Primary Insurance Amount or PIA), which means even if the parent starts early (reducing their own benefit) the child’s benefit remains the same."

The article I took that from is a few years old and some of the info is no longer accurate (like "file and suspend") but the part I quoted is still valid. If you have children under 18 this could definitely affect your decision on when to start collecting. I couldn't remember that acronym, PIA. The bureaucrats love them. 

https://www.kitces.com/blog/why-social-security-dependent-benefits-for-a-child-can-make-it-a-good-deal-to-start-early-and-not-delay/

Wow!  This is huge for me!  50% of the PIA is much higher than the 50% of the reduced age 62 amount that I had in mind.  I would have found out eventually but this makes our financial planning much easier!

Even though I was misunderstanding how the family max was calculated, I am still fine there, just under the family max that applies to me.  I thought the family max was 150-180% of the amount I would receive at age 62, but it is calculated using the PIA.  Mine works out great at 175% of my PIA.

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/familymax.html

Thank Mike!

 

 

[mogo51]

On 6/4/2017 at 10:49 AM, Nickleback99 said:

I always figure Genetics can give ya a good yardstick, provided one generally takes care of themselves otherwise.  Since I have the "C" gene from Dad's side (died 79), although All were smoking related and I don't smoke, And the heart disease gene my mom's side (died 84)...harder to predict, but my healthy lifestyle largely different than theirs.  Can't account for chemical exposure in Iraq and A'stan, but figure I should make it to a Good 80.  Beyond that?...who knows?  Then again, as you said, could end "tomorrow"....SO, time to go enjoy Life and travel while I can, etc.  Can't Wait!! 

I see you are living in Japan.  With the crisis that currently muddies the waters there, I wish you luck.  But 80 is a good number for me.  I wish there was a number you could ring to enter 'check out age'.

[OnMyWay]

23 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

I see you are living in Japan.  With the crisis that currently muddies the waters there, I wish you luck.  But 80 is a good number for me.  I wish there was a number you could ring to enter 'check out age'.

Side topic, in Japan they have many "centanarians" who live to 100.  Around 30,000 per year now!  The government started giving them a solid silver cup of some sort many years ago.  This year, they changed it to "silver plated" to bring down the cost.  Too many old folks!

[OnMyWay]

32 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Wow!  This is huge for me!  50% of the PIA is much higher than the 50% of the reduced age 62 amount that I had in mind.  I would have found out eventually but this makes our financial planning much easier!

Even though I was misunderstanding how the family max was calculated, I am still fine there, just under the family max that applies to me.  I thought the family max was 150-180% of the amount I would receive at age 62, but it is calculated using the PIA.  Mine works out great at 175% of my PIA.

https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/familymax.html

Thank Mike!

 

 

I just recalculated a few spreadsheets I have and taking SS at age 62 is a no-brainer now.  With my previously calc my break even, taking at 62 vs. full age 66.4, was about age 78.  The new calc for me and the kids now has my break-even at age 94!

[MikeB]

I'm sure that if I live another 10 or 15 years my dependents and I will have received more in benefits than I put in (maybe much more) but consider that I almost bought it in a bike crash in 2011 when I had just been collecting 3 months. All the money I put in over 40 some years would be lost. So it all works out one way or the other. Enjoy it while you can.