Social Security, Input Pls

[Spirit Deer]

If she's current on taxes, that's something, but if she's not current on paying her SS, that's a whole separate issue.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

I don't know the exact numbers but if you start drawing on SS at age 62, you will be getting much less each month than if you waited until age 65 and at 67 you would get even more. The longer you work and don't withdraw the larger the SS check will be once you do start taking it. I would get some hard numbers based on his situation and show him how much better it would be to wait. Good luck!

[Miranda]

I don't know the exact numbers but if you start drawing on SS at age 62, you will be getting much less each month than if you waited until age 65 and at 67 you would get even more. The longer you work and don't withdraw the larger the SS check will be once you do start taking it. I would get some hard numbers based on his situation and show him how much better it would be to wait. Good luck!

I did just that. I showed him how he would be losing over $2000 per year (money that can never be recovered), for collecting just 4 years early. & even more if he continued to work. He agrees it's something to think hard about. I hope it sinks in.

[ladytoysdream]

I found this on the social security site.

How much can you earn and still get benefits?
If you were born January 2, 1943, through January 1, 1955, then your full retirement age for retirement insurance benefits is 66. If you work and are full retirement age or older, you may keep all of your benefits, no matter how much you earn. If you are younger than full retirement age, there is a limit to how much you can earn and still receive full Social Security benefits. If you are younger than full retirement age during all of 2011, we must deduct $1 from your benefits for each $2 you earned above $14,160.

These examples show how the rules would affect you:
Let us say that you file for Social Security benefits at age 62 in January 2011 and your payment will be $600 per month ($7,200 for the year). During 2011, you plan to work and earn $20,480 ($6,320 above the $14,160 limit). We would withhold $3,160 of your Social Security benefits ($1 for every $2 you earn over the limit). To do this, we would withhold all benefit payments from January 2011 to June 2011. Beginning in July 2011, you would receive your $600 benefit and this amount would be paid to you each month for the remainder of the year. In 2012, we will pay you the additional $440 we withheld in June 2011.


How Work Affects Your Benefits

[miss_cas]

I guess the way I see this, will your FIL and MIL be able to pay their regular bills with enough left over for emergencies on the age 62 inception social security pension payments? You mentioned they do not own a home, so I guess there is no need to mention the real estate and all credit card debt should be paid off by the time they quit working. If your FIL put his SS payment towards his debt, he would be better off.

The situation could be better with the 19yo paying rent & food plus doing some of the more difficult home maintenance/cleaning chores.