"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

jc57 said:
I am late to the "wow, am I old!" conversation.

I remember as a young man in my 30s, trying to calculate how much money I would need in the bank to retire comfortably (2 million, I ain't got it) and remembering the spreadsheets I put together showing the finish line of 2022, which is when I would turn 65. Well, that was last year, and here I am still working.

They bumped up the retirement age for full SS benefits somewhere along the way - for me it's 66.5, which is May of next year. For my wife it is 67, which will not be until Fall of 2027. And since I did not save up that 2 million, I am hoping to just keep working as long as I can (or as long as I can avoid a layoff).

Every year you are still working a regular job is one year you are not drawing down savings, and ideally still adding to the future pot. If I can make it to 70, I'm tapping out. That's the age where SS benefits cap out so no reason to delay taking them after that. 4 years, 3 months. Seems like a long time yet, but if I look in the rear-view mirror, that would be May of 2019, which seems like not that long ago.
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Hope you and your wife eventually get a very happy retirement John :thumbsup:
 
jc57 said:
for me it's 66.5, which is May of next year. For my wife it is 67
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Are those the current retirement ages for everyone where you at, or it varies for each person individually? Asking because 66.5 is so odd.
 
Retirement age in Scandiland is very falsely put by the govt as 61 years, but I don't KNOW of anybody in recent times who has been able to do that.....they arrive at this figure by a definition of 'pensioner' that includes all people on a govt pension such as invalids, work accidents, those of low intelligence who cannot work and quite a number of people who got themselves on 'mental pensions' due to stress, depression etc- although that has now been made more difficult.. Add this lot to the old age work pensions and you get this absurd figure of 61. Whereas, for those working the whole thing has taken on dystopian aspects surprise surprise. First 5 years of work life have been struck off contributions and the 'target' age you receive gets advanced and advanced each year. Under the old system I could have retired on a modest pension after 30 years contributions from 25 years age, that moved to 58, then 10 years ago I could have retired at 61.75 soonest but moved to 64.5 and each year you work some weeks get added so basically few can retire until 65.75 if you are born in the 50s and in the 60s it gets worse...State work pensions used to be set at a max 70% of salary and index linked against inflation. Now you have to work until 70 to get less than 70% and no indexing. Plus, if you get made redundant by the state or private sector in your late 50s and can't get a job your pension suffers considerably, this is becoming not common especially as AI and digitalisation advances. Unlike other countries there in NO tax threshold/allowance here for pensions, every penny is taxed 26% being the usual sum. However, some benefits remain ha ha! Back in spring I had double cataract surgery, very pleasant man was the surgeon, very friendly nursing team and a student observer in a modern facility, cost me 139€ and Uni and technical education is still free for all- 😍 but many politicos are working against this to abolish all the free aspects, they won't be abolishing taxes though:(

I think every year you work over the age of 60 is like 2.5 years in terms of fatigue and stress, even if you like your job. People who have been able to retire earlier like in the past, demonstrably live better quality lives and longer. This is probably what the system fears and is determined to stop it. Constant propaganda about 'we' "Who's WE??" as they say in Dirty Harry can't afford pensions...as if nobody has contributed via work, service and deductions ?? Also, pensioners continue to pay tax at high rates! And a lot of private and state pension schemes have been shown to be pillars of sand, ponzi schemes. If you can retire earlier, I'd grab it, the future is so uncertain and trying to save a huge pot is usually elusive and there's no reason why hyper-inflation might not turn up. Long time dead.
 
Will Power said:
I don't have a Bunny Knife...but this visitor to my block in the centre of town dwarfs Wild Rabbits :D A young Hare between Leveret and adulthood. Some are massive individuals.

View attachment 2271328
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Nice fellow. About 2h in the oven, low temp, turn frequently, season well.
Let me introduce the Flanders Giant. People up there say he can fly his ears. But hey, those guys drink a lot (a real shame, must say). Everybody knows only Dumbo can do that!

shreck10.jpg

They are fighting rabbits. As you may notice Bunny already ate a leg of the doggy for lunch...

ps Fly with the ears! Helicopter-like? Nonsense! 🤣🤣🤣
 
Will Power said:
I think every year you work over the age of 60 is like 2.5 years in terms of fatigue and stress, even if you like your job
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One should even make it to 60, to begin with.
Will Power said:
every penny is taxed 26%
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Dang... We have no taxes for pensions. Though pensioner might still be employed somewhere and work after retirement, then they'll still receive their pension but with 13% taxes.
Will Power said:
Uni and technical education is still free for all- 😍 but many politicos are working against this to abolish all the free aspects
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Yeah, great, make 'em pay for everything, so we won't look like some evil empire, right... 🤦‍♂️ Have they thought of taxing the air yet? 😠
Will Power said:
Also, pensioners continue to pay tax at high rates!
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Double dang... Our pensioners have many exemptions tax-wise. Have to do some bureaucracy, but still.

