Social Security Calculators

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Social Security Calculators

Post by bobcat2 »

At About.com they have brief reviews and comparisons of six Social Security calculators so you can get the most out of your lifetime SS benefits.
See this link. http://moneyover55.about.com/od/socials ... lators.htm

Now I see there is a new kid on the SS calculator block. Impact Technologies Group has released a new SS calculator designed for financial planners. This thing costs about $250 but anybody can download and use it for free for two weeks. Later they will release a simpler version for consumers, but according to the Financial Security Project at Boston College this pro version is both powerful and easy to use.

Here is a link to the blog report at Boston College on the new SS calculator.
http://fsp.bc.edu/social-security-there ... etter-way/

Here is a link for downloading the new Social Security Explorer calculator.
https://www.planfacts.com/subscribe/sse

Here are links to a two part video tutorial by Dave Freitag of Impact Technologies on the importance of making a good SS claiming decision and how the Social Security Explorer calculator can help people make an optimal claiming decision.
Link to Part 1 of the tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnwiZWzxoiE
Link to Part 2 of the tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQwGDD6 ... =endscreen

And here is a fairly recent Larry Kotlikoff column on a 'simple' equation Larry has developed for calculating when to take Social Security benefits.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2 ... e-formula/

BobK
Last edited by bobcat2 on Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by LadyGeek »

How do they compare to the calculators from the Social Security Administration, which are in the wiki?

Wiki article link: Tools and Calculators

Should the wiki be updated?
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by chaz »

These links are nice, but they appear too late to help me as I started SS at age 70.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by bobcat2 »

Hi LadyGeek,

Here is an excerpt from a Dana Anspach column on Social Security calculators.
There are two types of Social Security calculators. The first type simply provides you an estimate of your Social Security retirement benefits. The second type helps you decide when to collect your Social Security benefits so you get the most possible over your (and your spouse’s) lifetime(s).

At the first link below you’ll find a list of three calculators provided by the Social Security website. They all provide an estimate of your benefits, but no guidance as to when you should begin benefits or how it could be to your benefit to coordinate your claiming choice with your spouse.
http://moneyover55.about.com/od/socials ... lators.htm

This second link provides a list of calculators that offer more than estimates; they provide guidance and education as to how you can make the best Social Security decision possible.
http://moneyover55.about.com/od/socials ... lators.htm

The bottom line is the longer you live, the more it pays to delay claiming your Social Security benefits. For most couples, if one or the other lives past 80, they will use less of their own savings and investments by making a smart Social Security claiming choice. Using a calculator to help make such a choice could pay off.
Link to article. http://moneyover55.about.com/od/socials ... ulator.htm

As you may have noticed by now, the second link is to one of the articles I linked to in the original post on this thread. :wink:

I suggest updating the Wiki with the list of calculators that provide guidance on how to make the best SS claiming decision. If I find the time I intend to download and use the $249 SS calculator for the free two weeks. I suggest others do the same.

So adding the SS Explorer calculator to the list would mean adding 7 SS claiming strategy calculators to the Wiki by my count.

Best,
BobK
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by bobcat2 »

chaz wrote:These links are nice, but they appear too late to help me as I started SS at age 70.
That's probably what the calculators would have told you to do chaz. You just saved some money and time. :happy

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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by chaz »

bobcat2 wrote:
chaz wrote:These links are nice, but they appear too late to help me as I started SS at age 70.
That's probably what the calculators would have told you to do chaz. You just saved some money and time. :happy

BobK
Thanks. Pleased to read those nice words.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by LadyGeek »

I updated the wiki to point to the articles and link back to this thread.

