#150: RETIREMENT AT LAST !!! (Part 31) (L)
TO ALL MY ADORING BLOGGING FRIENDS AND FANS AS I REACH ANOTHER BLOGGING MINI-MILESTONE WITH YOU: Blog # 150.
Hey Everyone! Look at where we are! Blog: # 150. And we have one more little tiny weekend left in the month of January! It is amazing isn’t it? Just a little bit ago, it was New Years Day and everyone in the world was partying. Well, that time will come again soon. Enjoy your reading time.
BLOG: #150: RETIREMENT AT LAST !!! (Part 31) (L)
Counting down from 20 April 2014 to 20 April 2015, took a long time and couldn’t come quick enough for me. I couldn’t WAIT until 66 came even though I was sooo excited about being sixty-five. To m e, sixty-five was a big deal because that was the age people did retire here in America as far back as I could remember. SIXTY-FIVE WAS IT. You didn’t have to work any more.
Then everything changed. The Numbers started changing. And I think they still are. All I knew was that the numbers had changed for me and I had to wait an extra year to retire. They said if you were born between 1949 and 1954, your retirement age to receive FULL RETIREMENT BENEFITS was now 66. You could retire earlier but you would not receive full benefits. And from what I understand now, the full retirement age for full retirement age benefits is 67. I will have to check this again.
LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU ……..
Say you are born in 1952 and your age to receive full retirement benefits is 66…..which is 2018. And you want to retire early before 2018. Say, 2017. And the person you talk to says, yes, you can retire early but you lose benefits.
For the sake of simple numbers, lets do this.
LET US SAY, your monthly check is: $500. But because you want to retire early, in 2017, your check instead will be: $300 a month. And you say, okay, I will take that. THAT AMOUNT is locked in for the rest of your life. And it will only go up when the cost of living amount goes up by a percentage point or two or part of one. But three hundred dollars is it for you because of the fact you retired EARLY. It DOES NOT MEAN that when your age comes to receive full benefits you will receive the $500 amount. No. You gave up that extra two hundred dollars a month when you retired early.
Now lets do this.
Both you and your husband worked during your life-time. If he made more than you did, you can take HIS Social Security Amount over your own which means you would get more Social Security using HIS amount than yours.
However. I will say this. Most people can not survive on just Social Security Income alone. I know I can’t. My Rent alone right now is $850.00 a month. The reason I am just managing to make it on what I make is because my Tony was in the Military (US Army) and I get half of what he would have made a month — plus — my Social Security.
That should be enough right? Think Again! If you are smart, you will start saving like NOW so that you will at least have some back-up funds when your time comes to retire. People are living longer now when it comes to retirement. Both my parents died at a semi-young age. My Mother was 54 and my Father was 56. Neither of them even saw age 60 let alone the first real retirement age of sixty-five.
THINK ABOUT THIS TOO.
You are working so you can retire so you must save money for that. In the meantime, you will marry, have children, save for their college education, their wedding, save for funerals — those are not cheap believe me — have money for bills and other little surprises……like grandchildren and great grandchildren if you are lucky.
So……. SAVE ! SAVE ! SAVE !
Yes….. I do have a little saved — Thank You Dear God for that — BUT – believe it or not, I am still working on being retired — and I am working hard at it.
I will have been retired 5 years come this April — 2020. I will be 71 then. And happy. Being seventy-plus almost — is great.
If you, My Readers, have any question with regard to this Blog, please, please, do not be afraid to ask me. I will answer.
With Love,
Your Dearest Mary Ann-san
Mary Annさんはカリフォルニア生まれです。
旅行で訪れたハワイに魅せられて21歳の時にオアフ島にやってきました。
パパイヤ工場で20年間働き、退職後はハワイ島のキラウエア火山から４６キロ離れたヒロの郊外に住んでいます。
今は猫との暮らしを楽しんでいます。
初心者から楽しく英会話♪
本八幡・津田沼・西船橋・佐倉
英会話・英語塾ネイティブ講師レッスン
バイリンガル講師派遣
