Personal Finance and Investing

The other thing to be paying attention to if you continue to work but elect to take social security before your full retirement age (currently 66, will start rising in two month increments depending on your birth year) you will lose ss money after some specific amount in earnings. Okay, I just went to the ssa.gov website and found that it's currently $15,120 in gross wages or net self employment. The year you retire, you can earn up to $40,080 that year, without losing anything.

Here's a link to the page: http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/236

I plan to start collecting my social security next year, when I turn 66. I will still keep on working, and will initially throw most of my social security into savings. I expect to live well into my 80's, possibly a good decade longer. While it is sort of true that any of us could drop dead at any time, I don't worry about that happening. I am planning very carefully so that I can live a very long time and be okay financially. I am in excellent health, lucky me. I would generally advise people to think about collecting social security as soon as they hit their full retirement age and keep on working for a couple of years and save as much as possible during that time. For a reasonable number of people it's feasible. Others need to make different decisions.