SSI

[Jstpssng]

One thing nobody has mentioned is that if you file at a younger age and are penalized for making more than allowed, you will recover that further down the line.
Hopefully nobody here plans to go this route.

If you know exactly when you are going to die it all gets very easy.

 

[TractorGuy]

I applied online 3 months before I turned 65. I think it takes 3 months after you apply before benefits begin. Retirement income doesn't count against you for the early benefits so if you aren't still making over the minimum in regular income it won't have any effect.

I went to the local office first. They had a parking lot slam full and a line outside the building. Judging from the age of the people I saw waiting most of them were trying to get on disability. I figured no way in heck the online application would take longer than waiting in that line.

Any time I had a question and called they had an option to be called back. I would leave a message and they called me back and answered my questions so I didn't have to sit on hold.

The only reason I waited until I was 65 was because I needed to keep working until I was medicare age and I made too much to take it early.

I encouraged the wife to take it at 62 and she did. She retired at 58. I did the math on the early SS and it would have taken 18 years for her to make up the amount she wouldn't get if she waited to 66.

They will calculate your benefits based on the prior year. A year later they will make the adjustment to include your last year working and also give you a check for the amount they shorted you.

 

[drssg]

This is probably a minor issue, but if you plan to retire, live on savings, and then take SS at a later date, the initial estimates for SS payments will be a little high.

If you look up your estimated payment for taking SS at 65, that estimate assumes you are working and contributing to SS until you are 65. If you quit working at 60 and goof off for five years, you won't receive quite as much SS as initially projected.

 

[RickB]

This is probably a minor issue, but if you plan to retire, live on savings, and then take SS at a later date, the initial estimates for SS payments will be a little high.

If you look up your estimated payment for taking SS at 65, that estimate assumes you are working and contributing to SS until you are 65. If you quit working at 60 and goof off for five years, you won't receive quite as much SS as initially projected.

True, but my phone call to SS gave me a projection of what my deferred benefit would be if I had no W-2 income for 3 years.

 

[Bearsixty7]

True, but my phone call to SS gave me a projection of what my deferred benefit would be if I had no W-2 income for 3 years.

I figure I'll look at my projected amount 3 and 2 years before I retire and that should be real close to my actual. Plan to retire at 59.5, file for SS at 62.

 

[grsthegreat]

I started ss this year, waited till 63 only because i sold a house last year and didnt need more income to count against capital gains. I didnt even bother doing any calculations, as i dont care when it runs out. The wife and i have plenty saved in 401k’s, pensions, vanguard accounts, etc.
im actually making more now than i did when i worked 40 hour weeks. Im just now looking into medicare plans. Only the government can screw up something so fully as you need to be a rocket scientist to sort thru the bs.

 

[ovrszd]

I went to the SS office when I filed. Five years later my wife filed online from home. Both were very easy. I believe the filing part is the best ran part of the entire program!!!!

 

[grsthegreat]

The only reason i went into the office, and wasted 7 hours of my life waiting inlines was because the wife laminated my SS card and that made id void. After getting new card i did rest of filing online. Was easy.

 

[bunyip]

We have a similar system except everyone gets the same amount until death, start at age 65-67 depending upon your birth year and you are allowed to earn $300 per week without any impact, after that you lose 50c for every dollar earned, my retirement is self funded but I still get a small amount, there is also a rental allowance if you are renting plus you get discounts on car registration, council property rates, utilities and a few other things, couples get marginally less than singles.
You also get free medical and ambulance but not dental or optical prescriptions.

 

[Diggin It]

Yeah, filing with SS was a breeze.

OPM was a whole different matter, fight, fight, fight ..... But if you were never a Federal employee, you won't have that problem.