Watch Out For Hidden Costs
Youll also want to consider other lifestyle factors, especially Medicare. Americans become eligible for federal health insurance coverage at age 65, well after when you can begin to file for Social Security.
If you stop working at age 62 and lose health insurance, you have to get supplemental insurance to bridge the gap until you turn 65 and Medicare kicks in, Neiser says.
If you work during retirement, you have another incentive to delay collecting Social Security. Earning too much at a job after you begin collecting your benefit can reduce your payout, but only if you have yet to hit full retirement age.
However, when you hit full retirement age, your benefit will increase to account for any benefit that was withheld earlier due to working. Heres how much you can earn and not get hit.
If youre younger than full retirement age for all of 2022, the Social Security Administration will deduct $1 of your monthly check for every $2 you earn above $19,560 per year.
If you reach full retirement age in 2022, the administration deducts $1 of your monthly check for every $3 you earn above $51,960 until the month you reach retirement age.
Youll also owe Social Security and Medicare tax on your earnings, even if youre already receiving benefits.
So those are some potential pitfalls to claiming Social Security early.
Is Taking Social Security At 62 A Huge Mistake
When your 62nd birthday approaches, youll have a big decision to make: Should you take Social Security at 62 and accept lower benefits? Or should you delay Social Security to get a higher benefit amount?
The answer to whether taking Social Security at 62 is the right move for you depends on several factors: your life expectancy, whether youre retiring early and your overall financial situation. Here are some things to consider in your retirement planning.
Other Financial And Life Considerations
There are many other factors that might influence your decision to claim Social Security retirement benefits early. For example:
- Other sources of retirement income.
- How your income taxes may be affected by benefits.
- Personal considerations such as traveling, volunteering, returning to study, starting a business, pursuing a hobby, or moving your home.
- Dependent family members such as grandchildren or elderly parents.
SageVest Wealth Management understands that your wealth acquires new meaning as you approach and enter retirement. Our customized retirement planning includes a range of what if scenarios, to help ensure that your financial and life priorities remain aligned as you near and enjoy retirement. Please contact us for more information.
For more helpful articles on retirementand other financial topics, please visit our blog.
References
Prepared by SageVest Wealth Management. Copyright .
Standard Disclosure
In accordance with IRS CIRCULAR 230, we inform you that any U.S. Federal tax advice contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by a taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or that may otherwise be imposed on the taxpayer by any government taxing authority or agency, or promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
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You Already Have Your 35 Highest
Your Social Security benefits are based on your earnings in the 35 years that you had the most compensation. If youre in your peak earning years, you could boost your benefits if you keep working a few more years and delaying your benefits. However, if you arent going to increase your average earnings, such as if youre only working part-time or youve had to retire early, you wont miss out on the chance to boost your benefits with higher earning years. However, youll still receive a smaller benefit for not waiting until full retirement age.
What Will You Do For Health Care
Choosing a health insurance plan is one of the biggest decisions youll need to make at 65, whether you retire or not. Medicare benefits begin at 65 for most people. This makes it simpler to retire at 65 than at age 60 or 62.
Medicare wont cover all your health care costs, though. As a plan, it has many costs that you will be responsible for paying on your own. For example, an inpatient hospital stay has a $1,484 deductible per benefit period in 2021. And you can have more than one benefit period in a year.
To make up for these gaps, many retirees buy a Medicare Supplement or a Medicare Advantage plan. A Medicare Supplement plan pays after Medicare, while a Medicare Advantage plan pays instead of Medicare.
You may not need one of these plans if you have retirement health insurance or insurance through a working spouse.
As well as your basic health care plan, youll also want to think about how you will handle long-term care costs. These can pile up as you age or have more health problems, and they arent covered by most health care plans.
Long-term care isnt just about medical care. It includes needing help with daily living. As you get older, you might need someone to help with cleaning, cooking, bathing, and dressing.
Many people need this type of help as they age. You can either apply for a long-term care insurance policy or pay for this kind of help from your savings as you need it.
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How Much Social Security Will I Get When I Turn 62
How Your Social Security Benefit Is ReducedIf you start getting benefits at age *And you are the: Wage Earner, the Retirement Benefit you will receive is reduced toAnd you are the: Spouse, the Retirement Benefit you will receive is reduced to6270.0%32.5%62 + 1 month70.432.762 + 2 months70.832.962 + 3 months71.333.158 more rows
How Do I Apply For Retirement Benefits
To apply for retirement benefits, please visit www.ssa.gov/retire. In order to be eligible for retirement benefits, you must have enough credits have paid into Social Security and be fully insured under the Social Security system. The amount you receive depends on how much you earned when you were working. You can also delay applying for Social Security retirement. If you do so, your extra income may increase your benefit amount, and you will receive a credit. To find out more, please call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213.
