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Transcript
00:00:00:07 – 00:00:24:14
Mike
If you have less than 500,000, say, for retirement. Right, for you, Social Security is probably a pretty big chunk of what you’re going to do or what you’re going to have for your retirement income. Now, there’s a general rule of thumb for you if you’re in this group. The general rule of thumb is simply this try to hold off and wait as long as you can.
00:00:24:28 – 00:00:27:00
Mike
That is the general rule.
00:00:33:12 – 00:00:53:04
Zach
Welcome to retirement today. I’m your co-host is Zach Holcomb. And alongside me we have Michael Reese. He’s a certified financial planning professional. And he spent the last 25 plus years helping families get into and through retirement and retirement. That’s a big part of what this show’s about. And Mike. We’ve got a great topic to discuss today. But before we get into our show, tell me how you’re feeling.
00:00:53:05 – 00:00:53:17
Zach
How are you?
00:00:53:22 – 00:01:08:00
Mike
Well, as you know, I am just doing awesome. I’m always doing great living in Austin, Texas. Well, actually, I live in Valenti, right north of Lake Travis there. But living in the area, enjoying the weather, life is fantastic.
00:01:08:05 – 00:01:10:06
Zach
You’re out in the sticks. You can’t say you live in Austin.
00:01:11:20 – 00:01:15:13
Mike
I am. I’m up there. At least my house is on the hill. So has a little bit of a view.
00:01:15:14 – 00:01:30:01
Zach
Yeah, you got a great one. So let’s dove right into today’s topic, Mike. So a lot recently we’ve been talking a lot about income planning and the importance of, you know, having stable and predictable income in retirement. We’re going to talk kind of something, you know, you know, in that category today as well, right?
00:01:30:08 – 00:01:49:10
Mike
Yeah. So today we’re going to talk about Social Security. And I know that if you’ve already taken Social Security not a lot you can do. Right. But one of the common questions we get is when should I take Social Security? Should I take it right away? As soon as I can, because I’m worried Social Security’s going to run out of money.
00:01:49:17 – 00:02:16:11
Mike
Should I wait till I’m 70 or later and I get more money? Like, what’s the right time for me to take social Security? And Zach, that’s a really important question to ask because studies tell us that depending on when you take Social Security, you could potentially be leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table, maybe over $100,000 on the table if you just time it the wrong way.
00:02:16:12 – 00:02:21:17
Zach
Well, that’s huge. So this is the answer to this question. It’s not going to be so simple. And we’re going to dove into some of the answers, right?
00:02:21:24 – 00:02:36:15
Mike
Yeah, that’s right. I mean, the problem is Social Security, not a simple topic. If you’ve ever tried to talk to the Social Security Department, you are probably going to be well, let’s just say less than impressed. Right.
00:02:36:16 – 00:02:41:15
Zach
We should have that book in the room you have where it’s the Social Security guide and it’s like 1500 pages.
00:02:41:16 – 00:02:49:28
Mike
Yeah. Actually, Social Security has literally 20 728 different rules.
00:02:49:29 – 00:02:50:24
Zach
Oh, my gosh, two.
00:02:50:24 – 00:03:02:29
Mike
Thousand 728 rules. And it’s this book you’re right. I wish all of you out there listening. I wish you could see this book. It’s like it’s not a book. It’s a tome.
00:03:03:01 – 00:03:04:24
Zach
It’s a brick. You could knock somebody out with it.
00:03:04:24 – 00:03:35:10
Mike
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It’s it’s just ridiculous. But in any event, when we talk to families, usually they’re in one of three scenarios, right? So scenario number one is Social Security represents just their retirement cake. It’s it’s a huge percentage of their income in their retirement. And these are usually people who have saved, you know, maybe less than $500,000.
00:03:35:10 – 00:03:45:23
Mike
And they’re saying, okay, maybe I’ve got my house, I’ve got my Social Security, and I’ve got some money set aside. And savings and Social Security for them is a big deal.
00:03:45:23 – 00:03:46:01
Zach
Yeah.
00:03:46:16 – 00:04:09:12
Mike
So that’s one set of families. Another set of families that we talk to is kind of the opposite. You know, they save two, $3 million. And, you know, for them, Social Security, it’s not the cake, it’s the icing on the cake. Does it make up part of their retirement You bet it does. But is it the majority of their retirement?
