Ever since I crossed the magic threshold by turning 65,* I keep getting invitations to "planning seminars" and "complimentary dinners" (plus a mandatory presentation, and it's an easy bet which comes first) about my glorious golden years.
The joke's on me -- and on them, too: I have a little money. Effectively a pittance, coverage for emergencies and unplanned expenses like needing replacement appliances or major repairs, and that's it. There's no nest egg to "invest" in one of their schemes. There's barely enough for me and not a bit left for them to rake off the top. (Oh, I'm sure it's all aboveboard by the letter of the law, but the Indiana Secretary of State has his doubts.) Plus Social Security. If that falls short, it's hemlock for afternoon tea. But I'll be damned if I'll let some grifter vampire off my declining years.
No safe investment turns around quickly enough for a person with only modest retirement savings, if they start with it at 65 or older -- and IMO, nobody with plenty in their retirement account needs to go moving it around near the end of the game, either. All that happens for certain is that some clever outfit gets a slice from your pie, and that's not a winning bet.
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* Which demonstrates these fools are too greedy to keep track: I can't get full Social Security until I'm well past 66. People in my age range have been seeing the limit slowly ramp up. It's currently set to top out at age 67 for people born in 1960 or later, but I wouldn't count on it staying there. If you wanted to kick back younger, you should have been born earlier or become a millionaire.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
10 comments:
1. Save like mad when you're young.
2. Move investments around mid-life to optimize (you hope; maybe you need advice)
3. Clip coupons in your retirement.
Skip #1. and forget the rest.
It's not so easy to save when you're living hand-to-mouth. It's only been in the last twenty years (+/-) that I have been able to pay all the bills on time every month, year-round. Any time I'd get a little saved back, something big would break, and there it would go.
I know how I got here, and the series of poor decisions are long past. I'll take what I get when I have to retire. As long as I can keep the bills paid, I'll have plenty to do.
You just started getting them? I've been getting them for a couple of years, and I'm still 64 (for the next few weeks, that is).
I'm essentially in the same boat as you: what I have in the bank isn't nearly big enough to play with.
I don't pay too much attention to those mailers. One outfit keeps offering my mother veteran's funeral benefits. She wasn't a veteran, and she passed away over 11 years ago: that's how accurate their database is.
Jeffrey Smith
Jeffrey: I was getting a few earlier, but after 65, they ramped up dramatically. Now it's several every week.
I started getting those the day I turned 62, along with invitations to join AARP.
Full Social Security for me was 66 1/2. I'm fortunate to have been in a defined pension plan. While it amounted to 52% at 34 years, it and another plan I had 9 years in is helping me get debt free while I double dip for a few more years. Once debt free I think I can make it between the pensions and Social Security. 401k plans have proven to be a roller coaster that have hurt several of my friends.
I was born in the year for which full retirement age for Social Security was raised above age 65: I received full Social Security benefits in 2003 at age 65 years 2 months. Now, as you pointed out, anyone born in 1960 or later must achieve age 67 and (so far) it is supposed to remain there. One mitigating factor (which probably won't make you feel better) is how much education and employment prospects had improved for women during your younger years. Life is a crap shoot.
P.S. At age 86 I still get mailers/emails/texts about how I should be planning for retirement by buying into some company's product.
Life expectancy is part of the retirement age decision. I ran my numbers, and the cumulative income from Social Security is greater retiring early until you hit age 76 or so. If one has got medical issues on the horizon and can live with the lower monthly income, not waiting for "full retirement" could make sense.
Donna & I are a few years ahead of you. We get creepy ads from funeral homes.
Rereading what I wrote before doesn't come out right. What I mean is that if you're fortunate enough to lay away money when you're young, you're golden. Otherwise it's a tough slog.
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