The NoCo Financial Freedom Journal

  There are many opinions out there about whether to take social security when first eligible at age 62, wait until full retirement age (around age 67 for most folks), or even wait until age 70 when the social security benefit is at its maximum.  So, I thought I would throw my own opinion (about how I am doing it for ME) into the mix and give my reasoning so that you can see how it applies to my particular situation.  This will give you an idea of what factors I considered, and what issues you may need to consider for your own situation. Basically, the mainstream schools of thought out there are to take it as soon as possible so that you can maximize the amount of total money drawn over your expected longevity, or take it as late as possible so that you can maximize your monthly income.  Then, there is the issue of how soon that income is needed.  If you are married, that will also affect when you want to start taking it.  Whether or not your spouse worked,...

Much of this past year has been spent pondering retirement or at least exploring new opportunities that involve giving up the full-time rat-race.  With all the reorganizations at work, plus the potential new opportunities with financial coaching, I decided to go ahead and pull the plug and call it quits.  So with the new year, having just retired from my job, and waiting for those retirement checks to kick in, my wife and I have had some time to really take stock of our new income sources and our new lifestyle.  My wife will still babysit our grandkids, and I will enter the uncertain world of freelancing.  All of this has really caused us to take a good hard look at our monthly expenses and get more control of that which we are certain in order to accommodate our new lifestyle.   When it comes to making ends meet, you basically have two choices - increase income or reduce expenses.  Having chosen to retire, it's a given that the income will actually be...