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Working While Receiving Benefits
You may work after you start receiving benefits, which could mean a higher benefit for you in the future. We may withhold some of your benefits if you earn more than the yearly earnings limit. Sometimes people who retire in mid-year already have earned more than the annual earnings limit. However:
- We have a special rule that applies to earnings for one year, usually the first year you begin receiving benefits. This means we cannot withhold benefits for any month we consider you retired, regardless of your yearly earnings.
- After you reach full retirement age, we will recalculate your benefit amount to take into account any months you did not receive benefits because your earnings were too high.
How Much Do Children Receive In Social Security Benefits
A child may receive a Social Security benefit equal to 50% of the parents full retirement benefit or disability benefit. If the parent is deceased, the child is eligible to receive up to 75% of the parents full retirement benefit.
There is a limit to the total amount that a family can receive from Social Security based on one workers earnings record, though. The maximum family benefit typically ranges from 150% to 180% of the parents full benefit amount. The formula for maximum family benefits is based on a retired parents work record. If the parent is disabled, a different formula applies.
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If You Were Born Between 1960 Your Full Retirement Age Is 67
You can start your Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, but the benefit amount you receive will be less than your full retirement benefit amount.
The chart below provides examples of the percentage of your full retirement benefit amount you and your spouse would receive from age 62 up to your full retirement age.
Can You Undo Your Decision To Claim Social Security
You have two opportunities to reverse your decision to take Social Security retirement benefits.
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You can withdraw your application: If you took Social Security early and its been less than a year, you can fill out Form SSA-521 to withdraw your application. Youll need to repay Social Security for all benefits you received, along with any taxes or Medicare premiums that were withheld. When youre ready to restart benefits, youll need to reapply. Then, youll qualify for a higher benefit based on your age at the time.
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You can suspend your benefits if youve reached full retirement age: If youve reached full retirement age but want to earn those 8% delayed retirement credits, you can contact your local Social Security office and ask to suspend your benefits. For example, if you suspend your benefits at age 67 and restart them at 69, your payments will be 16% higher. Your checks will automatically resume once you turn 70 if you dont restart them sooner.
As you can see, your options for reversing your decision to start benefits are very limited. If youre unsure about how to proceed, its essential to talk to a financial advisor before you take that first Social Security check.
Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Send your tricky money questions to or chat with her in The Penny Hoarder Community.
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What Other Factors Should You Consider When Deciding To Collect Social Security
Before you decide to collect Social Security based on your break even point, you should also consider how collecting early or delaying could impact the benefit your spouse receives.
Since the Social Security formula benefit is based on an individual’s 35 highest earning years, women often collect less in benefits than men because of career breaks during motherhood and overall lower lifetime earnings. However, the Social Security spousal benefit erases some of the disparity in Social Security earnings between men and women.
The spousal benefit is available to all spouses, regardless of whether the spouse has a work history or not . The spousal benefit is up to 50% of the higher earner’s benefit and in order for a spouse to receive the benefit, the higher-earner must be collecting their own benefit.
The Social Security administration automatically determines whether an individual would earn more in Social Security benefits if they collected on their own work record versus their partner’s work record.
For example, if the higher earner receives a $2,000 monthly benefit, the spouse is eligible to receive up to $1,000, depending on whether they choose to wait until full retirement age, says Kiner. For example, if someone collects the spousal benefit four years before full retirement age, their benefit will be 35% of the higher-earner’s benefits.
Your Benefits Are Permanently Reduced
As we’ve mentioned, claiming your benefits early means they will be reduced on a permanent basis. For example, as the table above illustrates, someone born in the 1960s or later who takes their benefits starting at age 62 will get 30% less each month for the rest of their lives than if they’d waited until their full retirement age of 67.
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While You Can Start Collecting Benefits At Age 62 Should You Collect Early Or Delay
For many elderly people, Social Security benefits make up one of their primary sources of income in retirement. For half of seniors, Social Security comprises about half of their retirement income, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Some studies estimate that without Social Security, between 30% and 40% of senior citizens would be considered below the poverty line.
