Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

jmonroe1

@stickguy said:
I’m trying to justify retiring at 62 to get a few years to load up on cheaper Roth conversions. Before SS and Medicare surcharge kick in. Unfortunately also need money to live on!

See above response to @kyfdx.

jmonroe

kyfdx

@stickguy You can retire at 65, and still not take SSA. Our plan is for at least one of us to wait until 70.

jmonroe1

@tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:
Yeh for those hotdog places in Chicago for not allowing ketchup on a hotdog....that is a culinary faux pas.
The ketchup marketers wanted to sell more ketchup so they foisted this ridiculous concept on the American people......and some people are falling for it.

Falling for what? If you like ketchup and like hot dogs put it together.

People get so worked up over this stuff… if I want a hot dog and was in the mood for ketchup on it, I’ll find a place that will take my money and give me what I want.

Most people that like a real hot dog avoid those places that cook them on those warm rollers.

jmonroe

driver100

tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

Yeh for those hotdog places in Chicago for not allowing ketchup on a hotdog....that is a culinary faux pas.

The ketchup marketers wanted to sell more ketchup so they foisted this ridiculous concept on the American people......and some people are falling for it.

Falling for what? If you like ketchup and like hot dogs put it together.

People get so worked up over this stuff… if I want a hot dog and was in the mood for ketchup on it, I’ll find a place that will take my money and give me what I want.

Just don't go to a fine restaurant and ask for ketchup to put on your filet mignon

jmonroe1

@explorerx4 said:
Cheating might be one way of getting your taxable income under 81k.

Ain’t that what I said? Don’t go trying to take credit for my method of doing taxes.

jmonroe

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

@tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

Yeh for those hotdog places in Chicago for not allowing ketchup on a hotdog....that is a culinary faux pas.

The ketchup marketers wanted to sell more ketchup so they foisted this ridiculous concept on the American people......and some people are falling for it.

Falling for what? If you like ketchup and like hot dogs put it together.

People get so worked up over this stuff… if I want a hot dog and was in the mood for ketchup on it, I’ll find a place that will take my money and give me what I want.

Most people that like a real hot dog avoid those places that cook them on those warm rollers.

jmonroe

.....and that is the gourmet masters tip of the day.

We used to go to a friendly home-made style restaurant for breakfast after tennis. They had wonderful real home fries. Then one day they served frozen pre-made home fries.
It was an insult to our taste buds, and we never went back after that.

henryn

kyfdx said:

@stickguy You can retire at 65, and still not take SSA. Our plan is for at least one of us to wait until 70.

My plan was to wait until 70 to retire, and thus qualify for "full" SSA. I fell ill 4 months short of my 70th birthday, and decided not to return to work. The question was then whether to apply immediately for SSA or wait the 4 months and get more money each and every month after that.

Some quick back of the envelope math showed that if I drew SSA for 3 years at the higher rate, I would break even for not drawing any for those 4 months waiting for my 70th birthday. Luckily for me, I was not in need of immediate money.

I went online and looked around, and saw that I could fill out all of the necessary paperwork and specify a future start date (that is, 4 months down the road, after my birthday). I have never received a check from SSA, it was direct deposit from day one. I do miss the "check stub" though, as it's not readily apparent what the gross amount is, and what if any is being withheld.

tjc78

@driver100 said:
Just don't go to a fine restaurant and ask for ketchup to put on your filet mignon

I would not do that … BUT if a person is paying for it and wants to do it, why should anyone care?

You bring up steak… personally I don’t like anything cooked above medium-rare but if well done floats your boat so be it.

I also think Filet is flavorless and ribeye is the best steak but won’t judge you for eating filet.

See my point yet?

jmonroe1

@driver100 said:
.....and that is the gourmet masters tip of the day.

We used to go to a friendly home-made style restaurant for breakfast after tennis. They had wonderful real home fries. Then one day they served frozen pre-made home fries.
It was an insult to our taste buds, and we never went back after that.

The sports bar that I like and mentioned before serves very good home fries at breakfast. They do it like I remember my Mother doing it with onions and green peppers. I’m pretty sure cooking them that way is called O’ Brien potatoes.

I think it was @kyfdx who wanted to know the name of this place. The name is…Gateway Grill.

I think I just talked myself into going there tonight. I’ll probably get their Philly Cheesesteak sandwich- classic style. Which doesn’t come with lettuce tomato and other stuff that in my opinion is not really a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. Just a concoction that someone dreamt up one night after drinking too many of their almost unlimited beer collection.

