Question about Social Security

Also check out the amount of people at different ages. The average person will live less than 8 years after 70, this is why the government wants you to wait on collecting SS till 75. If you stay at work and you don't collect the government gets to keep the money...so they incentivize you by paying more if you wait to collect for a bigger check. Now if SS is all you got going for you, then waiting is probably best. Average retirement income is 45K to 52K for a married pair. Sorry, but that is not a whole lot in todays economy.
 

this is far from true that the average person will live just 8 years in retirement.

life expectancy from birth has zero to do with decisions at 62 .

a 65 year old couple has a whopping 73% chance of one of them seeing 85 .

in fact the odds of seeing one of them hitting 90 is still almost 50%

it’s is lower for individuals since with couples you have two horses in the race with one bet but the odds still favor individuals going on at even just 80 then dying.

so living just 8 years in retirement isn’t even close as an average .

social security represents only a portion of what one earned as a salary since we only pay in a portion of our salary so it isn’t supposed to represent your wage .

50k a year is more then many households actually earned working ,so yeah it still is a nice chunk of change considering it was never meant to be your sole income

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ElCastor said:
The rules may have changed since I retired, but at least back then the advice was to start Social Security at 62, which I did. Six or seven years later I discovered I could have gotten considerably more if I had waited until 70 to start. I also discovered I could pay back what I had already received and restart at the higher rate, so I waited until just before 70, scraped together the cash, paid it to Social Security, and restarted at the higher rate. May seem foolish, but I did the math and that Social Security rate increase amounted to 10% interest on the pay back cash. Not suggesting anyone else do as I did — just a story of my experience.
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The SocSec rules DID change, in 2015. AARP has a full explanation of what you can - and cannot - do:
Can I stop SS benefits and restart them later for a bigger payment?

Also, not sure where Creek Pirate got the idea that full SS age is 75. It is age 70, when benefits stop accruing. You can file later, but there is no benefit increase after age 70 for anyone.
 

Creek Pirate said:
Everyone is different on when to retire. Some like to work, others are just tired. You should retire early, its the first few years that most retired people enjoy due to health issues mainly. Anyway your question on how much on average retired people make... https://money.usnews.com/money/reti...ticles/average-social-security-benefit-by-age .... This site will help answer that question.
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I'm surprised by the chart included in the article. I get more than the average for women my age although I retired very early and lost at least 12 years contributing to SS.

Also, I wonder why the amount decreases as recipients reach their 80s? Anyone know?
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm surprised by the chart included in the article. I get more than the average for women my age although I retired very early and lost at least 12 years contributing to SS.

Also, I wonder why the amount decreases as recipients reach their 80s? Anyone know?
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my guess is the older you are the less your inflation adjusted wages were after a certain point .
 
Creek Pirate said:
Also check out the amount of people at different ages. The average person will live less than 8 years after 70, this is why the government wants you to wait on collecting SS till 75. If you stay at work and you don't collect the government gets to keep the money...so they incentivize you by paying more if you wait to collect for a bigger check. Now if SS is all you got going for you, then waiting is probably best. Average retirement income is 45K to 52K for a married pair. Sorry, but that is not a whole lot in todays economy.
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Where did wait until you are 75 come from?
 
mathjak107 said:
the whole post is incorrect …. life expectancy to 78 does not apply to the cohort that is debating when to take social security and waiting to 75 has no bearing since 70 is the max payout
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A good point. For those who hit 70, their chances of living past 80 are much better than a newborn. Statistics can be deceiving since most people don’t know what they mean. When was the last two you heard a reporter say or write about a poll and mention the margin of error? A then there is the standard deviation. EGADS!
 

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