Before I talk about SS I would like to warn young people You don’t want to be old and poor. You really don’t. Save for your retirement please - it is much easier to be young and take that little bit of money and save it - young and slightly reduced spending money is much better than old and poor and possibly sick Don’t be like me. Covid was a shock
With the uncertainty in the job market and my job specially I have decided to work and get SS at the same time at my true retirement age of 66 this fall.
I thought that I could stop SS and pay back my SS money if my situation stabilizes. This is actually possible in the first year. So I would be able to say I changed mind and want to retire later possibly at 70! … my dream age before covid
Talking to SS I did learn one thing. The payback and reset can take anywhere from three to six months. During that time you would not have the ability to restart SS - for example if they fired me at my job suddenly and I needed SS. So I would need to have 6 months expenses saved just in case.
And what if they get rid of ACA? Non Medicare costs me 1500 a month.
More importantly I found out that if you are on payback and reset you CANNOT apply for Medicare part B!!! You have to wait until it is done. So if I go into payback and reset I should apply for Medicare part B first which for me is about 300 because of my earnings penalty. So I would probably get an HMO instead which is cheaper.
I would definitely talk to SS instead of applying to SS online. They were very helpful and explained a lot of complicated stuff.
Planning retirement in the US is like negotiating with a used car salesman.
BTW on the average you get 100 extra in your monthly SS check for each year you delay retirement ie 400 more if you wait until 70 SS has calculators on their website
The whole SS system sounds like a nightmare. Three of my co-workers retired in the past two years and the stories they told about trying to figure out SS and dealing with custmer service left me dizzy. I vowed that I will not rely on SS to keep me afloat in my later/better years. I’ve been a saver, scrimper, frugal penny-picker-upper all my life. I look around and see parents, in-laws and relatives who took SS as soon as they qualified for fear of losing out.
These people are struggling to meet basic needs on SS alone. They knew they had no savings, did no living expense calculations and could still be working. I definitely want to be financially independent and choose to stop working for someone else before 70, so my eyes are wide open and I’m learning from watching others do it the wrong way.
Sharon, thank you so much for sharing! I started contributing more toward my retirement and I am trying to cut unnecessary spending even though I keep learning from the same mistakes. I don’t want to work forever, and I hope to reach financial freedom. I wish you the best of luck!
Thank you for sharing! My only goal now is to not end up dead in my late 40’s due to terrible employment. Something that actually happened in 2019, almost died at age 44 due to the current “wonderful job” and no healthcare! Long story, but having a job in the USA means you simply don’t qualify for any help, even if you need it! I do not plan on retiring in the USA if I can help it. Too expensive and I am sure that at the rate I’m going I will be working until the day that I drop dead on the job if I remain in the USA. The war on the low-income has been ongoing here for years and it will not stop anytime soon, not with C-19 raging in every state in this nation. Do you perhaps have the option to move out of the USA yourself? There are many other nations that will allow one to live well on modest means and have decent enough healthcare. My dad did prior to 2016 because he knew he would live in poverty here in the US if he chose to stay. Long story short, he moved back to the native country in Europe and lived quite well on his small SS benefits with early retirement and a small stipend from the Polish government on top. I hope everything works out for you and best of luck! I hope more younger people read your post. I wished I could rewind the clock on my life some 20+ years, oh the things I would do differently!
i do think about moving - but I am too old and my family is not eligible to move. Moving to Canada is the easiest but still beyond my reach. And who wants to move to the UK when they are falling off a fiscal cliff in December?
Sharon
Gracias por la información Sharon, es importante tener en mente una salida para la jubilación ya que en ocasiones salen gastos inesperado que no se cubren con el dinero que te dan en el SS, aparte que es una lucha engorrosa.