Wiki article link: Tools and Calculators (Social Security)

I also revisited Social Security Choices. It appears they are now charging a fee for customized reports, I updated the wiki.

bobcat2 - you might want to take a look at the AARP calculator, as the referenced thread points to a problem: Subject: Web/Online calculators: When to Collect Social Security?
wndowd wrote:I wanted to add to the list of limitations (really a flaw) of the AARP calculator. In my eyes, the number one flaw is their 0% discount rate. Currently, the AARP calculator draws no distinction between $1000 received now and $1000 received 25 years from now. This means that they typically advise clients to take benefits later than they would if they appropriately discounted future income.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by bobcat2 »

Another source for optimizing your Social Security benefits over your lifetime is the book, Social Security Strategies by Reichenstein and Meyer.
Link to book. http://www.amazon.com/Social-Security-S ... inw_strp_1

Along with the book is the associated website - Social Security Solutions. At the website there is a simple free SS calculator, a "Recommended" SS calculator for $20, and a "Recommended Plus" SS calculator for $50. You can also purchase services where they work with you to answer questions and help you file if you find a particular claiming strategy daunting.
Link to website. http://www.socialsecuritysolutions.com/index.php

There is lots of good information about Social Security on their website particularly in the sections Expert Commentary and Knowledge Center. Also at the website you can sign up for their free newsletter.

This calculator is rated the second best choice among the six retirement calculators reviewed in the About.com article referenced in the OP on this thread. But I feel that because of all the additional information - the book, newsletter, commentary section etc., this calculator and website deserve special mention. BTW the #1 rated calculator in the About.com article is Maximize My Social Security, which is a SS calculator put out by Larry Kotlikoff and the crew at ESPlanner.

BobK
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by moneyover55 »

This is Dana Anspach, who writes the MoneyOver55 content for About.com. I have recently updated my Social Security Calculator article at http://moneyover55.about.com/od/socials ... lators.htm to provide a series of questions you can use to compare and evaluate calculators, and I have organized them by FOR A FEE, FOR FREE and FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS. Kudos to the vendors who continue to improve and update their offerings. It is challenging to keep up.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by bobcat2 »

Thanks for the update Dana. Optimizing SS benefits is for many people the biggest retirement decision they make. Just thoughtlessly taking SS at 62 can be a very costly error. These SS calculators are truly valuable, because when to optimally take SS is a decision amendable to quantitative analysis.

I personally think these SS calculators are much more useful than most general use retirement calculators - where what to be optimized is typically either dubious or nonexistent. :)

Best,
Bob Kirchner
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by xram »

http://www.ssa.gov/estimator/

Are the estimated benefits in today's dollars or future dollars?

Thanks
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by 2retire »

Today's dollars.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by ThePrune »

Just a few more details that I just uncovered about two popular fee-based Social Security optimizing calculators.

According to the article The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence by John Shoven and Sita Slavov, the optimal Social Security claiming strategy depends on the prevailing real interest rate at the time of claiming.

The Maximize My Social Security calculator developed in conjunction with Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff (Boston University) includes the ability to incorporate the effects of real interests rates on the optimization. [Their staff confirmed this to me today via e-mail.] The calculator uses your inputs for nominal interest rates and prevailing inflation rates to estimate the real interest rate.

In contrast, the Social Security Solutions calculator developed in conjunction with Prof. William Reichenstein (Baylor University) does not have the ability to incorporate the effects of real interests rates on the optimization.
SSS Staff wrote:Our tool looks at social security only. So, it is in isolation from the other assets. We determine the claiming strategy that will get you, and your spouse, the most in cumulative lifetime benefits, with the dual goal of protecting you against living beyond your life expectancy.
For many people this additional information may sway the decision of which program to spend money on.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

Why bother. I can already tell you you'll get more waiting later-but most of us want to take it asap. I did. When to take is a visceral thing-logic has norhting to do with it.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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Hi Prune,

I purchased Kotlikoff's SS planning software earlier this year and can confirm that it does take real interest rates into account. I presented some analysis of the situation my wife and I are in at the last DC Bogleheads meeting using the software and showed that for us at least the NPV of waiting to age 70 when real interest rates are very low, like they are now, is close to $300,000 when compared to taking benefits ASAP. :happy

