Author Topic: How to Include Social Security in my Planning?  (Read 1394 times)

IsThisAGoodUsername

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How to Include Social Security in my Planning?
« on: August 15, 2018, 12:53:42 PM »
I'm a new member and have decided to get my sh!t together.  I'm a 46M divorced with no debt, $16k in emergency liquid savings, and about $125k in retirement accounts. I'm still working on my spreadsheets, but I just checked my Social Security account and see that I have benefits of >$1k/month depending on when I retire. How do I include this in my FIRE spreadsheet, if at all?

Many thanks!

Ravenik

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Re: How to Include Social Security in my Planning?
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2018, 12:57:09 PM »
Welcome!  From my observations, most folks around here don't even factor SS into their calculations.  It would just be a cherry on top.

Another Reader

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Re: How to Include Social Security in my Planning?
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2018, 01:07:35 PM »
At 46, Social Security will likely exist when it's your turn to collect.  The bad news, at that point, the trust fund is anticipated to be depleted and the payout, without funding changes, is likely to be around 75 percent of the number shown.  Also, that number assumes you will work to full retirement age.  There are tools on the SSA website for you to estimate your annuity assuming later years of zero earned income.

You can use this information in several of the various retirement calculators - Fidelity has one, there is fire calc and its' derivative, Cfiresim, plus many others to choose from.

In your shoes, I would probably concentrate on loading up your retirement accounts starting now so that you are prepared for whatever Social Security throws you.  At any age, the time to retirement is largely governed by your savings rate.