00:04:09:25 – 00:04:34:20
Mike
Not at all. And then you’ve got the third group, which is you know, maybe the majority, which is we’re somewhere in between. We’ve got somewhere between 500,000, save for retirement and 3 million And these are the people where Social Security is a very important part of their retirement. It’s not the cake, it’s not the icing. It’s something in between.
00:04:34:29 – 00:05:08:23
Mike
Right. But it’s important in in each of those groups. It’s important that, you know, each of you, no matter where you fall in those three groups, whether you know your assets, less than 500, over 3 million, somewhere in between. No matter where you fall. If you think about it, you’ve been paying into Social Security for what your entire working career or probably 30 years or something in for 40 years Whether you know it or not, you’ve had something like 12% of your income going into Social Security.
00:05:09:17 – 00:05:17:00
Mike
Don’t you want to make sure you get the most value from Social Security? Don’t you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of it?
00:05:17:01 – 00:05:17:15
Zach
I would.
00:05:17:24 – 00:05:34:23
Mike
I mean, of course you would. The challenge is that it’s going to be different for everyone. And we can talk about some general rules this evening, but the reality is that, you know, we cannot give you advice on a show like this. Right.
00:05:34:23 – 00:05:35:28
Zach
It’s strictly education.
00:05:35:28 – 00:05:52:25
Mike
Everybody’s different. And, you know, we certainly will share with you if you want to get some advice, if you want to sit down with us and say, hey, can I like can I sit down with you guys and just talk it out for how it works for me individually? Yeah. I’ll share with you how you can do that during the show.
00:05:53:08 – 00:06:11:26
Mike
But what we want to do is we want to share really good information out there. We want to get good information out in the public so you can make better choices and if you want to sit down with us, one on one, of course, will make that available to you. But here’s the bigger deal. Right. You’ve been working your entire life.
00:06:12:11 – 00:06:45:04
Mike
We’re big believers that you deserve the retirement of your dreams. You deserve to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You deserve that. So let’s make some good financial choices together so that you can make the most of your hard earned savings. So we have three categories that we’re going to talk about yep. If you have less than 500,000, say, for retirement, probably for you, Social Security probably will represent a significant portion of your retirement planning.
00:06:45:29 – 00:07:12:10
Mike
And if you’re over 3 million, it probably represents a smaller portion. And if you’re somewhere in between. Guess what? You’re somewhere in the middle. So let’s talk a little bit. We’ll start with group one. If you have less than 500,000, say, for retirement. Right. For you, Social Security’s probably a pretty big chunk of what you’re going to do. Or what you’re going to have for your retirement income.
00:07:12:29 – 00:07:44:29
Mike
Now, there’s a general rule of thumb for you. If you’re in this group, the Gen Roll rule of thumb is simply this try to hold off and wait as long as you can. That is the general rule. Now, does that apply to everybody? Of course not. And if you do delay, you know, you could take Social Security as early as age 62 but all of you have a what’s called a retirement age.
00:07:45:12 – 00:08:09:03
Mike
The Social Security Department says you have a retirement age. And if you’re born in 1960 or later that retirement age is 67. As far as Social Security is concerned that’s your retirement date the month in which you turn 67. Now if you’re born before 1960 you might be 66 and a half or what have you but the big question mark is well there’s really two question marks.
00:08:09:04 – 00:08:34:03
Mike
Question mark. Number one is people are often worried. Will Social Security be their right? Will Social Security be there? And then the second concern that people often have is, well, what if I don’t live long enough to really get the value? Like I know if I wait, I get more. You know, every year you wait, you get roughly 8% more income from Social Security.
00:08:34:03 – 00:08:57:05
Mike
So, like, hey, it’s. Is it a guaranteed 8% rate of return? I’ve heard people say that. No, it’s not. That’s not what it is. But your your income does increase roughly 8% a year. So the longer you wait, the better off air. But then the question is, well, like, how long would I have to live for the higher amount that I get later to overcome the fact that I’ve got money in my pocket today?
00:08:57:11 – 00:09:19:06
Mike
You know, is a bird in the hand worth more than two in the bush, if you will? Right. So let’s talk about this a little bit. First sack people all the time. They say, man, I’m worried that Social Security, it’s going to go away. It’s going to go bankrupt. And that’s a natural concern. Because the media loves to say that they.
00:09:19:06 – 00:09:19:28
Zach
Like to scare people.
