It's a little more complex I think. As I understand it eligibility and penalties are different before you turn 65 and are eligible for Medicare than after. Paying premiums before or after 65 with an HSA isn't illegal per se as I understand it, but there is a penalty and taxes will be due before 65..double whammy. I think after 65 the penalty goes away but taxes may still be due.
Credit cards in Alaska may be because of people buying their stuff from Amazon because of the free shipping.
Amazon doesn’t ship most things to ak or at least the things I tried to ship
Just a suggestion--you certainly appear to have enough flexibility to do it the way you want--but might want to investigate how things work out if you draw from your 401K and delay at least one of your SS payments. We found drawing a bit more from our retirement funds early, delaying my SS to 65 if not more, then drawing less from our retirement funds after I take my SS gave use the most money down the line.
Question. If you aren't going to depend on it why start taking it at the earliest? If you start taking payments from your 401 first you can hold off a few years and then start taking SS when the amount goes up due to your retirement age. Even a couple years delay will boost the amount over taking it at the earliest you are eligible.
Possibly to answer your question, at a certain age approaching geriatric status the concern of longevity kicks in and with it the attitude of "Hell, we don't even buy green bananas!"
Yeah, I get that. But at the same time they have a million in the 401. PLENTY to draw from for a few years allowing the SS payments to climb. Then they could reduce 401 withdrawals once SS kicks in and still have a nice nest egg in reserve. With his current projected monthly income, minus the SS payments, they may not even have to touch the 401 right away and still have a nice income. Expected monetary needs are his business and none of us can tell him the best way to go. Just looking at options.
Its more than that. Assuming you trust SS will still be there for you at the same levels in the future at least--a real question given the current administrations stated goals--I still think its darn near untouchable, at least not without dire political consequences. The concern comes in with someone in charge who does not care one bit about political consequences.
Agree--the calculation I posted earlier was designed to help with that. More to it but those calculators are pretty useful IMO. Likely they could withdraw less from the 401K to hit the same target they want and still not reduce the balance of the 401K by much if at all--even assuming a low market return and high inflation.
I wish it was that simple. It depends on what type of accounts you have you money in and how to withdraw it to minimize Income. There is a lot of tax pain if you go over the limits. The numbers change and the tax laws may (will?) even change. This is the advantage of a Roth and why many people withdrawn the funds from the 401K, take the income tax hit and then plow it into a Roth before they take SS.
New laws have pushed RMD's way out though--mid 70's I think.I wish it was that simple. It depends on what type of accounts you have you money in and how to withdraw it to minimize Income. There is a lot of tax pain if you go over the limits. The numbers change and the tax laws may (will?) even change. This is the advantage of a Roth and why many people withdrawn the funds from the 401K, take the income tax hit and then plow it into a Roth before they take SS.
Here is a snippet from TRowe that helps explain. Almost any FA/Broker has a similar summary.
View attachment 360522
T. Rowe Price Personal Investor - What to know about Social Security benefits and your taxes
Federal income taxes on retirees can often be complicated due to Social Security income, so knowing your benefits and tax rate are key for a successful tax plan.www.troweprice.com
State taxes vary. The above is Fed. I guess my point was that taxes on SS can be very high and that Roth withdrawals don't count as income so money can be taken out and not affect the calculation on taxes for SS. It isn't just a game of taxes today vs taxes tomorrow. It's a game of minimizing taxable income to avoid a tax penalty on SS. Some people work part time while drawing SS and at the end of the year discover a big tax hit because they were $1 over the income threshold level.
If I remember correctly the break even to make up for what you'd receive taking SS at 62 vs 67 was like mid 70's. How confident is anyone that they will make it to 75? Odds are around 50%, I plan on retiring and drawing at 62. Somebody on here says that I'll probably run out of health before money and I plan on using at least some of the governments money in my retirement, lord knows I've paid in an awful lot.
