Which is better for low income; applying for Social Security sooner or later???/?

Question

I can get it when I turn 62 but will be locked in at about 562 dollars but if I wait until I'm 66 it would be 886.00

I am alone, no husband and no local family. I have a part time work at home job that is commission only so my check will fluctuate.

Answer 1

You can collect Social Security at 62 and still continue working, and earn up to nearly $14,000 a year. If you wait until you are 66, you will collect more money but it will take about 7 yrs to make up the difference, according to my accountant, who recommends to retire at 62. You will get more in the long run. And don't forget that there is a slight cost of living raise at the beginning of each year, so by the time you are 66 you will be getting a bit more. Probably about enough to pay for Medicare, lol. Mine was. To me, it was not worth working 4 more years, just to collect a little more, when I could still work part time and collect social security also if I wanted to. Go to your social security office and get some of their booklets that explain what you can and can't do, they also have a web site, socialsecurity.gov
You can get all your info there.

Answer 2

why don't you see if you can have your cake and eat it to == i assume you are in good health and like your job ==

ok figure out how many hours you could work with out going over 13K say for figuring you make gross10 dollars a hour that means you could work 1300 hours a year or 25 hours a week!!! your net pay would be $7.00 x 1300 =_9100 or 758 a month -- which added to your 562 would be $1329 a than when you reach 65 your employer might be very happy to keep you on and you would have a little extra income coming in == but do not want to break your bubble what about health insurance -- you do not get medicare till you are 65!!!

in some ways this is the hardest move a person has to make and there is no fast and easy answer!!!

Answer 3

If you can hold out you will be much better off. The longer you wait the more your benefits will be. Don't forget medicare premiums will come out of your monthly check. I am in the same boat. Right now I get a widows pension and am living on about $600 a month. I am 63 this month and have just tightened my belt and am holding out til 65 or even 66. The cost of living keeps going up and Social Security does not keep up. When you get a little raise they also raise the Medicare payments. Medicare is mandatory I've been told. I hope I am not forced to go back to work. I have way to many aches and pains for that. The only work I know is physical. I am not what you would consider disabled, but I am sure not up to a job anymore. I couldn't get disability if I tried.

Answer 4

Unless you have a high probability of dying by the time you're 72, go for the later SS. You're about 200-250 dollars short of average on what you will collect. Medicare B will wipe out about $90 of that amount. And you will be needing it at sometime in all probability. If your home business were more substantial, it might be beneficial to report and pay SS on the earnings to increase your benefit amount. Sad part is that after age 50 the potential for higher earnings to receive higher benifits is past. In fact between 25 and 45 are usually peak earning years for most except government and major utility employees.

You mentioned no family. You might want to consider moving to a location where you would best stretch your income. In general the Midwest is better with lower housing costs. But winter heating may detract from that. A few states have no sales tax, another advantage. As far as food and other costs the nation doesn't really vary so much. McDonalds charges the same for a cheeseburger coast to coast. Sears charges the same for clothes. But you would want to consider states with better and subsidized medical care. For that, Hawaii is best.

Answer 5

It really depends on the person themselves as you will make more oney over your life span at 62 than 65, but you'll get more per month at 65 than 62, so the big question is how long are you going to live, noone knows that. what you need to do is figure things out about your job, your health, spending habits and such to see what is better. If you are in good health with a job that is not hard on you than I'd wait till 65, if the reverse is so than take at 62 and you can still earn 12,900 per year, so in that case take at 62 and get another job with less stress and better hours and keep working part time.
This is what I have done and just started now and working part time. haven't received my first check yet but soon it will be here and I've have another income coming in. If you collect at 62 it doesn't mean yuo have to quit working forever, so either stay at the job you have now or find another will less hours and stress. The job I have they let me drop my hours so i won' go over my limit, if they had not let me do that than I would have left and found something else.

Answer 6

Most SS agents now encourage people to file at 62, due
to the rate of inflation. By the time you reach 65, the inflation
rate will be high enough, that you won't have benefitted by
waiting. So if you need the income, file at 62, and maybe take
a part time job if you need extra money. Many do that just
because they get bored with nothing to do and still want to
remain active. I have a friend, who works a little each year
just to put money aside for buying presents for all of her
grandchildren at Christmas. Two years ago, she didn't have
much money to buy but one present each, and she said
she'd never completely stop working as long as she could still manage it, so that she could continue to pile those kids down with presents. It's as if her image depended on it.
So she went back to work part time in phone sales and
worked long enough to save a nest egg, and then quit in the
early fall. So she'll enjoy her retirement, by taking care of
the little grandchildren and will again work part time if she
feels she has to in the year to come. You are allowed to
earn a certain amount of money over and above what you
draw from SS each year. So you don't have to completely
stop working totally.

Answer 7

Look at your family life line. If most lived beyond 82, wait until 66. Also, if you plan to continue to work, you will be penalized at about $1 for each $2 earned after you earn about $13k per year. Also, you will get yearly increases in SS of about 3 to 4% per year. It is a larger dollar amount on the higher than on the lower. I waited and am happy with the decision.
Also, if you are married you might want to look at taking a percentage of your husbands. It may be larger than your plan.

Answer 8

Keep working as long as you can. Everyone that I know on S.S. that took the money early regretted it. They say they should have waited and kept working. Of course with the way things are going now, will it still be there for you? I would get a professional opinion. Talk to a Financial Planner. Would it be better if you took the money now and invested it for 4 years? Could you continue to work so you could invest the money somehow? I wish I knew more about this sort of thing. Sorry if I was unable to help.

Answer 9

Hell, no. They have their own federal employee pension scheme. Dont add any more people to the social security rolls. The post office is a quasi-governmental agency being forced into bankruptcy by a Republican-led Congress in an effort to privatize the shipping and mailing business. Congress forced the postal service to pre-fund all of its pensions by 2011 which they are going broke trying to do. The U.S. cannot even pay the interest on the national debt. It has nothing to do with social security. It has to do with borrowing from other countries.

Answer 10

You will have to live to age 80 approximately to even out the dollar amount, so figure what would be best for you. If you are still working you may want to wait.