00:09:19:28 – 00:09:52:26
Mike
They love to scare people who love to talk about it. So let me maybe share with you what the real world entails here. Right. Let’s talk about the real world. Real world. Is that right now the Social Security trust fund, which isn’t really a trust fund, but they call it that is the way it’s structured right now. If Congress does nothing then I think it’s 20, 33, 20, 34 coming up in about 12 years.
00:09:53:14 – 00:10:19:17
Mike
They’re saying, hey, we’re going to reduce your payments. We’re going to cut your Social Security payments by roughly 22%. So it doesn’t go away. It just gets reduced. Now, here’s my question for you. Politicians have one overriding concern. There’s one thing they care about more than anything else. What do they care about more than anything else?
00:10:19:24 – 00:10:20:17
Zach
Getting reelected.
00:10:20:18 – 00:10:48:21
Mike
They want to get reelected, of course. And now let’s imagine this scenario okay? We’re going to imagine that I’m in office. Okay? I’m a politician. I’m a congressman, I’m a senator. And you know, I’m a one of these weasel, you know, politicians. And all I care about is I probably just got beeped or something. All I care about is that I’m going to get reelected.
00:10:48:21 – 00:11:13:07
Mike
I just want to get reelected. That’s it. Because if I get reelected, I can stay. I can keep going to Washington, D.C., I can keep getting the kickbacks that, you know, everybody knows I get. But, uh, you know, I can continue being the weasel that I am. So along comes 20, 33, 20, 34. And all of those people out there receiving Social Security is.
00:11:13:07 – 00:11:21:28
Mike
I didn’t do anything because I was too busy getting reelected. They all suddenly see their Social Security checks cut by 20%. Are they happy.
00:11:22:07 – 00:11:24:00
Zach
The pitchforks are going to be outside your house?
00:11:24:01 – 00:11:26:02
Mike
Let’s be honest. These are the people that vote.
00:11:26:02 – 00:11:28:04
Zach
They’re going to trek up to day and find you.
00:11:28:06 – 00:11:41:13
Mike
So now this has happened. You decide, okay, it’s time for you to run for office. You’re going to run against me. And what message are you going to be pushing over and over and over again?
00:11:41:20 – 00:11:43:12
Zach
Oh, I’m going to get your Social Security back.
00:11:43:20 – 00:11:44:02
Mike
That’s right.
00:11:44:03 – 00:11:44:25
Zach
Not like Mike.
00:11:45:01 – 00:12:03:15
Mike
Yeah, you say that loser weasel Mike, right? He while he was in office, he didn’t care about you, right? He let you get your Social Security checks. You got to get that loser out of office and put me in, right? 100%. And guess what? Everybody’s going to vote for you.
00:12:03:15 – 00:12:04:08
Zach
Yeah, I win.
00:12:04:09 – 00:12:10:29
Mike
Next thing you know, I’m gone. Now, do you think I may be a weasel politician, but do you think I don’t know that?
00:12:11:14 – 00:12:12:12
Zach
You probably know that.
00:12:12:13 – 00:12:28:21
Mike
I know that. So what am I going to do before that happens? We’re all going to get together. Why should you see, this is when, by the way, these are the periods when Republicans and Democrats, you know, they actually start really getting together and they’re like, oh, we better do something here. Yeah. And there’s a lot of things they can do.
00:12:28:21 – 00:12:54:28
Mike
I mean, they can push the starting date for Social Security instead of full retirement age being 67. They could say, hey, for younger people, we’re going to make it. 70 people are living longer anyway. Let’s make it 70. Right. That would that would help. They can say, oh, all you really rich people, right. Who are making a bunch of money because right now they only tax Social Security up to 150,000 of income you make over 150,000 are going to keep tax in your income.
00:12:55:08 – 00:13:14:14
Mike
All right so they’ll do that that’ll make it that’ll help. There’s a lot of actions they can take to help make Social Security more effective Right. This very thing happened back in the eighties and just like and dislike today in the eighties, oh it’s going to go broke. What happened magically about a year before it was going to go broke?
00:13:14:14 – 00:13:33:02
Mike
Parties, the politicians, suddenly they found common ground real fast and they figured out how do we fix it? So I expect the same thing’s going to happen again. So Social Security’s not going away. The other issue is break even if I take it now, how long do I have to live for it to break even? The answer’s really simple.
