life expectancy

Made It! Age 62, Eligible for Social Security

© Can Stock Photo / AndreyPopov

Yes, at age 62 I could claim Social Security benefits. But I won’t.

After talking with you for decades about your Social Security benefits and the tactics you might use in claiming benefits, I’m looking at my own situation. There may be lessons in it for others, so we’ll talk about it here.

Suppose my benefit at age 62 would be $1,500. That’s $18,000 a year! Why wouldn’t I claim it?

1. If I wait until later, my benefit will be larger. That’s $2,128 monthly at full retirement age (66 and 4 months) or $2,856 at age 70.

2. If I claim now, since I want to keep on working, my benefits would be reduced by 50 cents for every dollar I earn over about $17,000.

3. My benefits would be partly taxable because I would have other income of over $23,000 for the year, basically. (It’s complicated—consult your own tax advisor.)

4. Flexibility: A decision to defer claiming Social Security can be changed at any time in the future, if circumstances change.

Since I want to work to age 92, my guess is that I won’t claim until age 70. But that’s just me. Under what circumstances would it make sense to claim at age 62?

A. If your spouse qualifies for benefits twice as large as yours, check into claiming on your record at age 62 and changing to a claim on your spouse’s record at full retirement age. This gives you some benefit from your earnings record, which might otherwise go unused.

B. If you have an impaired life expectancy, an earlier claim might make more sense. A person who plans to claim at age 70 but dies at 68 ends up collecting nothing.

Clients, this is intended to illustrate some of the basic considerations about Social Security strategy. You can learn more at www.SocialSecurity.gov, where you may sign up for a personal account and obtain personal benefit estimates at any time.

Please email us or call if you would like to discuss this at greater length.


Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

This is a hypothetical example and is not representative of any specific investment. Your results may vary.

Case Study: The Life of Mr. S, and Working to 92

© Can Stock Photo / Leaf

Long ago, I met a man in his late forties. He had just resigned one position and accepted another. Needing a place for a 401(k) rollover, he agreed to do business with me. Our methods and access to investments were quite limited then (I was still in my twenties!), but I did the best I could.

Through the years his life evolved and changed; like all of us, he had his share of joy and pain. His wife began to suffer a chronic illness. His industry consolidated which caused some moves from town to town. But his children all ended up in successful marriages and careers, and grandchildren came. I advised him on wealth management throughout, helping him manage challenges from family health expenses and other things.

At sixty-six he retired, fearing he had not saved enough. The size of the fruit crop he needed each year seemed too large for the orchard he had grown, so to speak. We devised a plan that gave him a chance for things to work, although without any guarantees.

Of course, through these years, our knowledge and experience and confidence and capabilities flourished. We grew together.

Mr. S is pushing eighty-one years old now; poor Mrs. S had her disease go from chronic to acute and she succumbed a short while back. Mr. S stays busy helping with grandchildren and keeping up his home.

His retirement finances have worked out well, although this is not evidence of anything to anyone else. Good fortune played a role, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all that. But I still want to tell you what happened so far.

Over fifteen years, Mr. S has withdrawn more than he retired with—and he also still has a current account balance that is larger than when he started. He tells us it is like the endless coffee refills they have at the café.

I call Mr. S when I need a pick-me-up; his gratitude is boundless. This, friends, is why I want to work to age 92.

That gives us a little more than thirty years to help many more of you get to eighty with more confidence than you ever thought possible. If you are fifty or older now, we will do our best between now and then to earn your gratitude when you turn age eighty. Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email or call us.


The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

This is a hypothetical example and is not representative of any specific investment. Your results may vary.

Crab Claws, Sustainability, and Your Money

© Can Stock Photo / connect

Perhaps the most sustainable crop in the world is the stone crab claw, a seasonal Florida delicacy. You see, stone crabs are caught in live traps, a claw is removed, and the crab is returned to the water. The claw regenerates, usually growing back larger than before—an ability they evolved to escape predators, which now supplies Florida fisheries with a sustainable catch.

We have come a long way since 1883, when a keynote speaker at the International Fisheries Exposition in London proclaimed that “all the great sea fisheries are inexhaustible.” We later learned to our chagrin that it is, in fact, entirely possible to harvest anything to the point of extinction.

Fortunately we also figured out how to nurture fisheries to produce more fish, and to limit harvest to sustainable levels. You can take out the entire population of fish just once…but you may be able to harvest some fraction of the population, year after year, until the end of time.

A pertinent comparison may be made to your stock of wealth in retirement. Like a fishery, a portfolio can be over-harvested until it inevitably declines and disappears. But with sustainable management, it may produce a recurring crop. This is the endowment principle in action. A dollar may be spent one time only—but if invested, the income from it may be spent every year, in perpetuity.

Decades ago, our life expectancies did not extend long past retirement age. Planning for a short retirement, one could aim at a target sum and figure that it would be spent down over a few years, then there would be a funeral. But with many life expectancies extending decades past retirement, the arithmetic of planning has changed completely. Not every financial planner has kept up with the change.

Sustainable fisheries assure the world that it will not run out of fish. Sustainable portfolios reduce the chance that you will run out of money in retirement. One of our objects is to help you understand what part of your resources may be considered permanent capital, to be invested on a sustainable basis.

This is a process that has some nuances; each of you has a different situation and specific goals. Clients, if you would like to talk about your situation, please write or call.


The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.