On Thu, 08 May 2014 10:43:40 -0400, woodchucker
wrote:

On 5/7/2014 8:55 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2014 23:12:02 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 5/6/2014 9:42 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2014 14:48:39 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 5/6/2014 2:33 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
woodchucker wrote:
On 5/6/2014 10:44 AM, Leon wrote:
On 5/6/2014 9:39 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On 5/6/2014 8:41 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL, It seems that early projects take for ever, treasure that
because you are relatively young.

My projects take forever for three reasons:

1. Figuring out how to do things, sometimes without the most
efficient tool.
2. Errors

All a necessary part of the learning process.



but mostly because:

3. A few hours each weekend is pretty much all the time I have to
devote to woodworking.

That is the way I was before I retired at 40. Woodworking helped me
to keep my sanity.
I rebuilt and enlarged the kitchen in our previous home when I was
still working full time. That took IIRC about 18 months.




As for being "relatively young", if that's true, what kind of
geezers must I be talking to here?


LOL some us are really really old. LOL I'll be 60 this year.






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You retired at 40?

How'd you do that? I am 56 and still trying to keep in the
workplace... Not very sucessfully. Might have something on the hook
but it is totally messed up hours.. 1am start time.. not happy.

Leon did some things right in his earlier years that some of the rest of us
did not do. That - and his wife is still working and contributing to their
income.

Actually she retired in August of 2012. Her retirement package was very
nice also. She waited until she was 54. ;~)

My wife can't find a job so has decided she'd rather be retired,
though doesn't have the income. ;-) She can take SS but we're trying
to decide whether it's better to wait. It's not like we need the
money.

Something to consider, we will probably take my SS at 62, IIRC I
determined that I have to live to 78 to benefit more by waiting until 65
vs 62. So basically it takes 16 years to end up getting more money. We
will probably wait to take my wife's SS as that will be a greater amount
and if either of us dies one of us gets the bigger amount of SS. So in
her case we may wait until she is 70.

I've been studying the various strategies. The best I've seen is for
the higher earner (higher SS payments) to hang on as long as possible.
The other can retire early and collect their SS whenever. When the
higher earner turns 66 (in my case), he files to collect SS, then
suspends payments. The other can then get the spousal benefit which
is half of what the higher earner would make, minus the spouse's SS
payment (plus the payment the spouse was receiving before). Then at
70, the higher earner starts collecting, no matter what his income.

If she started collecting today, we wouldn't catch up until we were
76, but the payments when we need it would be substantially less
(~$700/mo). We're weighing the alternatives.

As you say, if either of us die, it wouldn't matter if she started now
or later. It is a big factor.


I have not even looked yet, but I really didn't understand the above,
why would you file to collect, then suspend?

Because your spouse can then collect "spousal benefits", which can be
1/2 of yours (50% of yours minus 100% of hers). She can't claim it
until you've filed, though. As long as you suspend, then your benefit
continues to rise as you pay more in.

On 5/8/2014 8:35 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 08 May 2014 10:43:40 -0400, woodchucker
wrote:

On 5/7/2014 8:55 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2014 23:12:02 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 5/6/2014 9:42 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 06 May 2014 14:48:39 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 5/6/2014 2:33 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
woodchucker wrote:
On 5/6/2014 10:44 AM, Leon wrote:
On 5/6/2014 9:39 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On 5/6/2014 8:41 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL, It seems that early projects take for ever, treasure that
because you are relatively young.

My projects take forever for three reasons:

1. Figuring out how to do things, sometimes without the most
efficient tool.
2. Errors

All a necessary part of the learning process.



but mostly because:

3. A few hours each weekend is pretty much all the time I have to
devote to woodworking.

That is the way I was before I retired at 40. Woodworking helped me
to keep my sanity.
I rebuilt and enlarged the kitchen in our previous home when I was
still working full time. That took IIRC about 18 months.




As for being "relatively young", if that's true, what kind of
geezers must I be talking to here?


LOL some us are really really old. LOL I'll be 60 this year.






---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
protection is active.
http://www.avast.com


You retired at 40?

How'd you do that? I am 56 and still trying to keep in the
workplace... Not very sucessfully. Might have something on the hook
but it is totally messed up hours.. 1am start time.. not happy.

Leon did some things right in his earlier years that some of the rest of us
did not do. That - and his wife is still working and contributing to their
income.

Actually she retired in August of 2012. Her retirement package was very
nice also. She waited until she was 54. ;~)

My wife can't find a job so has decided she'd rather be retired,
though doesn't have the income. ;-) She can take SS but we're trying
to decide whether it's better to wait. It's not like we need the
money.

Something to consider, we will probably take my SS at 62, IIRC I
determined that I have to live to 78 to benefit more by waiting until 65
vs 62. So basically it takes 16 years to end up getting more money. We
will probably wait to take my wife's SS as that will be a greater amount
and if either of us dies one of us gets the bigger amount of SS. So in
her case we may wait until she is 70.

I've been studying the various strategies. The best I've seen is for
the higher earner (higher SS payments) to hang on as long as possible.
The other can retire early and collect their SS whenever. When the
higher earner turns 66 (in my case), he files to collect SS, then
suspends payments. The other can then get the spousal benefit which
is half of what the higher earner would make, minus the spouse's SS
payment (plus the payment the spouse was receiving before). Then at
70, the higher earner starts collecting, no matter what his income.

If she started collecting today, we wouldn't catch up until we were
76, but the payments when we need it would be substantially less
(~$700/mo). We're weighing the alternatives.

As you say, if either of us die, it wouldn't matter if she started now
or later. It is a big factor.


I have not even looked yet, but I really didn't understand the above,
why would you file to collect, then suspend?

Because your spouse can then collect "spousal benefits", which can be
1/2 of yours (50% of yours minus 100% of hers). She can't claim it
until you've filed, though. As long as you suspend, then your benefit
continues to rise as you pay more in.


Thanks, got it.

--
Jeff