Yep, I’m going there tonight alright.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

@tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:
Just don't go to a fine restaurant and ask for ketchup to put on your filet mignon

I would not do that … BUT if a person is paying for it and wants to do it, why should anyone care?

You bring up steak… personally I don’t like anything cooked above medium-rare but if well done floats your boat so be it.

I also think Filet is flavorless and ribeye is the best steak but won’t judge you for eating filet.

See my point yet?

My favorite steak is also ribeye. Although I think it’s the seasoning that gives any steak it’s flavor. The reason I like ribeye the best is because I throw some some hardwood strips on the gas grill burners. The flame from the wood along with the fat that drips from the ribeye gives me the perfect med-rare steak that I like in about 6 minutes cooking time, flipping a couple times.

I would say a filet is more tender, by far, than any other cut of steak but it doesn’t taste any better (given you season it the same way) and since it has no fat you won’t get as much of a flame which screws up my cooking time. Therefore, I’ve pretty much stuck to ribeye.

Now I just created a dilemma for dinner tonight, the Gateway Grill or the @jmonroe grill.

jmonroe

ab348

driver100 said:

We used to go to a friendly home-made style restaurant for breakfast after tennis. They had wonderful real home fries. Then one day they served frozen pre-made home fries.
It was an insult to our taste buds, and we never went back after that.

Maybe they just ran out of the good ones that day. You could be missing out.

explorerx4

@henryn,
The break even point on collecting form SS in in your early 80's, so I think your calculation was a little off.

driver100

tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

Just don't go to a fine restaurant and ask for ketchup to put on your filet mignon

I would not do that … BUT if a person is paying for it and wants to do it, why should anyone care?

You bring up steak… personally I don’t like anything cooked above medium-rare but if well done floats your boat so be it.

I also think Filet is flavorless and ribeye is the best steak but won’t judge you for eating filet.

See my point yet?

Not entirely, I was just stating facts, I didn't judge anyone for what they choose to like or not like. i rfeally don't care what anyone likes or dislikes, I am just saying the chef at the steakhouse may not appreciate you putting ketchup on his creation....watch out if he has a cleaver in his hand.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

@henryn,
The break even point on collecting form SS in in your early 80's, so I think your calculation was a little off.

He was 69 yrs and 8 months... at the time.

driver100

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

We used to go to a friendly home-made style restaurant for breakfast after tennis. They had wonderful real home fries. Then one day they served frozen pre-made home fries.
It was an insult to our taste buds, and we never went back after that.

Maybe they just ran out of the good ones that day. You could be missing out.

Possible........but they should have explained that, preferably when we ordered it...giving us an option. The owner did all the cooking, his wife was the main waitress. I think the place went downhill once they started taking short cuts like frozen home fries......and I heard she left town. Maybe they had problems before and weren't putting as much effort into their prosperous little restaurant.

kyfdx

There is a restaurant near us that has "biscuits" as part of their name. An upscale brunch place, sort of.

They were hit very hard the last couple of years. Labor costs were way up, and hard to find people. In an article in the paper, the owner/chef said they had to change the way they made biscuits, because it was too time consuming.

Uh, biscuits is in your name, and now you want to take short-cuts? Not a good look.

henryn

explorerx4 said:

@henryn,
The break even point on collecting form SS in in your early 80's, so I think your calculation was a little off.

I don't think you understood what I was trying to say. Probably my fault for explaining poorly.

Just as a for instance, say that I started taking my social security at age 69 and 8 months, and received $3,000 monthly. Or if I waited until age 70 (4 months away), then I would start receiving $3,400 monthly. So if I wait the 4 months, I lose out on 4 months at $3,000 per month, or a total of $12,000 that I do not receive.

On the other hand, if I wait for the 4 months, and then get $400 more each and every month, how long does it take to make up the $12,000? With these numbers, it would take 30 months.

I don't remember the exact numbers that I was working with, but it was in that ball park, and the answer for me was right at 36 months / 3 years. I gambled that I would live more than 3 years, and so far that's holding up.

stickguy

I have no intention of taking SS At 65. FRA at 67 is current plan. But at 65 you pay more for Medicare if income above a certain threshold. So one more thing to consider.

