^^^^^^^

Agree 100%

quote:

...that is one reason I took it early to get as much of MY money back that I put into it the last 60 years before that happens.

That is a sentiment I hear expressed A LOT! Get grandfathered in while you can.

I took SS at 62. Did the math and it showed I would be 90 before I caught up to the differential of waiting until 66. SS is my slush fund for racing. Don't need it to live on. Wife and I invested very wisely for years, paid off ALL debt, including house. With no debt its all downhill. The peace of mind of knowing that I don't owe anybody anything takes a tremendous weight off your shoulders. BTW, at 73 don't think I can catch up to Fern, Bob or Floyd but thanks for making feel like a kid.

Looking at the majority of the replies, I feel better about what I did, and am in a group of folks that feel the same as I do. This has been very interesting. Now I think I'll start one on Medicare,with the rash of calls I get to switch to Medicare Advantage everyday, LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:


Just remember if you retire before your full SS retirement date then anything you make over $17,000 a year is subject to a penalty of $1 for every $2 you make over $17,000. Now after your Social Security retirement date I think you can make as much as you want with no penalty.

And the lady said it is NOT A TAX or PENALTY but if they take half of everything you make over a whimpy $17,000 a year that is a screwing no matter what you call it.

I turn 63 in a month, I asked my tax accountant about this and what Curly said about the penalty is 100% accurate. My tax guy said if I continue to work once I hit $45K of income I would be getting zero in SS payments.
I make way more than that and have no plans to quit working so I am screwed for now.

What I hate is I have no wife or minor age kids to leave the SS too, I have been paying since I was 16 years old, if I drop dead tomorrow the government keeps all my money

^^^^ and there in lies the scam

My CPA told me to wait till I was 66 and six months and I did. Then start working part time and was getting my Social Security and just for those two I was making one percent less than working full-time.

Been reading so munch about when to take your SS and reasons to wait. When I was working, my job was to meet people every day. I would get up early and call to set appointments. some I call the day before so I could set a route. Here is why I applied for mine at 62. A lot, I mean a lot , of people in the 25-40 range I would call, mostly @9-10 am, I would wake. To start conversation, I would ask what do you do. I was surprised how many would say they were waiting on their SS disability. My judgmental side then and there decided I was at least going to start getting some of my "ponzi" scheme money back from the government. Besides, you never know when you are going to get to take the tree next.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:


Just remember if you retire before your full SS retirement date then anything you make over $17,000 a year is subject to a penalty of $1 for every $2 you make over $17,000. Now after your Social Security retirement date I think you can make as much as you want with no penalty.

And the lady said it is NOT A TAX or PENALTY but if they take half of everything you make over a whimpy $17,000 a year that is a screwing no matter what you call it.

I turn 63 in a month, I asked my tax accountant about this and what Curly said about the penalty is 100% accurate. My tax guy said if I continue to work once I hit $45K of income I would be getting zero in SS payments.
I make way more than that and have no plans to quit working so I am screwed for now.

What I hate is I have no wife or minor age kids to leave the SS too, I have been paying since I was 16 years old, if I drop dead tomorrow the government keeps all my money

This is how Ponzi schemes survive a few years.

If only there were a virus or something that would only kill the old and infirm who are using up Medicare and Social Security resources that could be getting laundered back into some folks bank accounts.....some of them might even die with their estates unprepared, giving another boost to the money laundering thefts....

Hmmmm

I did the math as well and included earned interest on the money I would collect from 62 until my full retirement age at 72. I'll have 21 years in private earnings and also have public years so windfall elimination hits me pretty hard at almost $500 (currently). I'd have to live to 80 to where delaying would pay me back more. At this point, the plan is 62 as I expect to need the extra $$ more at 62 than I will at 80.

At some point, I'll run another calculation to see if I work in private for a couple more years to reduce windfall, will it be worth it. Would be great to get rid of windfall with 30 years paying in but that's doubtful for my current plan.

I will be collecting at 62 for sure. Still a few years away but am already retired so not like the amount has gone up at all.

My situation a little different. I retired at 59, no more work at all. Waiting till 65 to best higher rate in case wife outlasts me. Took very conservative route and either/or both of us are self sufficient on a single SS check without touching investments or 401ks. In retrospect, even with current inflation I could have stopped at 53. We downsized in 2017 live in very rural area with closet neighbors being cows.

There is a bill going thru congress to raise SS to 70 instead of 62 and full pop at 75. Got to love our government. NOT!

