Retiring at age 62

[Paul G]

I just finished reading an article on the internet about retiring at age 62, or waiting till a later age. The article was on ABC News.com. I get the impression they would prefer people to wait till a later age and not retire early at age 62. It seems to me the reason for this is they don't want people drawing off of social security at 62. They would prefer people wait till full retirement age of 66 or later before they start drawing Social Security.

[Cooter]

That's because there's nothing there by the time I get there. I'll be working until I die.
no retirement for washed up mechanics.

[RECHRGD]

I retired at 59, but waited until this year at 66 to start collecting it.  With the longer life spans now, you leave a lot on the table by taking it early.  Glad to be old now and not sometime in the future.  The Feds have been stealing from SS for so long and now with less contributions into it, I don't see it being around in the future.....

[charge69]

Back in the mid-'80's thru the late-'90's I worked for the state helping veterans get thru the "maze" of unnecessary BS that is applying for VA benefits. A lot of my clients were approaching SS retirement age and asked if they should start drawing SS benefits now (at 62 yrs. old) or wait for a bigger check at full retirement age, then 65.

We would sit down and do the math and time and time again it would show that if you started drawing SS at 62, you would be 78 before the person who waited to start drawing would catch up and pass you in benefits.

I doubt that figure has changed much up to today!  Are you willing to bet you will live longer than 78 and can you get by without a SS check until, what is now, full retirement at 66 yrs. old? I started drawing early due to being unable to work for medical reasons (A stroke in 6/10) and being forced into retirement before I really wanted to go and do not regret it!  YMMV

[hawkeye]

We would sit down and do the math and time and time again it would show that if you started drawing SS at 62, you would be 78 before the person who waited to start drawing would catch up and pass you in benefits.

And that is figuring no inflation.   The government figures almost no inflation, and we all know the real inflation rate is 8 to 10%.   Every year you wait the payout in real buying power decreases.

[charge69]

We would sit down and do the math and time and time again it would show that if you started drawing SS at 62, you would be 78 before the person who waited to start drawing would catch up and pass you in benefits.

And that is figuring no inflation.   The government figures almost no inflation, and we all know the real inflation rate is 8 to 10%.   Every year you wait the payout in real buying power decreases.

TRUE THAT!!  We did not figure inflation into the mix and it certainly makes a difference!  I DID, however, tell the Vets that inflation was not figured in and encouraged them to draw whenever they felt the need for the money!  Read that ASAP in my mind!

[polywideblock]

our new prime minister ( bless his heart     ) is trying to  raise  the retirement age to 70    

[myk]

Work harder and longer-there are millions of people on welfare depending on you...

[Bob T]

our new prime minister ( bless his heart     ) is trying to  raise  the retirement age to 70    

Talk of 67 here, currently its 65 for the govt pension eligibility, probably 15 years ago it was 62 I seem to recall.
Only 50 in Greece if you have a high stress job like hairdresser or train driver apparently, can you believe it! No wonder their country is broke.

[BB1]

I go at 60 period, transportation   no SS 

[charger490]

i retired at 63 in 1995 and have been working part time for the last 17 years and that brought my ss up to 1695.00 plus my wife gets half of that so i am doing ok.i own my home and four cars and i dont have a problem of runing out of money.i dont take long vacations like oboma .

[Paul G]

I retired at 59, but waited until this year at 66 to start collecting it. 

By waiting till you were 66 before taking your SS payments did your monthly amount increase over what you would have gotten if you started taking payments at age 62? I ask because I assume you did not work, or have income, that would have continued to pay in to SS, from the age of 59 til 66.

A lot of my clients were approaching SS retirement age and asked if they should start drawing SS benefits now (at 62 yrs. old) or wait for a bigger check at full retirement age, then 65.

We would sit down and do the math and time and time again it would show that if you started drawing SS at 62, you would be 78 before the person who waited to start drawing would catch up and pass you in benefits.

That is what I have always believed. That drawing your SS at age 62 you would come out way ahead overall. It seems like everything I read today is saying just the opposite. Could it be that there is an entire generation of people approaching retirement age who have to wait for full retirement at 66+ because they could not survive on the lesser amount retiring at age 62?