Mostly we just want to retire. Wife would be happy to go this year at 60! But that’s a lot of health insurance to cover.

kyfdx

If you hadn't lived more than three years, then you wouldn't have missed it, anyway..

explorerx4

Here's my math.
SS increase is 8% per year.
Using $100 claim amount, 4 months before that is $97.33, so difference of $2.67 per month.
In 4 months you collect $389.32. 389.32/2.67 = 145.69 months, your break even point.
A little over 12 years.

stickguy

jmonroe1 said:

@explorerx4 said:

Cheating might be one way of getting your taxable income under 81k.

Ain’t that what I said? Don’t go trying to take credit for my method of doing taxes.

jmonroe

Cheating is harder to get away with on money reported to the IRS. They tend to notice that.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

Here's my math.
SS increase is 8% per year.
Using $100 claim amount, 4 months before that is $97.33, so difference of $2.67 per month.
In 4 months you collect $389.32. 389.32/2.67 = 145.69 months, your break even point.
A little over 12 years.

I think you have to work up from the retirement age amount (adding 2/3 %/month), than work down from age 70 (deducting 2/3 %/month).

Which will change the calculation, slightly

kyfdx

69yr/8 mo = $100. Collect $400/mo. for 4 months.
70 yr = $102.67. $400/ 2.67 = 150 months to break even.

explorerx4

I logged in and looked at the SS benefit calculator(slide chart).
It doesn't adjust the amount every month.
My amount was the same at 69 years 1 month through 69 years 10 months. It changed when I slid the bar over to 69 years and 11 months. I think they have a bug.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

I logged in and looked at the SS benefit calculator(slide chart).
It doesn't adjust the amount every month.
My amount was the same at 69 years 1 month through 69 years 10 months. It changed when I slid the bar over to 69 years and 11 months. I think they have a bug.

Definitely a bug..

henryn

When I was looking at the numbers, I could not find anything that said it changed by the month, only by the year. So I was going by that when I did my calculations. Incorrect input == incorrect calculations. Either way, I'm happy enough with where I'm at.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

I logged in and looked at the SS benefit calculator(slide chart).
It doesn't adjust the amount every month.
My amount was the same at 69 years 1 month through 69 years 10 months. It changed when I slid the bar over to 69 years and 11 months. I think they have a bug.

Close enough for government work.

explorerx4

@henryn,
You got 97+% as much as you would have if you waited, so no harm there.
Just glad to see my analytical skills haven't totally atrophied.
I spent a lot of time in my career figuring how numbers were calculated.

kyfdx

I have a pension from a previous job. You could retire "early", but the penalty was just 1/4% for each month early. I was retiring 20 months early, either way, but I could have deferred the pension payments until the full age. 100% vs. 95%.

It would have taken me 31 yrs, 8 months to break even (if I waited the 20 months to draw). And, that's not counting the time value of the money received earlier.

The breakeven age was 90 yrs old...

stickguy

Not a bug. They do it that way.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

Not a bug. They do it that way.

So, if you retire at 67, 8 mo, you get the same benefit as 67, 0 months?

kyfdx

I just tried the slider.

From FRA of 66/8, the benefit didn't change until I hit 67/7, then 68/7, then 69/7, then 70.
Nothing in between. 11 months, then 1 yr, 1 yr, then 70.

Weird.

kyfdx

More fun with the slider. If you are younger than FRA, moving the slider from current age forward, changes the benefit estimate, EVERY month.

kyfdx

You learn something new, every day. Even from this discussion.

From the SSA website:

Social Security retirement benefits are increased by a certain percentage (depending on date of birth) if you delay your retirement beyond full retirement age, these are known as Delayed Retirement Credits. The benefit increase no longer applies when you reach age 70, even if you continue to delay taking benefits. Delayed Retirement Credit increases are effective:

In the January of the year following the year the increment months were earned;

explorerx4

I wonder why my 69 months 1-10 didn't change but 69 11 months did and then changed again at 70.
My FRA is 66 and 4 months(June 1 this year).

Michaell

On this day in history ... 5 teens had to serve detention at Shermer HS:

Opening scenes....

tjc78

@Michaell said:
On this day in history ... 5 teens had to serve detention at Shermer HS:

Opening scenes....

“I do not wear tights, I wear the required uniform….”

“Tights”

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

I wonder why my 69 months 1-10 didn't change but 69 11 months did and then changed again at 70.
My FRA is 66 and 4 months(June 1 this year).

Here is the thing.. it does change for each month longer you work. But, the change doesn't happen until the following January.