00:13:33:13 – 00:13:54:01
Mike
Right around age 80. That’s it. Around age. If you live longer than age 80, you’re probably better off to wait. Now, here’s the thing on the other side of that. Some people say, Yeah, that’s great, Mike. But you know what? I want to spend more money now because I’m healthy. I’d rather take it now and get something and spend it now.
00:13:54:19 – 00:14:13:02
Mike
While I’m healthy. I can do stuff versus waiting. There’s nothing wrong with that idea either, right? Here we go. You mentioned earlier it’s different for everyone, right? And we’ve already learned, hey, I want to spend it now because I’m healthy. Maybe you take it now, even though, you know, you get less over time. Maybe you’re thinking I’m married.
00:14:13:02 – 00:14:57:22
Mike
I wanna make sure my surviving spouse is in good shape. I’m going to wait as long as I can, right? Because when I die, the surviving spouse, one check stays one check goes away, right? The larger check stays, a smaller check goes away. It’s different for everyone. So here’s what you need to know. No one, no one. Social Security, they’re as far as they’re concerned, you have one retirement age and just one And that is if you were born in 1960 or later, your retirement age is the month in which you turn 67 as far as Social Security is concerned that’s it.
00:14:58:04 – 00:15:16:14
Mike
So if my I was born after 1960 and I was born in August. As far as Social Security is concerned, the August that I turned 67 that month, that year in which I turn 67, they’re going to say, all right, Mike, congratulations as far as we’re concerned. That’s your retirement date.
00:15:16:15 – 00:15:16:23
Zach
Yep.
00:15:17:11 – 00:15:42:26
Mike
Now I can if you were born before 1960 by the way, let’s say you’re born in 1958. Well then your official retirement age according to Social Security, if you’re born in 1958 as I think when you turn age six the month in which you turn age 66 and I think it’s eight months. Right. So they have this sliding scale I’m going to pick on myself because I was born in August.
00:15:42:29 – 00:15:44:06
Zach
You like to make fun of yourself.
00:15:44:07 – 00:15:48:26
Mike
It’s easy, right? I’m an easy target. So it wasn’t that funny.
00:15:49:11 – 00:15:51:25
Zach
I was 11 All right.
00:15:51:25 – 00:16:10:09
Mike
So I’m an easy target. So here we go. I’m born in August. So let’s imagine that this year well, wouldn’t be this year, but it would be, I guess, 20, 27 whenever I turn 60. So let’s imagine this was a year that hit full retirement age. I can choose to take Social Security, or I can just delay it.
00:16:10:20 – 00:16:16:27
Mike
And every time I can delay, as long as age seven, the age 70 is the longest you can delay, right?
00:16:16:28 – 00:16:17:06
Zach
Yep.
00:16:17:16 – 00:16:47:22
Mike
So I can delay the age 17 if I delay, I get like 8% a year more. And so there that that would be the incentive to delay. But here’s the other thing. I don’t have to wait to my full retirement age. Take Social Security. I can take it earlier. I could take it as early as age 62 and every month that I take it early if I take it early, one month early, I take it ten months earlier, 30 months early each month that I either wait or take it early.
00:16:48:02 – 00:17:01:16
Mike
Social Security will, if I take it early, reduce my benefit a little bit. If I delay, they increase it a little bit. So every month it’s a little increase, a little reduction. But once I start, I’m done.
00:17:01:16 – 00:17:02:00
Zach
That’s it.
00:17:02:10 – 00:17:05:17
Mike
My decision is made. I’m done. I’m not going back.
00:17:05:17 – 00:17:06:11
Zach
No mulligans.
00:17:06:11 – 00:17:15:11
Mike
Now. Well, there’s a mulligan, but you don’t even want to deal with that. If you can avoid it. Something like within six months, I could pay it back. But who cares?
00:17:15:12 – 00:17:16:09
Zach
Forget that. Yeah.
00:17:16:12 – 00:17:43:06
Mike
The point is, when you make your decision, you make your decision. Now, what if I’m still working? What if I’m still working and I won’t take Social Security? Here’s how it works. As long as I’ve hit my full retirement age. So for me, it’s age 67 because I was born after 1960. If I hit age 67 and I take Social Security, I can continue working.