IIRC the analysis also showed than when real interest rates are above 3% the best time to take benefits for me is age 69 - not 70. Right now I am not overly concerned about what actions to take in that state of nature. :P

BobK
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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Article where Larry Kotlikoff discusses the implicit assumptions built into different SS planning software products. Much of the article is concerned with what should be the appropriate planning horizon for calculating lifetime SS benefits. Here are some other points Larry makes in the article.
Asking users to enter their full retirement benefits, rather than their covered earnings histories and calculating benefits from scratch is, itself, a dicey practice. The source of both full retirement benefit and covered earnings histories is Social Security’s website. But Social Security’s retirement benefit calculator assumes zero real wage growth as well as zero inflation – in all future years! These assumptions are fully at odds not just with the entire postwar history of our economy, but also with what Social Security’s Trustees, themselves, assume about the future. ...

Given that the earnings histories can be copied and pasted into a software program, there seems to be no reason to use a biased calculation of the full retirement benefit. Moreover, if one wants to assume future benefit cuts, the calculator should let one do so directly. The exact earnings histories are needed to implement the Recomputation of Benefits for those beneficiaries who continue to work. They are also need to correctly calculate survivor benefits.
Link - http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exch ... 35643.html

BobK
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator


http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by JW-Retired »

gerrym51 wrote:since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator


http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
Your link doesn't work right.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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gerrym51 wrote:since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator:
http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
The link worked fine for me. I'm not sure why JW Nearly Retired had problems.

Your statement that "the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed" may confuse some readers. What isn't inflation indexed is the absolute dollar amounts of Modified Adjusted Gross Income at which Social Security benefits begin to be taxed. But the "tax rate brackets" used to calculate the taxes owed are inflation indexed. (Now that I think about it, this added detail is probably even more confusing that the original statement :oops: .)
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by Epsilon Delta »

bobcat2 wrote:Article where Larry Kotlikoff discusses the implicit assumptions built into different SS planning software products. Much of the article is concerned with what should be the appropriate planning horizon for calculating lifetime SS benefits. Here are some other points Larry makes in the article.
Asking users to enter their full retirement benefits, rather than their covered earnings histories and calculating benefits from scratch is, itself, a dicey practice. The source of both full retirement benefit and covered earnings histories is Social Security’s website. But Social Security’s retirement benefit calculator assumes zero real wage growth as well as zero inflation – in all future years! These assumptions are fully at odds not just with the entire postwar history of our economy, but also with what Social Security’s Trustees, themselves, assume about the future. ...

Given that the earnings histories can be copied and pasted into a software program, there seems to be no reason to use a biased calculation of the full retirement benefit. Moreover, if one wants to assume future benefit cuts, the calculator should let one do so directly. The exact earnings histories are needed to implement the Recomputation of Benefits for those beneficiaries who continue to work. They are also need to correctly calculate survivor benefits.
Link - http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exch ... 35643.html

BobK
The rational for using zero inflation and zero wage increases is that SS and wages will increase with inflation and assuming zero for both is the simplest way to do the calculation in real dollars. Criticizing these assumptions without explaining this is at best disingenuous. The points Mr. Kotlikoff raises are worth thinking about, but his conclusions are not.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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bobcat2 wrote:Article where Larry Kotlikoff discusses the implicit assumptions built into different SS planning software products. Much of the article is concerned with what should be the appropriate planning horizon for calculating lifetime SS benefits. Here are some other points Larry makes in the article.
Link - Not All Social Security Advice Is Created Equal
BobK
Nice article, bobcat2. But after reading it carefully there appears to be a few facts about the married couple, George and Mary, that have not been given correctly. I suspect a few words were omitted.
Original Article wrote:“Mary should file for retirement benefit at full retirement age in June 2018. George should file for a spousal benefit when Mary files for her retirement benefit in June 2018.
Proposed Corrected Article wrote:“Mary should file for retirement benefit at GEORGE'S full retirement age in June 2018. George should file for a spousal benefit when Mary files for her retirement benefit in June 2018.
Mary can't reach FRA in June 2018, because that would put her birthday in 1952. Later in the same quote George reaches age 70 in June 2022, putting his birthday in 1952. Yet at the start of the article we are told that George is 4 years older than Mary. From these observations I have made my proposed correction.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

ThePrune wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator:
http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
The link worked fine for me. I'm not sure why JW Nearly Retired had problems.

