Retirement and Social Security
A few years a way from retiring. Originally was going to go at 62 with a pension and also start drawing social security. From my calculations, is be bringing in as much or more as my salary at that point. For health reasons, I might need to go a year or 2 earlier. How badly will drawing just a pension those last few years before 62 drop the projected Soc. sec. benefits?
Terry Says
Social Security benefits are primarily based on your lifetime earnings from wages and self-employment, specifically the 35 years in which you earned the most, adjusted for inflation. So if your most recent years were higher earning, it would slightly impact your benefit amount to stop working.
If you can manage to wait until your full retirement age to collect Social Security, I would advise that. There is a substantial reduction in benefits if you collect at 62 — AND all future inflation adjustments are made on that lower base.