00:17:43:24 – 00:18:11:08
Mike
I can make a gazillion dollars a year like Warren Buffett money, right? I can make a gazillion dollars a year. Doesn’t matter. I still get my Social Security with no penalties. No reduction, no nothing. I have to pay tax on it, but I’m not penalized because I hit full retirement age. What if I take Social Security early and I’m working?
00:18:11:29 – 00:18:35:06
Mike
Then what happens? Then they start taking my Social Security away from me. If I make too much money, how much is too much money? Like 15,000 or some stupid little? No, right? So it’s kind of like this happened to my father in law. So my father in law, he was a chemistry professor at Michigan State, and he decided he wanted to retire.
00:18:35:15 – 00:18:58:17
Mike
Right? So he retires he starts taking Social Security. Well, what happened? He was younger than his full retirement age, and Michigan State calls him up. They said, Hey, Harry, um, turns out we can’t get an instructor. Can we get you to cover a class or two? He’s like, Sure, I’m doing nothing. So he starts covering the class or two next thing you know, he’s covering three classes.
00:18:58:17 – 00:19:08:15
Mike
And so and next thing you know, they’re paying him basically full time wages. Right. And Social Security sends him a letter saying, hey, dude, you’re making. Yeah, that’s what they said.
00:19:08:15 – 00:19:10:10
Zach
Hey, dude. Yeah, it’s I was addressed.
00:19:10:16 – 00:19:29:26
Mike
I said, Hey, Mr. Reich, you’re making too much money. We’re going to start taking you so security away is like, what? I don’t know. That’s no good. So what can I do about it? And at the time, they said, Okay, well, if you pay back everything we paid you will act as though it never happened. Right? Well, give you kind of a do over.
00:19:30:06 – 00:19:51:13
Mike
And that’s what he did. He just paid back what they paid him. And then, you know, later on, when he actually retired for real again, then he started again, and. And everything was fine. You do get one do over, but be aware that if you take Social Security before your full retirement age, watch out. That could be a problem.
00:19:52:12 – 00:20:29:28
Mike
Here’s the other thing. If you are married your spouse is guaranteed to get at least half of your Social Security check at a minimum, assuming that your spouse waits until they hit their full retirement age to start their benefit. So a lot of times and by the way, the half you know, half of what half of what you’re getting, maybe it’s half of what you would have gotten if you had taken your Social Security at your full retirement age.
00:20:30:04 – 00:20:51:14
Mike
Because remember, as far as Social Security is concerned, you only have one retirement age. So I’m married to Becky. Becky has mostly stayed at home. She hasn’t earned a lot. We have five kids. I mean, she took care of them so I could work so when we get Social Security, you should probably get half of mine. But she only gets half if she waits until her full retirement age.
00:20:52:00 – 00:21:10:24
Mike
Right. And the half she gets will be half of what I would have received if I took my Social Security at full retirement age. So if I delay and I get more, she doesn’t get half of the more she it’s half of what I would have gotten if I take it early and I get less. Guess what? She doesn’t get half of what I’m taking.
00:21:10:24 – 00:21:35:06
Mike
She gets half of what I would have received at full retirement. So that’s kind of how that works. And there’s all kinds of other rules, of course. But these are a couple of the biggies that we come across pretty frequently. All right. Here’s the thing. I got to come up against a break, so here’s what I want you do Social Security, if you make the right decision, it puts tens of thousands if not over $100,000 in your pocket.
00:21:35:16 – 00:21:57:10
Mike
If you make the wrong decision, you lose it. So you got to make sure you’re making the right decision. So what’s the right decision for you? It all depends on your unique situation. I’m just going to share a couple of examples of of families in that 500 to 3 million point right that show you how Social Security is different for everybody.
00:21:57:23 – 00:22:09:15
Mike
Right. So the first family will call them, I don’t know, Jerry and Joan I really want to call them Fred and Wilma. I’m just going to go with Fred and Wilma. I’m not going to go with the last name.
00:22:09:15 – 00:22:10:28
Zach
Yes. Can’t get beeped out.
00:22:10:29 – 00:22:20:23
Mike
Can’t get, can’t get. Because if I give a last name for Fred and Wilma, then there are certain people that might come after us and say those are trademarked names.
00:22:20:24 – 00:22:21:21
Zach
Can’t be doing that, Mike.
00:22:21:21 – 00:22:28:03
Mike
But Fred, Wilma, in case you’re wondering, have some best friends. We’ll call them Barney and Betty.