Your statement that "the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed" may confuse some readers. What isn't inflation indexed is the absolute dollar amounts of Modified Adjusted Gross Income at which Social Security benefits begin to be taxed. But the "tax rate brackets" used to calculate the taxes owed are inflation indexed. (Now that I think about it, this added detail is probably even more confusing that the original statement :oops: .)
you are correct. the brackets don't adjust. if you wait on SSuntil 70-you will obviously get higher ss payouts-but required minimum withdrawals also start at 70-if you have substantial defered accounts higher ss payments can cause substantially higher taxes
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by JW-Retired »

ThePrune wrote:
According to the article The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence by John Shoven and Sita Slavov, the optimal Social Security claiming strategy depends on the prevailing real interest rate at the time of claiming.
Thanks Prune, this is a very thorough (50 page) paper. One fact that is shocking to me is how miniscule the number of people delaying SS actually is. See histograms Figures 8-11. Very small number even delay until FRA and those delaying until 70 are nearly invisible on the graph.

In about 8 more months I am going to join a flock of exceedingly rare birds.
JW
ps: I just noticed we now have a spell checker! Thank you whoever made this happen. :beer
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

JW Nearly Retired wrote:
ThePrune wrote:
According to the article The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence by John Shoven and Sita Slavov, the optimal Social Security claiming strategy depends on the prevailing real interest rate at the time of claiming.
Thanks Prune, this is a very thorough (50 page) paper. One fact that is shocking to me is how miniscule the number of people delaying SS actually is. See histograms Figures 8-11. Very small number even delay until FRA and those delaying until 70 are nearly invisible on the graph.

In about 8 more months I am going to join a flock of exceedingly rare birds.
JW
ps: I just noticed we now have a spell checker! Thank you whoever made this happen. :beer

i actually knew someone who delaved taking until 70. My deceased brother in law-he died at 79 his wife predeacesed him but after he had turned 70. who knows what's best
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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gerrym51 wrote:I actually knew someone who delayed taking until 70. My deceased brother in law - he died at 79; his wife predeacesed him but after he had turned 70. who knows what's best
That's a very good point! Everyone needs to remember that delaying Social Security is in many ways like buying insurance against living too long. Your "insurance premiums" are represented by the Social Securty benefits you don't receive between ages 62 and 70. If you die "early", you don't collect on your insurance policy; you paid in more than you get out. But if you live a long time, you'll collect more in benefits than you "paid in" by delaying their start.

This is how all insurance works - we pay an upfront price to purchase a hedge against a financial risk. I've personally got no problem with that. Purchasing the insurance policy (delaying Social Security) is fine with me.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

ThePrune wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:I actually knew someone who delayed taking until 70. My deceased brother in law - he died at 79; his wife predeacesed him but after he had turned 70. who knows what's best
That's a very good point! Everyone needs to remember that delaying Social Security is in many ways like buying insurance against living too long. Your "insurance premiums" are represented by the Social Securty benefits you don't receive between ages 62 and 70. If you die "early", you don't collect on your insurance policy; you paid in more than you get out. But if you live a long time, you'll collect more in benefits than you "paid in" by delaying their start.

This is how all insurance works - we pay an upfront price to purchase a hedge against a financial risk. I've personally got no problem with that. Purchasing the insurance policy (delaying Social Security) is fine with me.