We used to have retirement age of 60 for men, and of 55 for women. A few years ago it became 65 and 60 respectively. 🫤
 
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I retired at 60 and 9 month. Then age limit was 60. You maybe heard of some disapproval by 90% of the people of the change starting from last year adding each year new limits...
Problem is that I was a free lance and don't have worked the legal number of quarters to get the full SS pension... Happily I was considered a corporate executive and have another pension, about 3x the amount of the SS pension.
I could have worked happily till 65 (or a tad more). Just was too expensive for employers who prefer self-employed workers, even much less experienced, that meaning no taxes for them, unlike salaries!
 
I retired at 55. Not at all what I wanted to do but an umpteenth pension reform applied to my pension fund specified that if I left after January 1, 2012 my pension would drop significantly and I would have needed 3 years of additional work to compensate for this drop. But if during these 3 years I had had a health problem incompatible with my job, train driver, I would have been told: "I see that you are reprocessable, the exit is on the left, at the end of the corridor. goodbye and thank you". I would have left with a pension that was too low for my luxury tastes. I left on December 2011.

Jean de la Fontaine said it: "Do not let go of the prey for the shadow". I took the advice and have no regret.
The pension reforms aim to increase the number of working years. In my case they missed the target. Very awkwardly.

Dan.
 
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Alex.Y. said:
Are those the current retirement ages for everyone where you at, or it varies for each person individually? Asking because 66.5 is so odd.
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Where I am at: the fabled distant land of Tennessee, in the USA! Yes, 66.5 is a very odd number. Only people who share my birth year get that extra special retirement age.

On April 20, 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Congressional bill that changed the original SS retirement age of 65 to 67. When they made that change, they staggered the new retirement age increase based on your year of birth.

For those born between 1943 and 1954, it was raised from 65 straight to 66. For each additional birth year, 2 months were added until you hit the birth year of 1960. My birth year, 1957, happened to fall into the middle of the adjustment range, so I got 66 and 6 months. 1960 and beyond, it's 67.

The weird years are:
1955 = 66 and 2 months
1956 = 66 and 4 months
1957 = 66 and 6 months (me)
1958 = 66 and 8 months
1959 = 66 and 10 months
1960 = 67 (wife, and everyone else born that year or since)

The US Gov lays it out here:

Benefits Planner: Retirement | Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction | SSA

When considering early retirement, it is important to understand that starting retirement benefits early will reduce your benefit. Use the Retirement age chart to determine your reduction if you begin receiving benefits before your full retirement age.
www.ssa.gov www.ssa.gov

I thought all of that seemed somewhat Byzantine until I read Will Power Will Power 's write up. Holy Bovines!
 
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jc57 said:
I am late to the "wow, am I old!" conversation.

I remember as a young man in my 30s, trying to calculate how much money I would need in the bank to retire comfortably (2 million, I ain't got it) and remembering the spreadsheets I put together showing the finish line of 2022, which is when I would turn 65. Well, that was last year, and here I am still working.

They bumped up the retirement age for full SS benefits somewhere along the way - for me it's 66.5, which is May of next year. For my wife it is 67, which will not be until Fall of 2027. And since I did not save up that 2 million, I am hoping to just keep working as long as I can (or as long as I can avoid a layoff).

Every year you are still working a regular job is one year you are not drawing down savings, and ideally still adding to the future pot. If I can make it to 70, I'm tapping out. That's the age where SS benefits cap out so no reason to delay taking them after that. 4 years, 3 months. Seems like a long time yet, but if I look in the rear-view mirror, that would be May of 2019, which seems like not that long ago.
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"who is this FICA guy and why is he taking all my money? :eek:

Look at the bright side, at least you might get something from SS. im in my 30s and heavily doubt the system will last. Im not counting on it.
 
jc57 said:
Where I am at: the fabled distant land of Tennessee, in the USA! Yes, 66.5 is a very odd number. Only people who share my birth year get that extra special retirement age.

On April 20, 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Congressional bill that changed the original SS retirement age of 65 to 67. When they made that change, they staggered the new retirement age increase based on your year of birth.

For those born between 1943 and 1954, it was raised from 65 straight to 66. For each additional birth year, 2 months were added until you hit the birth year of 1960. My birth year, 1957, happened to fall into the middle of the adjustment range, so I got 66 and 6 months. 1960 and beyond, it's 67.

