Ideally, you should to view retirement planning as part of a holistic long-term strategy for aging. Yes, you want to make sure that you set aside resources that you can draw from during your active retirement years. If you have an adequate underpinning, you can enjoy quality time with your family, engage in leisure activities, and cross things off of your bucket list.
Income will be important during your active retirement years, and you should be fully aware of what you can expect from Social Security. The exact amount of your Social Security benefit will be based on your 35 highest earning years.
It is possible to accept a reduced benefit when you are as young as 62 years of age. The exact age of eligibility for your full benefit depends upon the year of your birth. If you are not yet receiving a Social Security benefit, you will become eligible when you are between 66 and 67 years of age.
You can choose to delay the submission of your application for Social Security beyond the age of full retirement. This would result in an eight percent increase in your benefit for every year that you delay the submission of your application, but this arrangement ends when you reach the age of 70.
If you are making more during these latter years that you were making during any of the 35 preceeding years, this would also increase the amount of your benefit when you begin to draw it.
Don’t Overestimate
Some people feel an undue sense of security because they know that they will qualify for Social Security as senior citizens. You have to understand the fact that the benefits are modest. In 2015, the average Social Security benefit for a single recipient is just $1328. Even the maximum of $2663 per month is not exactly a king’s ransom that will allow you to live a life of luxury.
Twilight Years
When you think about retirement planning, you may focus on the good times that lie ahead, but you should also consider the twilight years that will follow. Many seniors will require help with their activities of daily living eventually, and Medicare does not pay for long-term care.
This is something that you should take very seriously when you are engaged in your retirement planning efforts, because long-term care is very expensive, and people often require multiple years of care before they pass away.
Take Action
There are many eventualities that you have to address if you want to be fully prepared from a retirement planning perspective. If you take the right steps, you can brace yourself for these contingencies.
Our firm would be glad to help if you are ready to put a plan in place. We offer free consultations, and you can send us a message through this page to set up an appointment: Grand Forks ND Retirement Planning Attorneys.
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