Fwiw, my calcs indicated deferring SS until 70 would pay off if I made it past 80. Will I ? No say , my Dad was gone at 69 and my Mom lived to a week shy of 94. It wasn't a straight cash on cash calculation, I assumed SS income would be invested at 5% ror. I also assumed I would pay taxes on it so if SS income becomes untaxed income that will have an impact favoring taking it earlier.

Something else I considered is I may want to do some sort of compensated work between now and 70 and the SS rules effectively reduce your flexibility to do so.

Another consideration, even if I don't make it to 80 deferring SS will increase my wife's SS income . She'll likely outlive me as she's 3-1/2 yrs younger and women generally live longer as well.

I didn't plan for and won't ever depend on SS income but I am damned sure going to take it

I found the exact same thing, except that I'm guessing when you say pay off, you mean break even. On top of that, I wanted to be grandfathered, in the event of any future SS changes. I retired early and immediately started SS. My only negative is that I've had the opportunity to take on some additional jobs from time to time, mainly from non-profits, but the loss of SS income kept me on the volunteer side of things.

halfastros81 said:

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I also assumed I would pay taxes on it so if SS income becomes untaxed income that will have an impact favoring taking it earlier.

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It looks like that proposal has been dropped from the 'Big Beautiful Bill', but they'll kick up the standard deduction for seniors by $4K, which of course, is not as favorable.

Yes, by payoff I mean break even. The longer you live past the break even age the more it favors deferral of Ss benefits.

Just for the sake of clarity, Every yr of deferring benefits increases your SS income by 8%. I believe you can't defer beyond 70-1/2 yrs of age but maybe that has changed since I looked at it

There certainly is risk involved if the rules change and at some point means testing probably comes into the picture. If that appears imminent then you can throw my calcs out the window so I can see why you wanted to be "grandfathered" in but those type of changes generally come with several years of warning signs so I didn't really consider that.

Something else we learned on our current post retirement RV wanderings. My wife was mostly a stay at home Mom. She basically is due the minimum SS benefit at 62 which happens this week. She can start drawing around $500 per month immediately . Then when I start drawing SS benefits (or if I die) she will be able to draw 50% of my benefits . I hadn't really delved into when the optimum time for her to claim benefits was but we are about to get $ 500 per month income that I was unaware of. Nice little windfall. Olds talk a lot about this stuff at RV parks

Medicare premiums are means tested. Part B ranges from $185 to $628.90 per month. Part D ranges from $0 to $78.60. Example: Single filer making $200,001 pays $591.90 for Part B and $78.60 for Part D. The income range is more than $200,000 to less than $500,000. And this: Single filers making more than $200,000 pay 3.8 percent medicare tac on investment income.

Sounds like the better option is to never retire and continue working so I can keep my employer funded insurance.

Hoyt Ag said:

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lck90 said:

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Reading this thread is depressing, and I am only 35.

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Agreed, I am 42.

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33, glad I'm 11 years in the Reserves.