"I'm Neal 67 trying to decide when to retire."
Neal,
The decision you pose is a problem all investors face, but no one can help you without more information on the specific variables that will influence your decision.
You provided only two data points - your age and a hint that you may have been employed.
I suggest your decision-making process by making a list. You can add to it and revise it as you get more data. Then you can sort through them and weigh the many, many tradeoffs.
Due to the size of the cohorts of other people in your position, retirement is a "growth" industry these days.
Thus, the BIGGEST PROBLEM every retiree faces is ... whose "advice" can you trust?
When I was in your position, I -- naively - waded through the pages on the SSA website and found the information more confusing than instructive.
And do not naively imagine that you -- someone who faithfully sent SSA thousands of dollars money every year for up to 50 years -- can just contact SSA and expect to get personalized service - or even a response in any format other than a canned PR message that redirects you to even more SSA pages. Expect to have to read pages of government speak designed to be "one size fits all" and much more focused on being "gender" neutral than helpful.
When I went through this process, I obtained a summary of the SSI deductions I had paid. This first thing Is that it had earned exactly ZERO interest over all those 50 years. The SSA (actually the US Treasury) may have invested all that money they collected from me and earned trillions in interest, but that was used to pay off prior retirees.
So, I calculated how much I could have earned had I had the option to invest it for myself. Please do not do this. If all of us old codgers did this and then decided to go to the SSA and ask politely why SSI is broke despite having collected this ENORMOUS amount of money, it would make the January 6th event look like a love fest.
#1 SSA will - or probably has already - mailed you several statements that list your entitlements and the specific amounts you can expect to receive now or if you wait until you reach the age of fully vested retirement. You need to request an SSA statement if you don't have it. And have your spouse get hers, too. These amounts will be very important to decide "when to retire." decision.
#2 Because around 70% of AAII members have or are facing the same decision, AAII has many articles that will help you identify and itemize the factors relevant to your circumstances.
#3 Be aware that there are thousands of "financial advisors" and "certified financial planners" who will happily assist you with your decision. Their services are not free.
#4 "Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never forget' (as Winston Churchill said) that ...
their graciousness is their business. They will expect to be PAID for their services. They will ask for control over ALL your savings and retirement income cash flows. They consider all this pile of money to be "assets under management" ("AUM") that form the basis for their fees. And they will pass along the costs of investing your money although you can make most of these decisions yourself. That is why they call themselves professionals and consider you are not as knowledgeable as their certificate says they are. I reassure you that 50% of them scored in the bottom half of their exam class.
Even the AAII Retirement Program charges (comparatively modest) fees as part of the Premium programs AAII offers.
Being an independent investor or being a dependent "client" is THE most important decision you face. It will reveal a lot about your character.
The decision you face is a BIG decision.
Try not to screw this one up. Do your OWN homework. DO NOT "copy" someone else's answer, be they professionals ... or not.
Before you, since 1935, several hundred million people have faced the same decision you do and each has found answers through careful due diligence ... or by accepting the default options as they accrue ... and have then learned to live with the many other decisions and related options each decision produced.
Kierkegaard described decision-making in life as being like climbing a tree. To a climber, each branch in the tree poses a decision as to which path to take. Eventually, after all those decisions, you wind up somewhere in the tree at the last decision point as a part of an individual leaf. All the decisions you have to make at every point in your life add up to where you wind up in the tree of life.
All of us screwed parts of the retirement decision points. The only way not to is to not make it to the age required to have a retirement decision.
This choice will greatly influence the course of your retirement and how you remember the retirement experience. As Dan Kahneman taught us, everyone has experiences that come and go. All that's left in the end are your memories of the experiences.
That is what you need to optimize with this decision.
Bette Davis is famous for saying. "Getting old ain't for sissies." She was right.
Welcome to AAII. AAII members represent the 2nd largest UNPAID volunteer service group in the world focused on sharing their experiences with investing and retirement decisions. (Bogleheads are larger.)
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BARRY JOHNSON
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2024 01:05
From: H HELM
Subject: Welcome to the PRISM Wealth-Building Process Academy
iF YOU HAVEN'T STARTED YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN. By age 67 you have to have lived long enough to know how to save and even Joeseph in the Bible knew 7 good years meant 7 Bad years might follow. Plan for good times and save for Bad and share with kids and Grand Kids The eclipse was today and the next one in the USA will be in 2044. Do you want to see it?. I should be 100 then. Hope money and health last that long. Not likely. Oibitbituaries are becoming more interesting. Cemetary lots and obits are more interesting than they used to be. Good friends die and it's not easy to think ahead. Prism planning helps. Good luck in your travel ahead. Harold Helm
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H HELM
H.Helm
Pleasant Hill, CA
Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2024 17:04
From: Neal Dagenhart
Subject: Welcome to the PRISM Wealth-Building Process Academy
I'm Neal 67 trying to decide when to retire.
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Neal Dagenhart
Original Message:
Sent: 10-05-2021 10:27
From: Jenna Brashear
Subject: Welcome to the PRISM Wealth-Building Process Academy
The PRISM process provides a framework for aligning your investment decisions with your goals. In this interactive course, we'll help you create your own, personalized wealth-building process. Find out more about the PRISM academy and how it can make you a better manager of your own assets.
Introduce Yourself to the Community
Welcome to the PRISM Wealth-Building Process Academy. Please introduce yourself to the Community and share what challenges you have experienced while managing your assets and portfolio. Is there something impeding your investment goals? Let us know by leaving a response to this discussion.
Click the grey button on the right side of this post that says, "Reply" to get started.
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Jenna Brashear
AAII Community Manager
Chicago, IL
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