It’s best to decide on a long-term plan that definitely reaches your goal, and then stick to that plan no matter what befalls you.
financial planning
Your Payback from Social Security
One of the big questions that many folks face with regard to Social Security benefits is – I’ve paid in so much, will I ever see it come back? I thought I’d show what a payback break-even might look like, in terms of the money you put into the system and what you’ll get back out of it. I made an assumption in the calculations: Future COLAs were not calculated into the example, keeping things in terms of today’s dollars. COLAs would only confuse the calculations. Full Retirement Age In this first series I assumed the normal, Full Retirement Age scenario, with two options: 1) you earned exactly half of the wage base that SSA requires withholding for each year of your 35-year working life, and you’re now age 66 and 2 months, Full Retirement Age; and 2) you earned exactly (or more than) the maximum amount of money that […]
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”.