I retired at 52 when the plant shut down and the P.U.C. worked a deal with the utility for a severance package (I worked in a coal fired power plant). This was 2007.
I had always paid into my 401K and things were looking good. Then 2008 happened an about half of my 401K disappeared. Well, for 10 years I took only $1500 mo from the 401 and had to find work or sell something to get by. That included the race car.
Went to work for the NHRA part time just to be out there at the races and have a little money for the bills.
62 was the age I started my SS and my retirement recovered a little bit.
I started racing my old Falcon in Sportsman ET and get to have a little fun a few times a year. Life's good.
I have a little money in the bank so maybe just one more race car before I die!
If you are at a national event racing or watching I may be there riding around on a little blue scooter parking rigs or getting cars to the lanes, so I'd love to see you guys out there.

When SS was legislated in the early thirties the average life expectancy for a male was 65 a female was 71. The Ponzi scheme was off and running. The reason for the full retirement age at 65 is obvious. The actuaries determined that most workers would never reach retirement age. Those that did would never live long enough to out collect contributions. It was never designed to be a retirement plan, only a supplement. After WWII we had the explosion of baby boomers from the returning Veterans led to the problem we have today. The baby boomers were an initial blessing for SS as you had these folks entering the work force and paying into the program. During this time our thieving government decided to 'borrow' from SS. I'm not to sure who was first to pull this theft off, either President Johnson or President Regan. There was up to this point a massive surplus of funds in the system, not after this krap was pulled. Since this time the 'loan' has never been repaid, the government just keeps stealing the SS premiums paid to run this corrupt government. SOOOO, your government keeps issuing IOU's for SS. At this point it has become a Ponzi scheme, those paying into the program today are funding those of us collecting benefits today. So many baby boomers are now collecting benefits, me included. The big problem today is there are far fewer contributing or should I say having part of their wages confiscated by these corrupt *******s in Washington. Think it's bad today, the future is looking abysmal since our corrupt politicians or so called leaders will not face the reality of the problem. Add in Medicare, Medicaid and you have a bomb ready to explode.

I could go on for hours about this BS. I'm sure I have lost a few readers at this point so "RANT OVER".

Not a "Ponzi" scheme. A Ponzi scheme is voluntary. Social Security deductions are "Mandatory". You don't have a choice to not have it taken out of your check.

As fate would have it I heard Merle Haggard's Big City tune the other day. As he laments "And give me all I've got comin' to me And keep your retirement And your so called social security"

Good luck with that "give me all I've got commin' to me". We all want a return on our involuntary SS contributions. But one can't deny the "social strangle hold" FDR put around our necks and the resulting dependency on the government to get it (and LBJ's Great Society). Beware of the coming GAI and the vaccine passport like controls that it will morph into with the help of the digital dollar. Oh I know I know that can never happen with senators like Mitt Romney.... you're probably right.

If you can't draw some parallels between whats already happened and pending programs/controls you're a better denier than me.

quote:

Originally posted by fuzzy dice:
I will tell my story as it may help someone else...I decided to take early retirement at 62...at the time "full" retirement was 66...I went to the SS office and had an appointment...the man told me why not take my ex-wife's SS until I reached 66 and then convert over to mine...hers was a lot less but about the same as using mine early...

I did that and at 66 my monthly check increased by a thousand dollars when I switched over to mine...how crazy was that...we had been divorced for many years, she even re-married and passed away young at 59...for health care I used the VA until I reached 65 and then hooked up with a medicare advantage plan which even pays 70% of the medicare part B charge...

I am 75 now and will race until I can't anymore sponsored by SS and the VA (disability from agent orange)...

I did much the same as Fuzzy. I lost my wife to cancer when she was 59 and I was 62. I had already started to wind down my business (just sick of it) a year or so before she died. I too ran the numbers. I don't have the paper in front of me now, but, I would have had to survive to late 80's to tip the scales in my favor any more. So, I took survivors benefits off her SS for four and half years, then switched over to mine at FRA which was like 66 and three months. That strategy made a big difference in what I am collecting now. As others have said, not really enough to live on by itself, at least not in the city

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Randy Larson,

everybody needs to do the math. I went at 62 ,waited till jan.1st . The current year you go on ssi you can make as much as you want that year,the penalty does not start till a full year.worked till my amount was earned a couple of years and then the amount was enough I could work full time.
mowing ,landscaping and firewood was not claimed. Just my opinion.