Social Security is a retirement plan we workers, and our employers, paid in to. It is not a govmnt freebie. It is not a social program like medicaid (not medicare, they are different) or food stamps, abt cards, or housing assistance. Those abused programs are freebies, SS is not, we paid in to that with every paycheck we earned. 

[charge69]

Paul,  my opinion is that there are a lot of factors going into the new suggestion that people wait to start drawing their SS.  Part of it is the fact that now you can make an unlimited income and still draw your SS at age 66 instead of age 70 under the older rules. Evidently, a lot of people are still working at age 66 and older now, I, also, think many people are still working out of necessity to make ends meet and could not live on SS and the smaller amount of money allowed to earn if under 66.

I paid into SS for well over 35 years with a lot of them paying the MAX allowed!  It's going to be a long time before I draw out as much money as I paid in and I am not even counting any interest I would have been paid if I invested the same amount in a simple savings account!  Yeah, I know my employer contributed a like amount into my SS and I am not counting that amount either in what it would take to break even in the amount I paid in! Realistically, I just will not live long enough to make this happen! By the way, my wife also worked all these years and paid into SS so she MIGHT get ahead of SS but ........ probably not!

With my medical situation, it would be a miracle if I live long enough to get over on the Government in SS benefits!  Look at how many people die every year from ANY cause and what happens to the SS paid in!  If they have children under 18, a certain amount goes to the widow or legal guardian to help raise them and it ain't much! The others, ......the money just disappears into some Government program as free money!

And just so you know, I am 67 1/2 and will be 68 in December and started drawing my SS benefits at 64 year old when I was forced into retirement.

[hemi71x]

I will be 62 in January.
Just waiting until then, to file for SS.
7 months to go.

[charge69]

Hang in there, hemi71x!  ..................  As the saying goes   "old age ain't for sissies!" ha!

[RECHRGD]

I retired at 59, but waited until this year at 66 to start collecting it. 

By waiting till you were 66 before taking your SS payments did your monthly amount increase over what you would have gotten if you started taking payments at age 62? I ask because I assume you did not work, or have income, that would have continued to pay in to SS, from the age of 59 til 66.

Paul,  absolutely.  My monthly payment was about 500.00 dollars more.  But this is not a one size fits all deal.  Everyone has different financial situations.  I planed for retirement and was debt free when comfortable enough to pull the trigger.  Inflation is a big factor because your SS income years down the road will be only a fraction of its worth as the years go on.

[Paul G]

My wife and I both plan to retire early. 62 for her, 60 for me. She is two years older than I am. I might work past 60 and go to 62 if I still enjoy my work when the time comes. Or... I can let then fire me!  I have never been fired before.  Might be my last opportunity to experience that. My wife on the other hand is counting the days till her 62nd birthday. 

[ITSA426]

I was just going to say the same thing.  My financial planner says it would be easy to make the best plan if you just know when you're going to die.  The best bet is to go into retirement debt free and living within your means.  Social security was never meant to be a sole income stream but a supplement to savings and any pension income.  I realize times have changed but the basics seem the same.  SS payments increase about 7 percent for every year you delay taking it.  

[Rolling_Thunder]

My old man was going to retire at 55 this past year but decided against it. His pension plan would have been 88% at 37 years. He is going until he his 58 years to draw a 92% retirement with 40 years in. The City he works for recently changed to a minimum retirement age of 63 and a maximum of 75%....     I was in the last batch of employees hired before the change. 

Then I promptly took military leave from that job and am now in the USAF. 

[Todd Wilson]

I go at 60 period, transportation   no SS 

Me too!

Todd

[Mopar Nut]

Work harder and longer-there are millions of people on welfare depending on you...

So true. 

[68charger440]

Everyone has a different situation, but going by the actuary tables you will statistically be better off waiting until  full retirement age.

[PrisonHack]

 I am covered under federal law enforcement retirement and have a mandatory retirement age of 57.  I am eligible to retire at 50 as long as I have 20 years in service. I am 37 at the moment. I am planning to attend one of the retirement planning seminars we have so I can  start planning now. At the most I have 20 more years till I'm not allowed on the property   so I want to have a plan in place so that I can piddle at something but not have to start a whole new career.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

i retired at 63 in 1995 and have been working part time for the last 17 years and that brought my ss up to 1695.00 plus my wife gets half of that so i am doing ok.i own my home and four cars and i dont have a problem of runing out of money.i dont take long vacations like oboma .

