Today. I got my first Social Security check. I've only been working toward it for about 40 years. I had thought to splurge and have a little fun, instead I paid my property tax...I guess I'm getting old.  I plan to keep working for the next several years and invest my SS checks, plus I'm going to have to replace a central AC unit and a roof for the house someday. The extra cash allowed me to pay-off my credit card balances (homeowner's insurance and pool table restoration) and next year I plan to pay-off the loan on my car and some other things. Thanks to inflation, the money won't go as far as I had planned, but if I don't go too crazy, I'll be able to pay my debts, make some repairs and improvements to the house, purchase some more preps, save for the future, and maybe have a little fun. I just hope that Trump can eliminate taxes on Social Security and that Congress can fix Social Security before it goes broke, and my check (and yours) is reduced by 20% in about 10 years or less!
I was under the impression that continuing to work while drawing SS would end up penalizing you so much it's not worth it. I guess it depends how much income you get but it wouldn't take much
You are almost always better off working than just trying to get by on Social Security alone. Currently, I will have to pay income tax on my Social Security income, while I continue to work. However, President Trump (GOD I love being able to say that again) has promised to eliminate taxes on Social Security, tips and overtime. I have known people that choose to quit work (when they don't have to) and then struggle to get by on Social Security alone. I can understand if the person has health problems, need to care for family, hate their job/working, or have a nest-egg to tide them over, but I'm not any of those. Plus, you need to plan your retirement as well, if not better, than your career. Retirement doesn't just mean doing nothing until you die. You need to LIVE until you die!
I saw a week or so ago ,, that if you're drawing SS ,, then you can still work and make up to $ 23,500 before you'll lose any SS.
Congrats! I sort am in shock every time I get a SS check. It is like '...someone is giving me free money?' LOL! I know, they robbed me for 50 years but it feels strange as worked for every penny so just seems strange to get it. Frankly, I never expected to live long enough to get it. I got back stateside when I was 64, had enough saved so waited until I was 66 so got full benefit, still not sure that was the right thing to do but like I said, I really never expected to get this money anyway. The biggest thing is the cheaper medical benefits...which I still believe all Americans should be able to buy into. EDIT: Oh, and no I do not work. Screw it. My time is now my own but yes, a person can worked if they want and make a specific amount before they lose. EDIT: I truly wonder if Trump will stop taxing SS...I don't see how given the National Debt and the need to rebuild military for the coming war (oh yeah, it's coming).
Little known fact, reducing taxes and allowing individuals and businesses to spend their own money stimulates the economy far more than sending a check to Washington D.C., and that results in increased tax revenue for the Federal, State, and local governments. If the government lets me spend more of my money, I will buy a new central AC unit and have it installed or hire a roofer, and they will spend the money locally for a variety of goods and services, and so-on and so-on! The more times the money changes hands the better. Money is a lot like manure, it isn't worth a damn unless you spread it around!
Here's how it works. If you start drawing SSI after 62 but before you hit your full retirement age, you can earn up to a set amount ($22,320, per the SSA 2024 flier "How Work Affects Your Benefits") each year before they start making you pay it back the next year one dollar for every two dollars over the limit in the previous year. If you hit full retirement age in 2024, it's $1 for every $3 you earn above $59,520 until the month you reach full retirement age. Once you hit full retirement age (which is a sliding scale - if born in 1960 full retirement age is 67, if older, it's less - 1958 is 66 & 8 months, etc.), you can earn as much as you want and you don't have to give any SSI back. I'll hit my full retirement age next year, and will start drawing the next month, while continuing to work. I ran the numbers and I and my wife will have to live to about 83 for it to have been better to have waited, and that's based on the old laws of SSI being taxable.