00:22:28:04 – 00:22:29:22
Zach
Okay. Just a coincidence, right?
00:22:30:01 – 00:22:59:19
Mike
No, no. Last names, though. So here’s Fred and Wilma. All right. And by the way, these are real. I’m obviously changing the names, but we do have these real world families. And so here we have Fred and Wilma, and they’ve saved, maybe, I don’t know, somewhere between 503 million. A million and a half. They saved a million a half. Okay. But anyway, Fred and Wilma, they have saved a million and a half dollars.
00:22:59:29 – 00:23:20:23
Mike
They have some rental income coming in, maybe a couple thousand dollars a month. And for their situation, they’ve always thought, we want to wait until age 70. They’re both working. We want to wait until age 70, because that’s how we get the most out of Social Security. They both come from long live families. They’re very confident they’ll live past the age of 80.
00:23:20:23 – 00:23:53:13
Mike
So it’ll make sense financially. And, you know, they’re living on like, you know, 70,000 a month for retirement. They’re sitting on a million and a half dollars and they’re saying, you know what, if we sons, we have a couple of thousand a month coming in from rental income, if we wait till 70 by the time we’re all said done, we’re going to be getting close to, you know, like over 6000 a month and Social Security, maybe seven plus our rental income basically about if we can just get to age 70 Social Security and rental income covers everything we need.
00:23:53:15 – 00:23:54:11
Zach
They’re in a great place.
00:23:54:15 – 00:24:21:08
Mike
We need we’ve got a million and a half dollars and all we need to do is cover the difference which is about 60, 70,000 a year out of the portfolio until they hit age 70. They’re age 62, they got eight years. They do the math, they’re saying, you know what we’re going to need a total of maybe 600,000 700,000 out of our retirement savings to get a state 70 but once we’re there were golden.
00:24:21:24 – 00:24:43:08
Mike
Right, right. There’s not a million a half dollars. Do they have any problem saying, you know what, I’m going to take that million a half, I’m going to spend it down, you know I’ll take six 700 out of it over the next eight years and that’ll cover me until I get to age 70. Is that a problem? No, that’s an easy no, not a problem at all.
00:24:43:20 – 00:24:48:23
Mike
And by the way, I should mention, they also have long term care insurance. So it’s not like they have to save money for that. Right.
00:24:48:24 – 00:24:49:23
Zach
Fred has done really well.
00:24:50:06 – 00:25:15:13
Mike
Here’s the other thing. They also said, Mike, we really don’t have any children to leave this money to. It’s just going to go to charity. So it’s not like we’re trying to save money for kids, for them waiting until age 70. That works. That’s beautiful. Now, let’s compare. Well, I should have said that’s Barney and Betty because as I remember, Fred and Wilma, they do have well, I guess in our example, they both have kids, so whatever.
00:25:16:08 – 00:25:39:26
Mike
Anyway, we’re representing Fred Willard. Don’t have kids now. They’re best friends, Barney and Betty. They’re in a different situation. Yeah. Let’s say they save the same amount of money, but they don’t have any rental real estate, right? They have a child. Let’s call him bam, bam. No relation to any cartoon that would have occurred on a Saturday morning that I might have.
00:25:39:26 – 00:25:41:05
Zach
I never heard of bam, bam.
00:25:41:06 – 00:25:43:09
Mike
Right. What a name for a son.
00:25:43:10 – 00:25:43:24
Zach
Crazy.
00:25:43:27 – 00:26:14:23
Mike
He must play football. Anyway, they have a son bam, bam. The football player who has a lovely wife. We’ll call her Pebbles. Okay. Anyway, Barney and Betty they have roughly the same money, but they don’t have any any income, any rental income. They also want to live on maybe 70,000 a month. In retirement. And same thing, if they wait till age 70, their Social Security, it might be close to $7,000.
00:26:15:01 – 00:26:38:09
Mike
But here’s the deal. Since they have no income between now and age 70, they’re also 62. They’ve got to take all that 700,000 or seven, seven, 8000 a month out of their retirement savings. And if you do the math for them, if they do that for eight years, they’re going to spend down a huge chunk of that one and a half million that they’ve saved for retirement.
00:26:38:13 – 00:26:46:13
Mike
A huge chunk more than they want to spend down there. Like, man, if we have to spend on that much and we don’t have any long term care insurance, if we need health care later on, we could be in.