You're 81 & still playing with cars?!?

[Silver R/T]

Im 31 so I have a quite a few years before I retire, if I ever live to the day I retire. I know a guy who has sandblasting business and he's 93 years old. Yes, he still works and he drives his big 2 ton truck over to pick up various parts for sandblast/powder coat. If he retires, he'll probably die next day. I'm paying into SS but not going to see any of it, government spent it all already.

[ws23rt]

The word retire can and does mean different things to different folks.

My take on it is it's a time when one no longer needs to work to live.

It is true that most of us have worked all our lives since our teens and that has been our lives. To stop at an arbitrary point for a traditional reason makes little sense.

We all have heard about those that work all the hours they can for as long as they can to make a pile of money to live on only to stop working and die from the shock from doing so. Their survivors spend their money.

I'm 63 and hear the question a lot. When are you going to retire? My response usually is I practice retirement in between jobs. (I work in industrial construction).  

I still work at what I do because I like my work, I am good at it, I get satisfaction from it, The folks that hire me want me to work, they pay me well, It is good exercise, etc.

To retire for me would mean what?   It would mean giving up what I do and replacing it with something.

I think the notion of retirement is a missguided goal.  

I've been working my life with a cloudy view of what the future will be and am starting to realise that the path I have followed is the life and the future will never arrive.

When we can't work at what we do for whatever reason we will need to fill the void with something. If that is retirement than we need to make that plan. What will we do with our time to fill our days?

BTW  I spend less now than I would get from pension, SS, investments,etc--In effect I am retired but still work.

[The70RT]

One good thing I see where I work at is when you retire at 62 they pay your health insurance till your 65. If I can live off of SS, kpers, my annuity, and a little ebay then I'm gonna do it. It seems a lot of people work till they cant then they die. If you truly love your job I could see sticking around.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

My desire is to get out at age 60. We'll see if it happens.

[ITSA426]

For me at least, a bad day at home still beats a really good day at work.

[Paul G]

My neighbor across the street retired at 62 last month. He comes home with a giant pusher motor home. He and his wife took it on a trip to Vegas this week. They plan to sell the house and live in that thing for year or two.

[HANDM]

If you like what you do then why retire..... I'm constantly trying to relax but around here, there is ALWAYS something to do!

[Paul G]

Recently a retired fella told me, "every night is Friday night, every day is Saturday". 

[ws23rt]

Recently a retired fella told me, "every night is Friday night, every day is Saturday".  

I like the sound of that. Their are many ways to say the same thing. It's a frame of mind that working is no longer necessary.

Their is a big difference between working because one has to to make ends meet and working because it's what gives us our life.

If we work for 30-40 years as a chore than retiring is a release. If we work those same years at what are than to retire could spell our end.

We live to work not work to live.---I don't think I got that backwards---

[PlainfieldCharger]

I am planning on 60. I have been in the printing industry since High School. I really just want to do something different. Working on B body mopars has been fun so far. I really believe that whatever you call it just do not become idol as that is what will do you in quickly.

[green69rt]

Retiring when you want to takes a lot of planning.   Not only for the money angle but to plan on how you will be spending your time.  It's pretty hard to work, work, work till the last Friday then wake up Monday and have nothing to do.   I've see people do it and it's not pretty for some.   Many either drive the people around them crazy (usually the spouse ) or they struggle for a while then decide to go back to work.  And, like some have said here, they veg till they die.   Not my idea of a good retirement.

I retired at 60, spent a year adding to my garage and shopping for my Charger, catching up on projects around the house.  Kept me pretty busy, but still time to set on the porch in the evening and relax.  It's nice not to be working frantically on weekends and evenings to do chores so I can go to work on Monday.   It's also nice not to have to fly when we go on vacation because we only got so many days and couldn't spend vacation days traveling.  We normally drive now and it is really nice to set our own schedule and not have to work with the airline schedule (and the poor service/ high cost.)