Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The following is not a ‘how to/when to’ on signing
up for social security. It’s just one
semi-retirement guy’s experience.
Having gotten past the disclaimer…not that anyone
in their right mind would ever follow my advice…here’s my story.
I started looking harder at my annual ‘Social
Security Statement’ shortly after my divorce. I really hadn’t considered that the payment I’d be entitled
to would be anything more than a supplement to whatever money I had in a
pension plan and my savings account.
It was actually much more than that.
I was born in 1955, which determines my social
security benefits eligibility timeline, and that meant I could begin drawing benefits at
age 62, though only 75% of the monthly amount I would receive if I worked the
additional fifty months to age 66 and 2 months. It was a nice number for doing the math. I figured quickly that my monthly
payment would increase by ½% for every month I continued to work past my first eligibility date and so I plugged along towards the full 100%,
but with the full knowledge that I’d likely get out early.
When I did finally sign up, I had reached 64 and 8
months – 16 months and 8% shy of my potential, full payment. I had decided it would be worth it to
leave some money on the table so that I could avoid working two more winters
and have more time for camping, backpacking, cycling and traveling. I knew my recreational pursuits with
physically taxing and thought that I needed to get started if I was going to
travel all of North America’s rugged backcountry.
I considered that by taking payments early,
I was collecting a sum of money for 18 months that I otherwise never would have
received. I also recognized that
if I’d waited, that monthly amount would have been greater – for the rest of my
life. By
my calculations, I would be 82 before the extra monthly payment I would have
received by working to 66 and 2 months caught up to the money I was getting for
retiring early. After 82, I would
be going in the hole each month.
I
asked myself two smaller questions and one big one. First, would I live until age 82? No Rolf men in my family on this side of the pond have ever
made it past 80, so there’s that.
Second, would the difference I’d be receiving in that higher monthly
amount – somewhere around $200 – be the difference between living on my own or
on the public dole? I didn’t think
so.
And then the bigger question: what would I do with
the gift of time I would be receiving by not having to go to work each
day? That, of course, is what
really matters…to me, anyway.
I’m not traveling yet since I still have to report
to work twice a week, but that time is coming. I’ll be off to Washington D.C. this weekend to get some time
with my son, Jack, and to visit an old friend and discuss volunteer
opportunities and incorporating ‘Leave No Trace’ principles into sailing on the
Chesapeake. I’ll also be spending
time with my sister, who will be going to the same event.
I’ve started having family dinners with my extended
family, Miggie, John and Teri, and others and am always looking for a way to be with family
and friends. I’m reading, writing,
and when I’m not sick, doing more outside activities.
So for me retiring was so much more than a
financial decision. It’s really
all about time, having as much quality as I can, and figuring out what ‘things’
I can do without so that I can make it work. And yes, so far at least, I’m using the time in a way that
doesn’t make me regret semi-retirement.
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