Posts: 388
Threads: 22
Joined: Jan 2009
PaulW, I tried to make my age clear in my first initial sentence but to clarify, I'm 62.
As a kid, I had been under the impression that the "Baby Boom" era ended within a few short years after the war was over. This was the time when millions of servicemen returned home, got married, and had a few kids right off the bat (so to speak), and that there was an explosion of babies from 1946 - 1952 or so. It was only later that they extended the Baby Boom era to include all babies born up until 1964 or whatever.
Posts: 581
Threads: 44
Joined: Feb 2006
Centipede,
I went back and read your initial sentence and think I see where the problem lies with figuring out your age. Most younger people think of the traditional qualifying age of 65 and are not aware of the earlier (penalty) qualifying age of 62. Of course, those of us in the pre-Baby Boom age group are well aware of this.
Happy Birthday from someone who is 2 years ahead of you and glad to have made it this far.
Allen
Baton Rouge, LA & HPP
Allen
Finally in HPP
Posts: 2,657
Threads: 43
Joined: Sep 2006
Wow, a whole flock of old farts!
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Posts: 2,402
Threads: 145
Joined: Apr 2005
Having reached the qualifying age myself not long ago, I say welcome and hold on for the ride!
Quote "I'll settle for a lump-sum, non-taxable, interest-accumulated cash refund for all the social security and medicare payments made by me and my employers".
Well good luck on the lump sum!! I settled for an early retirement and a stipend of a pension (should have held out for more and put more into the pot), most of my friends took the lump sum dollars. What they didn't loose in 1999 and left in the stock market, they have now taken a second hit on in 2008! Now what would have happened to Social Security if it was market invested? What would social security look like today if the fund was left alone and now used for wars from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan? We'll never know.
What little I had invested was also hit in 1999 and 2008, to the point that I am drawing a social security check WAY before I planned to. I wanted to wait until 65 or longer to qualify for the maximum as I've been putting into that system for 44 plus years.
So Happy Birthday to Centipede and here's to you keeping up with self maintenance!
mella l
mella l
Art and Science
bytheSEA