So, there is a lot of misunderstanding on working and SS. There are several keys things with all this. 1. If you are at full retirement age (FRA) there is no limit to what you can make and still get full SS benefits. FRA is 67 or 67 minus 2 months for each year before 1960 that you were born down to age 65 where it bottoms out. So, born in 1957 full retirement age would be 67 minus 6 months or 66 and 6 months. 2. Delay taking benefits starting beyond full retirement age and monthly benefits increase until age 70 where delaying any more has no increased benefit. Delayed Retirement | Born in 1955 | SSA. 3. Take SS early before reaching full retirement age (earliest age allowed is 62) and 2 things happen: A. Amount you get each year is reduced. Something like 7-8%/yr I vaguely recall when running the numbers a while back. B. There are income limits and your yearly benefit is reduced by $1 for each $2 you are above the income limit. It’s a bit different for the months before your birthday the year you reach FRA. But don’t fret, you don’t really lose that! Your benefits after you reach full retirement will be increased to roughly make up for the reduction during the income limit period prior to full retirement age. Most people don’t know this. A buddy who is a financial planner and retirement investor didn’t even know and was sure I was wrong until I showed him this. (He offered me a job) Benefits Planner: Retirement | Receiving Benefits While Working | SSA https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf Personally, I started taking SS when I hit FRA and was still working part time. Sure I could have delayed SS a few years so it gets bigger but I’d have needed to tap IRA/401k money a bit. Rather, I preferred to let IRA grow, especially Roth, at a better rate than have SS grow because if I die earlier that plan/expected/ok, hope then my heirs get the IRA money but wouldn’t get the SS money. I like using my own retirement savings last. PS. Pay attention to Medicare issues too. If you have income above a limit in the last year (as I think I vaguely recall its a three year look back) before enrolling your annual premium goes up each month for the rest of your life. It was $194k filing jointly last year but its a bit higher now. Probably few of us have that kind income but watch out if you are re-characterizing 401k or traditional IRA to Roth as it’s easy to not think and go over the income limits and then get penalized the rest of your life. Same deal for when you enroll if you delay after 65. Say you left a job at 66 but stayed on the Cobra plan from work for two years then decide to enroll. Oops, if working full time on employer or spouse employer plan, no problem but using Cobra doesn’t count. Enroll late and premiums increase for the rest of your life. Pay attention to this crap or it can cost you. AT
The challenge will likely be the RINOs in the Senate. DJT can’t do it alone regardless how much the left thinks he’s a dictator. It will require legislative action to happen.
Took SS when I hit the full age, about 66 then, and continued to work. Been drawing for about 20 years now. Would have got higher benefits if I waited until 70, worked until 84, but the money was worth a lot more then and I used the extra money from SS and savings while working to buy an income property. Value went from $75 thousand to over 200 thousand on paper and income from the property has been ten times what the IRA interest on our bank deposits we have has paid. IRA has been a joke. Lost half of it in 2000 in market in supposedly safe stocks and more in 2008. One thing I do know is that IRA manager, took his share, win or lose, and made out very well on my hard work and savings. Interest in bank or CU on IRA has been less than 1% for most of the time. People who have stayed in market are mixed bag. Pick right stock and made a lot of money, pick wrong stock and lose it all. Never thought GM was a risky stock for example. Whole secret in life is having a job that you like. I worked for a small company as a mechanic fixing power tools. Never made a fortune in pay, but enjoyed going to work. Didn't put in as many hours after 70 and took off time in slow periods, made both me and the boss happy, but kept on working. One major thing about retirement is staying both active and engaged. If you are working and wake up a little under the weather and go to work, in my case anyhow, in a few days you usually feel better and get back on your feet. Seen too many people who don't work, get sick, lay down and rest, and in 6 months can't do anything. Lots of hard working people "retire" and do nothing, start to drink a little, put on weight, get out of shape, lose interest, and die before they hit 70. Been fighting cancer for about 5 years now and know that if I hadn't been in good shape going into it, I would have been dead a long time ago. Seen that in the people in treatment with me, the more engaged you are in life and with the help of your wife, and the Lord, the more likely you are to make it. Retirement makes you realize that it is all in God's hands. If you are blessed with your health, it is usually pretty good, have a heart attack, get cancer, some bad illness, etc, then it will be short and not so good. Staying in shape helps, as well as life style, never smoked or drank, but you can not control your health. Still I have had a good life and I guess you can see from posts I have made, am still engaged in life and enjoying it. In 2020 they said the cancer was inoperable and that without chemo and radiation I would be dead in a few months. I have very much enjoyed what ever extra time God gives me and it has been 4 years now. Best investments I ever made for retirement were having everything paid for and greenhouse, wood stove, garden, shop, etc, set up and waiting for me. Cut my expenses and made life a lot more enjoyable in retirement. In my case at least, the things I did to prepare for some SHTF event have had the biggest pay back. I went to wood heat so I wouldn't be dependent on oil. Now with the price of oil thru the roof, the cost of my wood heat has stayed about the same for the last 10 years while my neighbors cost of oil heat is up by about 5 times. I also like the fact that I have the security of wood for this winter and next in my wood shed. Don't have to worry about paying for a tank of oil next month. The cost of my tomatoes, squash, etc, has actually dropped as I have my greenhouse, etc paid for a long time ago and have most of the bugs worked out. Preparing our food from "storage" foods, rice, beans, lentils, etc, has allowed us to miss much of the food inflation of the last 4 years. Price of rice and beans are up, but 20 pounds of rice will make a lot of eats when compared to the increases in the price of TV dinners and steak.
