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Retirement – What Could Go Wrong?
You’ve worked hard for 30 or 40 years, raised a bunch of kids and launched them into adulthood, and now you’re excited to embark on the next phase in your life – stepping back from the daily grind, traveling to far-off lands, having time to enjoy your hobbies, and trying new things. You’ve managed to accumulate a tidy nest egg and, with Social Security, don’t anticipate needing to withdraw more than 4% of it per year. (Bill Bengen would be proud!) Your mortgage is paid off, you have a plan for the future, and you’re still in love with your spouse. Things look good. What could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately,…
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Social Security for Couples – It’s Complicated
Welcome back to Retirement Hangout! I recently turned 66 – Full Retirement Age for receiving Social Security retirement benefits. Inspired by this milestone, I decided to check out several free social security calculators even though I plan to defer benefits until I’m 70. Today’s post explores some of the thought-provoking results I found. As we all know, a successful relationship requires hard work; it turns out that this includes financial decision-making about when to take social security. Couples need to coordinate their social security retirement benefits to optimize their joint financial welfare. Exactly how they do this and what they decide will vary according to each couple’s circumstances, health, aversion…