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Strategies & Market Trends : Young and Older Folk Portfolio -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cajman1 who wrote (21481)	10/20/2025 4:50:54 PM
From: sm1th	3 Recommendations Recommended By cajman1 ddbpaso Markbn Respond to of 21937

Care to share your decisions? I'll share mine, but first a brief description of the website I linked to. It has an online "calculator" based on the book mentioned. You enter your earnings history, estimated future earnings and life expectancy. With that it runs a Monte-Carlo simulation and gives you optimum dates to maximize total lifetime SS benefits. You can run as many different scenarios as you want for 1 year subscription. The key which I was not aware of is that for a married couple, when first dies, surviving spouse can take whichever is higher for the rest of their life. My lifetime earnings were more than double my wife's. I worked (self employed) full time until 64, then decreasing part time until 68. We had no need to take it early. With our unbalanced earnings, almost any scenario was maxed if I waited until 70, and it made almost no difference when she started. She started as soon as I ran the analysis, and I waited until 70. We are both over 70 now.

To: cajman1 who wrote (21481)	10/20/2025 5:48:50 PM
From: Steve Mac	1 Recommendation Recommended By cajman1 Respond to of 21937

SS decisions Everybody's situation will be different. I have a government pension with annual COLA adjustments, and while not the only factor, it was a major factor in providing the flexibility to defer taking our benefits. My wife started her benefits at full retirement age (2023), and I waited until age 70 which was just a few months ago.

To: cajman1 who wrote (21481)	10/21/2025 7:48:04 AM
From: cemanuel	5 Recommendations Recommended By Jacob Marley livwell Markbn Steve Mac stockpickeron Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21937

I'll share my thinking. I just became SS benefits-eligible last summer (2024). So far I have not taken it and there's a good chance I won't until 70. I am planning to assess each December and make a decision for the coming year based on a variety of factors. 1. Need - There is no need and never should be. So my calculations are entirely based on the best odds of receiving the most in benefits (while considering factors such as tax implications) before I die. 2. Impact to AGI. This is where SS benefits no longer being taxed by the Federal government may have a major impact. However my AGI for this year and next year will be averaged together to determine my Medicare premiums so I am trying to keep my income level under $103k/yr (figures are as of the end of 2024) to be at the minimum payment level 3. Roth Conversions. I have been doing aggressive Roth Conversions. Until this year to max out the 24% tax bracket. This year, if I can, to the $103k level. Taking SS, taxed as income, would reduce my ability to do this. Again, new tax code rules may change this. 4. Life expectancy. Last time I calculated it (end of 2024), if I would die at 80 or younger it would make sense to take SS early, at 81 is about break even, older and I should wait. Every male relative of mine in the prior generation died between 84 and 87 - it would make a very tight cluster on a graph. So I'll wait. Again, my 2026 benefits will be larger so I expect the break even age to rise, we'll see what the numbers say. So those are my thoughts and how I'm doing it.