00:26:46:13 – 00:26:47:19
Zach
Trouble that could be a problem.
00:26:47:20 – 00:27:09:03
Mike
Right? In their situation, they actually do the opposite. They say, Hey, we’re 62, we can get Social Security now we know it’s a lot less money. You know, we’re going to get maybe because taken now, maybe we get 4000 a month or something like that. Right. But gosh, that only leaves a gap of like three or 4000 a month.
00:27:09:21 – 00:27:30:10
Mike
We’ve got a million and a half dollars that can easily cover the gap and still grow over time for them taking Social Security early is the right decision. And by the way, do you think that sometimes I come across families where it makes sense, where for a couple where one spouse might take it early and one spouse takes it late?
00:27:30:10 – 00:27:31:14
Mike
Do you think I come across that?
00:27:31:15 – 00:27:32:04
Zach
Absolutely.
00:27:32:16 – 00:27:57:09
Mike
Yeah, of course we do. By the way, I don’t want to forget all you single people out there. When should you take Social Security? It’s the same thing for you, right? Take it early, take it late. It all depends on your situation. And I’ve seen a number of situations. You know, let’s imagine that your name is oh, boy, Bob or Sue I am so creative with my names tonight.
00:27:57:16 – 00:27:57:29
Zach
Filling it.
00:27:58:09 – 00:28:17:15
Mike
Bob. Or soon you’re single, right? When should you take Social Security again? It just depends on your situation. It depends on whether or not you’re working. It depends on how much money you save for retirement. You know, it depends on do you have long term care insurance in place to protect you later in life? What about are you trying to leave money to children or to a charity?
00:28:17:25 – 00:28:20:25
Mike
Right. I don’t talk to anybody that wants to eliminate the IRS. For some reason.
00:28:20:25 – 00:28:22:07
Zach
I couldn’t guess why.
00:28:22:15 – 00:28:39:09
Mike
By the way, if you’re someone that likes you, if you’re thinking, man, I really want to leave a lot of money to the IRS, do me a favor and don’t call us. You’re just not our kind of people. I’m just saying right. I know. I probably just offended some people out there. I apologize for that.
00:28:39:11 – 00:28:39:26
Zach
The one.
00:28:39:26 – 00:29:04:06
Mike
The one. I’m just saying, don’t don’t just don’t put me through that. You know, I our job, the people we serve, they went all said and done. They want to live their lives comfortably. They want to live the retirement that they so richly deserve. They want to have that wonderful retirement, best years of their lives when if they’re married, if they’re single, when they’re gone, they want to leave money to children or charities.
00:29:04:13 – 00:29:24:10
Mike
If they’re married, they want to make sure that their surviving spouse is fine. And then after they’re both gone, they want to go to children or charities or a combination. Nobody seems to want to leave money. The IRS, I think they’re doing okay. Yep. Right. So there you go. All right. A little fun on where we leave money, but I know we’re coming up against a break we’re coming up to the end of the show.
00:29:24:10 – 00:29:48:09
Mike
And here’s the thing. This week we’re talking about Social Security. The right decision will put money in your pocket tens of thousands of dollars, maybe over $100,000 over your lifetime. Extra money in your pocket, money that you deserve because you’ve already contributed it to the system. If you make the wrong decision, you lose tens of thousands of dollars.
00:29:48:09 – 00:30:10:09
Mike
You lose maybe $100,000 money that’s owed to you I want to make sure that you get what you’re owed. You should get what you deserve. Right? You deserve it. Let’s make the right choices. So you get what you deserve. So and by the way, does the Social Security Administration, do they tell you how to do attack? No, they don’t.
00:30:10:16 – 00:30:25:04
Mike
They don’t. They just leave it in your lap. So our we want to help you with this. And we will put together for you a personalized Social Security analysis that will tell you how to get the most out of your Social Security. Zach What’s our number?
00:30:25:04 – 00:30:37:27
Zach
Mike It’s easy. It’s 512886 50, eight 50. Again, it’s 512886 58 50. Now it’s after hours yet or answering service you leave your name, number and a good time for us to give you a call back and we’ll give you this free analysis.
00:30:38:06 – 00:30:53:13
Mike
512886 50. Eight 50. Let’s help you get that free analysis so you can make those great decisions so you can enjoy the best that is yet to come for you. That’s our show tonight. Hope you all have a great week.