Good catch. They are a little bonney, but taste so good. CraftyMofo said he is going deer hunting. My grand dad had cancer when he was 75 and they removed one of kidney's. Course in 1948 they expected him to lay in bed the rest of his life. Come deer season he got ready to go up to northern Minn with the group, two sons and 3 grand sons. All made remarks about old man and last hunt etc. Well they went hunting and about a week later they were back with 5 deer for the 6 of them. Awful quiet bunch. Had a good time and good sized deer, asked how it went. Turned out grand dad had shot 3 out of the 5 deer in the last day before they came home and 1 other the first day they were there. He had an old lever action 30-30 and had just went out and set down on a stump on a logging road and watched, as the "hunters" moved the deer, he shot them when they crossed the road. Next year there was no questions about him going along and more people getting their deer by sitting. Kind of a fore runner of a deer stand which no one used then. Sometimes age and experience make life a lot more pleasant. Was 10 years old at the time and it made a powerful learning moment to me at least. Oldest son got 30-30. Bought new, the carbine model in about 1895 and still in family. Saw it last time I was back in Minn and it brought back many pleasant memories and it now is in the hands of a great grand son. Funny to wonder if it is still used for hunting. I know he had other rifles, but it makes you think of a 125 year old tool still being useful and I hope that the next member of the family feels as blessed to keep it as the keepers before him did. Grand dad bought it when he homesteaded in Dakota, 20 years after the battle at Custer's last stand, and when he said there were still Army patrols at times. They told stories of hunting in early 1900's. Rent a railroad box car, fit it out for hunting, go up to northern Minn and go out on logging railroads and hunt. Back in those days deer were very rare in southern Minn from what they said. Explained as "eaten off" by people with little money and a taste for meat. Kind of expect that would happen again if SHTF.
Yes! That I can attest too! I had a huge windfall off of some stocks and not only did I have to end of paying about 25% in in capital gains (thieving SOBs) it caused the cost of my medical insurance to go up a lot Income limits Individuals with incomes above $103,000 and married couples with incomes above $206,000 must pay higher premiums. Premium amounts The amount you pay depends on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) from your most recent federal tax return. Income sources that can affect your premiums Other sources of income that can affect your premiums include: Vesting of restricted stock Exercising stock options Other forms of deferred compensation Required minimum distributions (RMDs) Home sales Municipal bond income Roth conversions
I keep meeting people who tell me of family that kept working so they could get the full amount and died right before they would have started collecting. One of my coworkers kept working until she died. It would be different if you really liked your job. Many people I meet take on debt right before they retire so they can't afford to stop. Keep doing something you enjoy.
I can't say that I really ENJOY my job. However, I do enjoy going to work (getting up, shit, shower, shave, dress, coffee, breakfast, feed the cat, and drive to work), the routine, speaking and interacting with coworkers, etc. Occasionally I'm assigned a task that is out of the ordinary and I'm proud to say that 99% of the time I-got-it-done! At the end of the day, I go home tired but feeling that I accomplished something...and every two weeks I get paid. Being retired is a job, because you have to work to find a way to fill all of those hours!