I took mine at 62 :mrgreen:
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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JW Nearly Retired wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator

http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
Your link doesn't work right.
The link isn't straight-forward, as it's redirecting from Money Over 55. (If you don't understand what this means, don't worry about it.) Here's the calculator: How much of my social security benefit may be taxed?
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

LadyGeek wrote:
JW Nearly Retired wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed.heres a simple ss tax calculator

http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
Your link doesn't work right.
The link isn't straight-forward, as it's redirecting from Money Over 55. (If you don't understand what this means, don't worry about it.) Here's the calculator: How much of my social security benefit may be taxed?

ladygeek-thanks-but i tried the links i earlier posted and they all go to the right page-i suppose it could be different browsers give somewhat different locations-i have had this happen at other times. thanks
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by JW-Retired »

LadyGeek wrote:
JW Nearly Retired wrote:
gerrym51 wrote: since there are all these ss calculators when to take-they are done in a vacuum. the taxes on SS are not inflation indexed. heres a simple ss tax calculator

http://moneyover55.about.com/gi/o.htm?z ... m/do/inc08
Your link doesn't work right.
The link isn't straight-forward, as it's redirecting from Money Over 55. (If you don't understand what this means, don't worry about it.) Here's the calculator: How much of my social security benefit may be taxed?
Lady Geek,
Thanks for trying but your link is broken too. I can get to http://www.calcxml.com/ but none of their calculators will open once I'm there. It may have something to do with Windows 7 recently updating me to IE10. No trouble with any other links until these.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by moneyover55 »

MoneyOver55 here. The links worked fine for me. One caution on the CalcXML link (http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/how- ... y-be-taxed) is that it is only calculating taxes on your SS benefits but it IS NOT factoring in that with increased income in one area, you may end up paying more federal taxes on other sources of income such as IRA withdrawals because your income ends up deeper into a threshold range. (OR as gerrym51wrote, the calculations are done in a vacuum.) I wrote a book that was released in April called Control Your Retirement Destiny. It has a 40 page chapter on Social Security with detailed examples as well as an entire chapter on taxes that goes into detail on SS taxation and the interaction with your other income. I'd love some feedback from the Boglehead community on it.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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moneyover55 wrote:I wrote a book that was released in April called Control Your Retirement Destiny. It has a 40 page chapter on Social Security with detailed examples as well as an entire chapter on taxes that goes into detail on SS taxation and the interaction with your other income. I'd love some feedback from the Boglehead community on it.
Dana, I've added your book Control Your Retirement Destiny to my Amazon.com Wish List. I'll buy it when I place my next order. I'm particularly interested in comparing your discussion of SS taxation with the output of my retirement planning program (that I use for illustrations in my classes ) that performs a complete tax analysis for all sources of income, including Social Security. I'm testing out a new portion of that spreadsheet that shows how marginal tax rates jump around as the percentage of taxable Social Security rises steadily from 0% to 85%. So I'm interested in using your book's observations to help test the correctness of my marginal tax calculations.

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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

moneyover55 wrote:MoneyOver55 here. The links worked fine for me. One caution on the CalcXML link (http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/how- ... y-be-taxed) is that it is only calculating taxes on your SS benefits but it IS NOT factoring in that with increased income in one area, you may end up paying more federal taxes on other sources of income such as IRA withdrawals because your income ends up deeper into a threshold range. (OR as gerrym51wrote, the calculations are done in a vacuum.) I wrote a book that was released in April called Control Your Retirement Destiny. It has a 40 page chapter on Social Security with detailed examples as well as an entire chapter on taxes that goes into detail on SS taxation and the interaction with your other income. I'd love some feedback from the Boglehead community on it.
wheres the KINDLE edition
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Re: Social Security Calculators

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gerrym51 wrote:
moneyover55 wrote:MoneyOver55 here. The links worked fine for me. One caution on the CalcXML link (http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/how- ... y-be-taxed) is that it is only calculating taxes on your SS benefits but it IS NOT factoring in that with increased income in one area, you may end up paying more federal taxes on other sources of income such as IRA withdrawals because your income ends up deeper into a threshold range. (OR as gerrym51wrote, the calculations are done in a vacuum.) I wrote a book that was released in April called Control Your Retirement Destiny. It has a 40 page chapter on Social Security with detailed examples as well as an entire chapter on taxes that goes into detail on SS taxation and the interaction with your other income. I'd love some feedback from the Boglehead community on it.
wheres the KINDLE edition

