What Happens To Social Security When You Retire at 55

00:00 Intro
01:30 Self Funding
02:55 Reduced Benefit for Claiming Early
03:21 Increased Benefit for Delayed Claiming
03:48 Impact of Retiring at 55 on Social Security
04:33 AIME - Average Indexed Monthly Earnings
04:55 Social Security Example with 30 Years of Earnings
06:18 Example - Claiming Early
06:47 Example - Delayed Claiming
07:07 Impact of $0 Earning Years
07:49 Opportunity Cost
09:24 Wage Indexing
11:08 Bloopers

Disclaimer: Please note that this video is made for entertainment purposes only and not to be taken as financial advice. Always make sure to do your own research.

Thanks for watching, I appreciate you!

[robertlaird]

When I was 19, I purchased raw land and also purchased a very used travel trailer to live in on my land rather than paying rent to someone. After working construction building custom homes from the ground up for my boss, I designed and built my home debt free all by myself. When I finished building it, I sold it and did the same thing again. After I had sold my second home, I quit my job and continued doing the same thing but keeping them as rental properties. I retired after my tenth rental when I was 31.

[punkbassandcovers]

I've had type 1 diabetes since age 11. I'll be lucky to even live to 62. Retirement by 55 has been my goal since I was a teenager. The best thing my parents taught me young was putting money aside for when I'm old. I'm 42 now. And self funding my retirement through Roth IRA s, my workplace 401k, etc .. over the past 20+ years will enable me to reach my retirement at 55 goals. If I make it to 62, Social Security will be a nice little bonus, but I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and rot in a work chair a few more years for what will be an insignificant couple grand a year from social security. Life's too short, especially for me.

[keithfrasier]

My wife and I both retired at 55, about 10 years ago. Every point you brought up is valid and something we had to deal with but we were able to make it work. What saved is was ACA for health insurance, 72T withdrawals from our IRA's to fund 7 years of living, and then claiming Social security at 62. Low bills and no car payments or credit card debt helped a lot! Thanks for a great video Erin!

[robertsims]

I retired at 52, now 56 I'm loving it. Plan, plan, plan ahead for retirement.

[johncooper]

Retired at 38. 21.years in the Army. Been retired for about 10 years now. Enlisting was one of the best moves I have made in my lifetime. Be blessed

[Brooklyn_FauxFurCoat]

When my mother hit 65, she pushed her retirement to 67. At 66, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She only benefited 6 months from her SS after she retired, and she passed away. RIP Mama.❤ Hopefully, this will be a reflection and lesson for us.

[kirklandphil]

Of all the SS videos I have watched this was the one that made it simple to understand. Well done Erin.

[Uncommonsensetoo]

I only have 24 years of SS income but retired at 52, not a moment too soon. I plan on taking SS at 70 as I considered it more like "longevity insurance". I have done well enough with my investments that I won't need the money. Working longer would just be a waste of the precious time I have left to live. I am now focusing on extending my life with a healthy lifestyle and just enjoying doing whatever I want to do. I love owning my time.

[nathanchapel]

As an investment advisor that’s been specializing in Social Security planning for more than a decade. You did a great job covering the topic!

[ktekonesix]

I’ll be retiring at age 55. What’s not talked about is the quality of life retiring as early as possible. I want to enjoy life while I still have my health versus 62+. You can alway make more money but you can’t make more time. My personal philosophy, that’s why I financially plan for my retirement early.

[paulseidel]

We are claiming early at 62. No one know how long they will live and we want to spend while we are healthy and let the investments grow with fewer withdrawals

[Jbiglin]

This is seriously the best, most informative explanation of how SS works that I have ever experienced anywhere on any media. Well done Erin!

[mpacker]

Love the bloopers. Your videos are always very well thought out. As someone that retired at 52 (self funded) it’s always nice to see your POVs. You present real information and not over the top sensationalism that many vlogs do. My wife and I had looked at all the zeros we were getting but decided it was okay. But it is important if you are going to be living off SS. Always look forward to your videos

[tl]

Wife retired at 53, 2 months before her 54th birthday and I was able to retire at 57.
9 months down for me and not looking back.

[lorirogers]

I retired from SSA after 20 years 1/2 of which I spent at the National 800 number. I watched thinking there’d be a lot to criticize. Nope. That is one of the best explanations of the impact of early retirement I’ve seen anywhere (including the explanation we were given). I was so wrong. Beautiful, exceptional job. SSA could incorporate this straight into their training program. Well done.

[ddcd]

When I was 25, I met with my first financial advisor who went over social security with me. He did the calculations based on my salary at that time and asked me if I could live on that amount of money. It was very eye-opening and motivated me to save/invest at least 10% of my income starting at that age. I just hit 50, and I actually don't include Social Security in my retirement income planning. I'm on track to retire at 58; Social Security will just be icing on the cake.

[simonsrattanroom]

Start SS at 62 ... I've seen multiple family members hold out for the full benefit and die shortly after, missing out on so much money that could have been used to pay off mortgages and leave the estate in a much better place.

[martypoll]

I actually did retire at 55 in 2011. I was able to receive a work pension at 55 and I remained in my work health benefits system. I started receiving my Social Security benefits at 62. I’m guessing I had between 30-35 years of Social Security contributions. As for monetary opportunity costs, you should consider the value in quality of life for retiring when you are younger and healthy. Experiences can be more valuable than money.

In my case I am getting a generous pension from a 30 engineering career. That work pension gets annual cost of living increases. Social Security is 25% of my total income. I am living in Thailand where my cost of living is lower. I also declined paying for Medicare Part B which saves me about $170/mo. Thirteen years later I have no regrets about these choices.

[thomasmoshier]

Retirement is personal decision and it’s different for each of us. For me, I had initially planned to retire at my FRA of 66 and 10 months. However at 65, I hit the wall and it caused me to reevaluate my situation. After crunching the numbers I came to the conclusion that whatever the financial gain of working an extra 18 months wasn’t worth it and retired right after I turned 65. A decision I’ve never regretted.

[ronmorrell]

A couple of my thoughts. I stopped having fun at work after about 37 years.
1.nAfter gritting my teeth for another year, I found that replacing low earning years with high earning years was increasing monthly payout by $15/month.
2. Studies of satisfaction vs income show plateauing after $70, 000/year (without attention to renting vs mortgage, vs paid off).
3. My mom's fatal heart attack at 55 and dad's early onset Alzheimer's needed consideration.
4. Retirement is wonderful.