Post by merh on Jul 20, 2020 2:10:14 GMT
Jul 20, 2020 1:30:38 GMT merh said:
AwwI thought you were going to say you got an adorable kitten.
Since I got that ginourmous $600 retirement check, I bought $100 in Starbucks gift cards to load onto my app.
lol @ ginourmous
are you retired then?
congrats!
I was doing the whole married filing joint 2 incomes thing putting money into a 401K
Then my husband died when I was 40.
So that money I put in at Married Filing Joint with the assumption I would make less in retirement. No. I'm going to be single. So much for the tax savings.
And there went that 2nd income.
I got something for a few years because the kid was a minor, but too soon I was on my own income.
However, I get his pension, small as it is. Supposed to start when I turned 60. I called them about it. They said IF I was eligible, I would get something in the mail.
Then the shutdown.
I got nothing from rhem in the mail.
So the weekend I turned 60 I happened to find the letter saying I would get $445/month when I turned 60. I called those phone numbers. Emailed scanned copies of the letter to the email from 2001 that said I would get the money. Finally they emailed me back a couple days later to say it was being processed. They had to figure the cost of living since 2001.
I assumed I would hear from someone.
Silence.
I got my bank statement which had the deposits.
Woohoo!
So it's money to semi somewhat sort of make up for lacking his income entirely for over a decade since the money stopped coming for the kid.
And that much closer to my retirement
Healthcare is the issue.
Don't qualify for Medicare for 5 yrs.
Hillary's plan was to drop the Medicare age to 55, but that didnt happen.
Biden is saying he will push to drop it to 60.
I figure my luck, if Biden is elected it will take a year or 3 to get it through. Worst case? I'll turn 65 before it happens so we're still talking 5 yrs.
But $600/month means I can pay off some bills & be in a better place when I do retire. Maybe I can go out at 62 in 2 yrs & afford to pay my own Cobra healthcare with the $600/month.
My employer pays $559/month on my healthcare.
I understand Cobra means I would pay the full amount + 4% so currently that would be $581 or pretty much the whole check.
But in a couple years I can get my early social security of $1200 so paying that out might be more of a doable thing.
Yeah, it would be great to wait until I turn 67 & get $1800, but 7 more yrs?
Although when I first copied my Social Security stuff down 2 yrs ago, it said I would get $1700/month so if I wait 2 yrs, will my early out be $1300?
We shall see.