I've been asking the publisher that for weeks! It's on iPad and you can buy it right from Apress in PDF, ePub or MOBI format. But no Kindle yet. They tell me it takes several extra weeks to come out on Kindle. I have no idea why. It is frustrating. - Dana
moneyover55
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by moneyover55 »

The Kindle edition is now available!
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Cut-Throat
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by Cut-Throat »

gerrym51 wrote:Why bother. I can already tell you you'll get more waiting later-but most of us want to take it asap. I did. When to take is a visceral thing-logic has norhting to do with it.
No, most of us here are waiting until age 70...That's the smart money.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

Cut-Throat wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:Why bother. I can already tell you you'll get more waiting later-but most of us want to take it asap. I did. When to take is a visceral thing-logic has norhting to do with it.
No, most of us here are waiting until age 70...That's the smart money.

cut-throat,

you know i don't agree with you. from my past posts you know i think the EFFECTIVE break even point is 90. I do think you are trying to goad me into another long post.

I will pass :mrgreen:
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Cut-Throat
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by Cut-Throat »

gerrym51 wrote:
Cut-Throat wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:Why bother. I can already tell you you'll get more waiting later-but most of us want to take it asap. I did. When to take is a visceral thing-logic has norhting to do with it.
No, most of us here are waiting until age 70...That's the smart money.

cut-throat,

you know i don't agree with you. from my past posts you know i think the EFFECTIVE break even point is 90. I do think you are trying to goad me into another long post.

I will pass :mrgreen:
No, but I won't let you post erroneous information either. Your line of thinking is analogous to buying fire insurance is a waste of money, unless you have a fire.

Break even discussions about Social Security are as stupid as Break Even Discussions when talking about Health Insurance or Fire Insurance. You don't seem to get it, and I won't waste any more time trying to educate you. But the experts disagree with you and that should tell you something.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by gerrym51 »

Cut-Throat wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:
Cut-Throat wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:Why bother. I can already tell you you'll get more waiting later-but most of us want to take it asap. I did. When to take is a visceral thing-logic has norhting to do with it.
No, most of us here are waiting until age 70...That's the smart money.

cut-throat,

you know i don't agree with you. from my past posts you know i think the EFFECTIVE break even point is 90. I do think you are trying to goad me into another long post.

I will pass :mrgreen:
No, but I won't let you post erroneous information either. Your line of thinking is analogous to buying fire insurance is a waste of money, unless you have a fire.

Break even discussions about Social Security are as stupid as Break Even Discussions when talking about Health Insurance or Fire Insurance. You don't seem to get it, and I won't waste any more time trying to educate you. But the experts disagree with you and that should tell you something.

have a nice day :mrgreen:
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by LadyGeek »

As a reminder:
We expect this forum to be a place where people can feel comfortable asking questions and where debates and discussions are conducted in civil tones.
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Re: Social Security Calculators

Post by BigFoot48 »

A feature in my Retiree Portfolio Model is provided to compare two alternative Social Security benefit scenarios, including benefit amounts, starting years and the death of a spouse, and forecasts the impact on income, taxes and long-term portfolio results. The results include determining the taxes on benefits in each year of the selectable 1 to 40 year modeling period.

The yearly benefit schedules makes it easy to see the higher income, in escalated dollars, from deferring benefit and the cumulative schedules shows the simple breakeven year, always a topic of interest in the calculating effort. A superior breakeven determination can be made by comparing the yearly portfolio balances which include all the impacts on earnings and taxes from the alternative SS benefit scenarios.
Retired | Two-time in top-10 in Bogleheads S&P500 contest; 18-time loser
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