The age at which you decide to collect your Social Security benefits has a big impact on how much you’ll earn from the program over time because the longer you wait, the higher your monthly payout will be.
“Don’t just call Social Security and apply at age 62. Everybody has options. A married couple could receive $1 to $1.5 million in benefits over their lifetime. And single people could maybe half of that,” says Marc Kiner, a CPA at Premier Social Security Consulting. “And do not assume that Social Security will review your options with you.”
Select spoke to Kiner and Jim Blair, the lead consultant at Premier, about some of the factors you should consider when deciding when to apply for Social Security benefits.
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You Have Health Problems
If youre in poor health or your parents died relatively young, claiming early often makes sense. Your Social Security payments will be lower, but claiming early may result in higher overall lifetime benefits.
Keep in mind, though, that your life expectancy is difficult to predict. Even if your health isnt perfect, theres a good chance youll live longer than you predict. According to the Centers for Disease Control, someone who turned 65 in 2020 could expect to live another 18.5 years on average. Outliving your money is a much bigger risk than leaving money on the table.
Pro Tip
While you can claim Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, most people dont become eligible for Medicare until age 65.
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Collecting Social Security Before Or After Your Full Retirement Age
If you begin collecting Social Security at age 62 and your full retirement age is 66, the check you receive will be about one-quarter less than the amount you would have received at full retirement age. If you are the sole breadwinner in your household, your spouse could be negatively affected as well. If you begin collecting before your full retirement age, the amount of money your spouse would receive after your death decreases.
Making An Application As A Spouse Or Family Member
You may be eligible for retirement benefits based on the record of your spouse or ex-spouse.
Similarly, if your spouse or a family member qualifies, they may be able to obtain benefits based on your record.
Find out more about Family Benefits.
If you are the surviving husband, divorced spouse, family member, or parent of a deceased worker, visit Survivors Benefits to learn more about how Social Security survivor benefits apply to your case.
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Starting To Receive Benefits At 62 Isn’t So Bad
Don’t feel bad if it looks like you’ll be turning on the Social Security faucet early instead of waiting until age 70 for those much fatter checks. Remember that you’ll get many more checks by starting early. For example, if you start at age 62 and live to age 85, that’s 23 years, meaning 276 months of checks. Someone who starts at age 70 and lives to 85 is looking at 15 years and 180 months of checks.
Indeed, for those who live an average-length life, the total benefits received will be roughly the same, no matter when they start collecting. That’s how the Social Security program is designed.
Starting early also makes sense if your family tends to not live long life spans or if you’re in poor health and stand a decent chance of living a shorter-than-average life.
Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits
The taxes you paid on the income earned at jobs and through self-employment contribute to your eligibility to receive benefits under the SSDI program.
SSDI is a federal insurance program administered by the Social Security Administration . Established in the year 1954, the SSDI seeks to provide individuals with a source of income if they become unable to work due to a disability. You can start receiving SSDI benefits if you are unable to work because of a medically determinable physical and/ or mental impairment expected to last for 12 or more months or result in death. Additionally, you must have sufficient work credits to be eligible to start receiving disability benefits.
For receiving SSDI benefits, you will have to satisfy the Social Security Administration that you are disabled. As such, the following conditions must be satisfied.
- You are unable to engage in substantial, gainful activity due to the physical or mental impairment that is expected to result in death or has lasted or is expected to last, for at least one year.
- You are unable to handle the requirements of the job that you were able to handle before becoming disabled.
- You are unable to adjust to other types of work because of your physical or psychological condition.
- is a consequence of physical or psychological impairment that can be determined by medically acceptable, laboratory or clinical, diagnostic techniques.
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Pension At : Will The Corona Crisis Affect Future Pension Contributions
The economy suffered during the corona pandemic.
The economic crisis also left its mark on the workforce: many workers were sent on short-time work or even lost their jobs.
But what effects does this have on future pensions?
Short-time work has only a minor influence on the amount of pensions.
The basis is 80 percent of the salary that is lost due to short-time work.
The contributions to the pension insurance are increased accordingly.
The situation is similar with unemployment.
If employed persons receive unemployment benefit I, contributions are made to the insurance based on 80 percent of the salary with which the pension contributions were calculated.
Workers should be especially careful with part-time jobs.
With a half position, only half of the contributions flow into the pension fund.
Although the years in part-time count as contribution years, the pension amount is lower.