If you work for a living, do you know the answer to this question? If you don’t know the answer, you probably should.
In my book “Retirement is Overrated,” I discuss the fact that many people believe that they can get by on a modest income after they stop working. Many of these people actually end up in poverty.
The reality is that people need a decent income to live on once they retire. Unfortunately, many people do not realize this and they believe that they can continue to work after retirement, with the help of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and live on a low income.
Unfortunately, this is a common misconception.
For many people, the first step in planning for retirement is to figure out how much money they will need to live comfortably when they retire. They look at their current assets, such as their home, their retirement accounts, their investments, and anything else that is important to them. They then take those assets and multiply them by an assumed rate of return, and use that as a baseline to determine how much they need to be making each month to have a comfortable life when they retire.
However, once they start to plan for retirement, the next step is to calculate what their income needs to be once they retire. This calculation can be very tricky, because you have to consider a number of factors.
The first is the cost of living. As the years go by, the cost of living increases, and as people get older, the cost of living increases dramatically.
The second is inflation. Inflation eats away at your savings. If you were saving $100 a month in 1960, that $100 would be worth approximately $1,200 today.
The third is taxes. While Social Security taxes are progressive, meaning that the higher your income, the more you pay, they are also regressive. This means that the more you make, the less you pay in taxes.
These three things combine to create the need for a significant amount of income to live comfortably once you retire.
Once you retire, the government begins to take a portion of that income to pay for Medicare, Medicaid, and other benefits. These benefits include the ability to have long-term care, the ability to get medical care, and the ability to live in nursing homes.
So, if you have a small income, you may be able to survive on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) alone. However, if you are making a higher income, you will need to find other sources of income. For example, many people supplement their SSDI income by working part-time.
Many people are surprised to learn that you cannot receive both SSDI and Medicare at the same time. If you want to receive Medicare, you must wait until age 65. Once you are 65, you will automatically receive Medicare. You can also receive SSDI, but only if you are under a certain age. The age is 60, but it varies based on your income.
You can learn more about Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) by visiting the Social Security Administration website at http://www.ssa.gov/disability.
The key thing to remember is that people do not want to live in poverty. This is why people try to save money as early as possible. This is why they try to get the best job they can so that they will be able to earn as much as they can, and why they try to maximize the value of their assets as they get older.
The good news is that you don’t need to wait until you are 62 to start planning for retirement. You can start by doing a few things. First, look into the various retirement programs, such as 401(k)s, IRAs, and Roth IRAs. Second, start saving for retirement. Third, start to think about how you will pay for your health care.
Finally, when you are ready to retire, make sure that you are taking enough Social Security to live on.