Birthday Wishes and Social Security

Today is my oldest (but younger than me) brother’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Kenny! Here is a photo of the two of us taken in 1959 at ages 3 and 2. Back then we called him Buddy. The second photo is cropped from a family photo taken at my younger sister's (Jennifer) funeral in September 2019. 

Buddy at 2 (Beth at three)

The Kenneth and DeAnn Karnes Children: Jeff (57), Kenny (62), Beth (63) Todd (53)

Today was laundry day. Joe and I were charged with fixing dinner this evening. We made meatballs and marinara sauce to serve with cheese ravioli and beef ravioli and a Caesar Salad. 

My big project for today was to revisit applying for social security now at sixty-seven (and two months) versus when I am seventy. Last year before retiring I had looked at it and thought it would be a good idea to wait until I was seventy – that I would make more in the long run. This afternoon I sat down with Joe and figured out that if I wait until aged seventy, it will take until I reach eighty-one before what I would be paid over the years would catch up with the amount, I get by starting benefits now.

I am hoping to live past eighty-one! There are no guarantees though. My dad died at fifty-nine and my mother at seventy-seven. So far, I have not had the health issues they suffered. Still, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

Taking the social security check now will give us a bigger cushion for savings, traveling, gift giving, all the things that having a bit of ‘extra’ money now will make me feel better about. It’s a win-win.

Collecting now versus later also makes me feel I am contributing to our household income. This is important to me. My head knows that the money we currently have in our coffers was earned by Joe and me. At the same time, the fact that Joe gets a monthly check to contribute, and I don’t, feels very uncomfortable for me.

In the back of my mind, I have been thinking that retirement is a stage of life where everything is all figured out and life starts becoming a straight line from point A to point B because you are no longer reporting to a job. What a silly goose I am! I am loving retirement. Life still throws curve balls though. At this point, I am simply grateful for the quality of life I have lived over the years and for the comfort of my life at age sixty-seven.