So, if your FRA hits in June, but you decide not to draw until September, then your checks for the first four months (SEP-DEC) will be the same amount as if you retired in June. BUT, in January, you'll get credit for the three extra months of working, and your benefit will adjust by 2.67% up.

That's why the slider doesn't change for each month. Because the initial check is the same. It's the January check that gives you the increase. Of course, that IS a bug, as it doesn't tell you the increased amount you'll get.

It's also a negative, as you don't get credit until the January check. The don't make up for not giving you the higher amount, immediately.

I reserve the right to be wrong about the above....

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

I wonder why my 69 months 1-10 didn't change but 69 11 months did and then changed again at 70.
My FRA is 66 and 4 months(June 1 this year).

66/4 is in June. If you retire the next January, that is 7 months later (66/11). That's why it changes on each age+11 month anniversary. Because, that's when they apply the delay credits (in your case). In January.

It will change at 66/11, 67/11, 68/11 and 69/11.

explorerx4

@kyfdx,
Yes you're correct, I figured that out on my walk, which I just got back from.
For me, 69/11 is January.

kyfdx

My FRA is 66/8, which occurs in February. That's why mine didn't change until 67/7, which is the next January. Then, 68/7, 69/7, 70.

I wonder about age 70? With a June birthday, if I wait until 70, will I not get the last 5 months of increase until the following January? (7 months later). It seems that way.

Of course, my wife born in December, would get her increase the next month.

imidazol97

driver100 said:

We used to go to a friendly home-made style restaurant for breakfast after tennis. They had wonderful real home fries. Then one day they served frozen pre-made home fries.
It was an insult to our taste buds, and we never went back after that.

They didn't thaw them and cook them before serving? -- "served frozen"

kyfdx

Something else... lol

The 2/3% increase is based on the benefit at FRA. So, as you get closer the spread is not 2/3%

For me, the difference between retiring at 69/7 and 70/0 is only 2.7%, when our earlier assumption was 3.33%. Because the 2/3% per month increase is based on the amount I'd be due at 66/8.

That raises the breakeven point between 69/7 and 70, to over age 85. Close to 86, if the extra amount for waiting until 70 doesn't kick in until the next January.

explorerx4

The COLA can figure into the breakeven point, too.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

The COLA can figure into the breakeven point, too.

Yup... of course, that is an unknown.

Makes me think if you are delaying, starting in January might be an advantage.

explorerx4

I approved for June of this year, so I'm going to stick with that.

roadburner

I ran across an old man's car I could almost see myself owning- a 2008 E60 M5. Of course it has the glorious 500 hp S85 V10. The seller is a BMW mechanic who wants to move up to an F10 M5. He's addressed the major issues and only wants $22,000 for it. If it was a tick faster I'd be tempted...

kyfdx said:

@stickguy You can retire at 65, and still not take SSA. Our plan is for at least one of us to wait until 70.

We are definitely waiting until 70.

stickguy

Waiting until 70 sounds hard. I don't even want to think about being 70! But it does make sense if you have enough other money to live on until then, and are pretty confident you will live far enough into your 80s to make it worth while.

which is why everyone has to figure out the right move for themselves. no 2 situations are alike!

andres3

jmonroe1 said:

@tjc78 said:

@driver100 said:

Just don't go to a fine restaurant and ask for ketchup to put on your filet mignon

I would not do that … BUT if a person is paying for it and wants to do it, why should anyone care?

You bring up steak… personally I don’t like anything cooked above medium-rare but if well done floats your boat so be it.

I also think Filet is flavorless and ribeye is the best steak but won’t judge you for eating filet.

See my point yet?

My favorite steak is also ribeye. Although I think it’s the seasoning that gives any steak it’s flavor. The reason I like ribeye the best is because I throw some some hardwood strips on the gas grill burners. The flame from the wood along with the fat that drips from the ribeye gives me the perfect med-rare steak that I like in about 6 minutes cooking time, flipping a couple times.

I would say a filet is more tender, by far, than any other cut of steak but it doesn’t taste any better (given you season it the same way) and since it has no fat you won’t get as much of a flame which screws up my cooking time. Therefore, I’ve pretty much stuck to ribeye.

Now I just created a dilemma for dinner tonight, the Gateway Grill or the @jmonroe grill.

jmonroe

Ribeye is almost impossible to ruin, it tastes pretty good burnt.

houdini1

Many people say we only have 10 years left, so take that money as quick as you can...