The weird years are:
1955 = 66 and 2 months
1956 = 66 and 4 months
1957 = 66 and 6 months (me)
1958 = 66 and 8 months
1959 = 66 and 10 months
1960 = 67 (wife, and everyone else born that year or since)

The US Gov lays it out here:

Benefits Planner: Retirement | Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction | SSA

When considering early retirement, it is important to understand that starting retirement benefits early will reduce your benefit. Use the Retirement age chart to determine your reduction if you begin receiving benefits before your full retirement age.
www.ssa.gov www.ssa.gov

I thought all of that seemed somewhat Byzantine until I read Will Power Will Power 's write up. Holy Bovines!
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Lucky me, 1960.
 
jc57 said:
Where I am at: the fabled distant land of Tennessee, in the USA! Yes, 66.5 is a very odd number. Only people who share my birth year get that extra special retirement age.

On April 20, 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Congressional bill that changed the original SS retirement age of 65 to 67. When they made that change, they staggered the new retirement age increase based on your year of birth.

For those born between 1943 and 1954, it was raised from 65 straight to 66. For each additional birth year, 2 months were added until you hit the birth year of 1960. My birth year, 1957, happened to fall into the middle of the adjustment range, so I got 66 and 6 months. 1960 and beyond, it's 67.

The weird years are:
1955 = 66 and 2 months
1956 = 66 and 4 months
1957 = 66 and 6 months (me)
1958 = 66 and 8 months
1959 = 66 and 10 months
1960 = 67 (wife, and everyone else born that year or since)

The US Gov lays it out here:

Benefits Planner: Retirement | Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction | SSA

When considering early retirement, it is important to understand that starting retirement benefits early will reduce your benefit. Use the Retirement age chart to determine your reduction if you begin receiving benefits before your full retirement age.
www.ssa.gov www.ssa.gov

I thought all of that seemed somewhat Byzantine until I read Will Power Will Power 's write up. Holy Bovines!
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I am you as well. But I get screwed because I paid into SS until I was moved into the California teacher retirement system in my early 30s. So the federal government reduces my SS benefits because of that. Well…it’s only money and I wouldn’t trade the work I did because of it. 🤷
 
jc57 said:
I am late to the "wow, am I old!" conversation.

I remember as a young man in my 30s, trying to calculate how much money I would need in the bank to retire comfortably (2 million, I ain't got it) and remembering the spreadsheets I put together showing the finish line of 2022, which is when I would turn 65. Well, that was last year, and here I am still working.

They bumped up the retirement age for full SS benefits somewhere along the way - for me it's 66.5, which is May of next year. For my wife it is 67, which will not be until Fall of 2027. And since I did not save up that 2 million, I am hoping to just keep working as long as I can (or as long as I can avoid a layoff).

Every year you are still working a regular job is one year you are not drawing down savings, and ideally still adding to the future pot. If I can make it to 70, I'm tapping out. That's the age where SS benefits cap out so no reason to delay taking them after that. 4 years, 3 months. Seems like a long time yet, but if I look in the rear-view mirror, that would be May of 2019, which seems like not that long ago.
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I was lucky to work with a couple of older and wiser gentlemen who told me when I was about 30, to take advantage of the new company savings plan and put in as much as I could because SS might not be around when I hit retirement age . So I was able to retire in 2001 on a company Early Out program and then worked 3 more years on a contract with the same company . It also helped that my wife wanted to work outside the home after our kids were all in school too .To say that our government has managed the SS program over the years the way it should have been , IMO would be a joke . The average Life Expectancy had been going up since 1940 and it was not accounted for for years . I am a very fortunate guy .

Harry
 
Alex.Y. said:
Are those the current retirement ages for everyone where you at, or it varies for each person individually? Asking because 66.5 is so odd.
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varies by when you were born.
In the US they keep increasing the age at when you can pull "full" social security benefits.
Once past that age, benefits increase by 4% each year you do not take them until you top out at a certain age. I was eligible for "full benefits" at 65 and topped out at 70.

jc57 said:
They bumped up the retirement age for full SS benefits somewhere along the way - for me it's 66.5, which is May of next year. For my wife it is 67, which will not be until Fall of 2027. And since I did not save up that 2 million, I am hoping to just keep working as long as I can (or as long as I can avoid a layoff).

Every year you are still working a regular job is one year you are not drawing down savings, and ideally still adding to the future pot.
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If it helps, I'm 70 and still working full time. I'm looking at continuing to work for another year or so, for similar reasons as what you listed.
I had an acquaintance who retired, but outlived his savings. It was a lesson learned.
 
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