Thank you all for making your Mom’s birthday a success. The Shish ke-babs were absolute scrumptious (and different), the side dishes nutritious and everybody should have lost several pounds. Who decided to put out the “best” of Rippin’ Good cookies for dessert? Thanks for the memories.
It is hard to believe, but over the next 10 years, 3 Grasshoppers will have to make decisions on retirement. At age 62 you be eligible for early Social Security. The best “financial” decision if you live to be 78-80 years of age is to wait until your “normal” retirement age of 66 or 67. You lose the early reduced payments of retiring early (by taking no SS) but you make it up with higher monthly payments if you wait.
The decision to take early Social Security or not rests on three factors.
First is your DNA. Do you have good genes and do you have a family history of relatives living to be an old age. My mother died at age 66, my brother at 65, and sister Addie at 65. Not a good reference. On the other hand, Nana lived to be 99. I had a great uncle live to 100. You decide. Remember you have to live to 80 to make waiting for SS to age 67 financially worthwhile.
The second factor affecting early SS, is luck. From age 62 until age 80, luck plays a factor. You could get run over by a truck, you could get a serious disease, or you might get a heart attack running a “mudder” marathon at age 79. Do you feel lucky? You roll the dice
The third factor for making the early decision is “life style”. Do you eat healthy, exercise, and create “balance in your life? I’m convinced my mother and brother died from cigarettes. My sister getting breast cancer is a mystery because there was no prior family history. Cigarettes fall into the category of “life style” and are a personal choice.
I’m not sure where aspartame in Diet Coke falls? I am told that I am making a serious “life style” decision at age 75. Thank goodness it is the only bad decision I’m making.
Now you’ve got all the information you need on whether to take early Social Security. You won’t know whether you made the right decision until you reach age 80.
Love,
Dad