The question of delaying retirement may arise as you get closer to your “goal year” of when you want to retire. For some individuals’ fortunate enough to be covered under a company or state pension, it can be tempting to retire as soon as possible and collect the pension benefit. The same may be true for folks wanting to start taking Social Security at age 62. Before making the decision to retire or retire early an individual should consider the effects on delaying retirement and continuing to work. This is assuming that they can accrue extra pension benefits for the extra years of service. For Social Security, this would be delaying past an individual’s normal retirement age as long as to age 70. For example, let’s say an individual has the opportunity to be eligible to retire at age 55 and receive a pension of $5,500 per month. However, if […]
baby boomers
Selling Your Home? Be Aware of These Half-Truths
Since selling a home is one of those events that many folks only do a few times in their lives, there is much uncertainty about what kinds of potential rules and laws may trip you up. Recent data suggests that the average American will buy and sell their primary home something like 10 times in their lifetimes – for many that number will be far less. There is a lot of information about the tax impacts of selling a home out there flying about on the internet, and some of it is mostly bunk. And much of what’s not bunk is limited in applicability. Below are a few half-truths about home sales that you want to understand before you sell your home, along with the explanation of the facts behind them, including how they may apply to your situation if at all. 1. If I sell my house I need […]
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Medicare Part B
The next letter in our Medicare alphabet soup is Part B. Part B is essentially medical insurance that covers doctor’s services, outpatient care, home health services, and durable medical equipment. It will also cover some other services as well as well as many preventative services. As far as what doctors will and will not cover Part B depends on whether or not they have agreed to assignment. Assignment is simply your doctor or another health care provider agreeing to be paid directly by Medicare and be willing to accept the payment amount that Medicare decides is the value of the service. Agreement also means the doctor or health care provider cannot charge you any more than what the deductible and coinsurance amounts are. The basic cost for Medicare Part B for 2013 is $104.90 monthly. Individuals with higher AGI may end up paying more. The table below, courtesy of Medicare.gov shows […]
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The ABC’s (and D’s) of Medicare
With more and more baby boomers retiring, more and more people including the Boomers, and their children and families are going to have questions and concerns about Medicare. Questions can range from what Medicare is, what it does, what it doesn’t do, and the nuances that make up our nation’s health care for retirees. Medicare was created in 1965 by the Social Security Act and was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. Currently, Medicare is funded via taxation and premiums paid by Medicare subscriber. Part A – which we will cover in a future article, is funded by a 2.9% tax on wages. Unlike Social Security tax that has a limit or cap on the amount of income that can be taxed ($110,100 in 2012 and $113,700 in 2013), Medicare has no such wage base. The 2.9% tax is on an unlimited amount of earnings. Eligibility for Medicare typically starts for […]
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Factors to take into account when planning Social Security filing
As with the overall process of planning for retirement income, there are certain important factors external to Social Security benefits that you need to take into account while planning when to file for benefits. In the list below I will detail some of these factors and why they are important to the process. Important Factors When Planning Social Security Filing Pension income. Pension income must be considered with special care when planning your Social Security filing strategy. Often, pensions will increase in value up to a certain age of commencement and then there are no increases after that age. Coordinating your pension with your Social Security benefits can enhance your overall income stream – since a pension is generally a guaranteed source of income for yourself and possibly your spouse. In addition, since many pensions are not indexed for inflation, meaning that there are no Cost-of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs), it probably makes […]
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Baby Boomers Start Medicare
As of 12:01am EST on January 1, 2011, the very first Baby Boomer reached age 65… and that means that the era of Baby Boomers receiving Medicare has officially commenced. It is estimated that, during the period when Boomers are reaching age 65, between now and roughly 2030, the number of folks on the Medicare rolls will double. Presently there are approximately 40 million Medicare recipients, and that number is expected to be around 80 million in 20 years. These incredible numbers will cause major challenges in funding the system – along with serious challenges in controlling the overall costs of healthcare during this period. The rate of increase in the over-65 population will cause dramatic changes in the healthcare system in terms of capacity, costs, and controls. The new healthcare law passed earlier this year created an Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is supposed to provide guidance on how […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.