December 7, 2022 • 30 mins
Have you been counting down the hours? Well, it’s heeere! Part II of what promises to be a Retirement Equals Freedom ratings bonanza focused on – you asked for it – Social Security!
Host Josh Bretl is walking us through some of the variables that we all want to factor into the all-important decision about when to start receiving Social Security. Sooner or later? It depends on your age, health history and how much you (and your spouse) require to live comfortably.
It also depends on how much you’re earning. (Did you know you could suffer big penalties if you try to tap Social Security while earning more than $18,000 per year?)
You’ll also want to hear what superpowers Josh and Co-Host Dave Schmidt would most like to have and how choosing what to watch on TV this weekend may have some similarities to financial planning for retirement (it’s a stretch … but there are parallels).
And if you’re feeling bereft that this up-close-and-personal special series on Social Security has come to an end, we’re here to say: But wait! There’s more!! Yep. Josh and Dave will be back next time to dig deep into some more variables those Social Security calculators oftentimes miss.
So stay tuned for Part III – sure to be a fan fave!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh Bretl (00:02):
Your goal, I always tell people, is not to take
the most money from Uncle Sam.
You may think that's yourgoal, but by taking the most
money from Uncle Sam, you mayactually be putting yourself
in a worse situation, becauseit may put you to a detriment.
Dave Schmidt (00:18):
Have you been counting down the hour
since our last episode?
Well, it's here.
Part two of what promisesto be a Retirement Equals
Freedom ratings bonanza.
Josh walks us through someof the variables you'll wanna
factor into the decisionabout when to start receiving
your social security.
(00:39):
Sooner or later?
Well, it depends on your age,health history, and how much
you require to live comfortably.
It also depends on how muchyou're earning because you
could suffer big penaltiesif you try to tap social
security while earning morethan 18,000 bucks per year.
But wait, there's more.
Listen in as we tease apart three to our series
(01:03):
on social security.
This is The RetirementEquals Freedom Podcast.
Your host, Josh Bretl, is theowner of FSR Wealth Strategies.
And it's Josh, who for thelast few decades, has been
helping fine folks like youthrive in their retirement.
And me?
Well, I'm Dave.
Josh's longtime friend,co-host of the podcast and
(01:26):
fan of the new WednesdayAddams show on Netflix.
So now let me let you letme end this introduction
so you can enjoy parttwo of social security.
FSR Wealth Management is aregistered investment advisor
located in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Information and opinionscontained in this audio
have been arrived atby FSR Wealth advisors.
All information herein isfor informational purposes
(01:47):
and should not be construedas investment advice.
It does not constitute an offer,a solicitation or recommendation
to purchase any security.
FSR is not providing legal,tax, accounting, or financial
planning advice in this audio.
These views are as of thedate of this publication
and are subject to change.
Josh Bretl (02:18):
So thanks for getting COVID.
Dave Schmidt (02:20):
Yeah.
Josh Bretl (02:21):
What episode number will this be, Dave?
Dave Schmidt (02:24):
27.
Josh Bretl (02:25):
27.
And after episode four, werealized how much better
it was doing it in persontogether, sitting next to
each other, holding hands,
Dave Schmidt (02:33):
playing footsies, occasionally,
occasionally, footsies.
Josh Bretl (02:35):
Occasionally.
So you could knock the snotof the microphone every time.
But here we are.
You had to go get COVID, andnow we're sitting here doing
this remotely with each other.
Dave Schmidt (02:46):
What makes it even worse is that November,
the month of November andThanksgiving, are my favorite.
And I was sick for thevast majority of November
and tested positive onThanksgiving morning.
I mean, could it be any worse?
And to top it all off,I've had one jive turkey
from Nu Crepes all month.
I've literally lostsleep over this.
Josh Bretl (03:08):
I think the last few years we had six or seven
in the month of November.
And Niall's probably hurt.
I mean, Nu Crepes isprobably hurting right now.
Dave Schmidt (03:17):
I was wondering the same thing.
So I'm going to send ananonymous donation their
way and just be like...
Josh Bretl (03:25):
You don't donate to anything.
Dave Schmidt (03:27):
That's right.
Yeah, it's true.
Well, see if you orderit today, then just throw
one in the freezer andI'll heat it up later.
Josh Bretl (03:35):
Didn't you do that last year?
Didn't I freeze onefor you last year?
Or did you freeze one forme or something like that?
Dave Schmidt (03:40):
No, I think I like the last day of November
I bought two and just broughtone home for the next day.
Because I knew I was goingto miss it so dearly.
But yeah, recording remotelyis just, apart from trying
to get all the tech right,it's just, this is not...
Man, I got my phone infront of me as a camera.
I don't know, it'sjust not the same.
(04:01):
I miss you.
Josh Bretl (04:02):
Well, I have something sad to say.
Dave Schmidt (04:06):
Oh no.
Josh Bretl (04:06):
And it has to do with my buddy Alex,
the hashtag tax nerd.
Dave Schmidt (04:11):
Oh, shoot.
Josh Bretl (04:13):
But he's eight years old and he's becoming
a little obsessed with thepodcast and in an unhealthy way.
So my wife and I have madethe decision that he's got
to take a podcast break.
We haven't told himthat, but we're just not
letting him listen tothe podcast for a while.
And it's been a good monthor so since he's heard one.
(04:35):
And-
Dave Schmidt (04:36):
Oh no.
Josh Bretl (04:36):
I drove the kids to school today.
Zach was homesick, so I droveAlex and Maggie to school.
And I was listening to ourlatest podcast and they
saw it up on my radio andthey both said, "Can we
listen to the podcast?"
I was like, "No we can't."
Dave Schmidt (04:51):
oh no.
Let's dig in a littledeeper though Josh.
What about the podcast ismaking him obsessed and
bringing out things thatyou don't necessarily like?
Josh Bretl (05:01):
You know how eight year olds talk about Pokemon
and sports and stuff like that?
Dave Schmidt (05:08):
Yeah.
Josh Bretl (05:09):
Alex loves to have what he thinks are
very serious conversationsabout IRAs and taxes.
And it's just...
socially inappropriate.
He's asking peoplequestions that are socially
really inappropriate.
And I mean, I ask peoplequestions about money for
(05:31):
a living, and I know howuncomfortable people get.
And here's this little eightyear old going up like,
"Do you have a Roth IRA?
How come you don'thave a Roth IRA?"
"This is Mr.
So and So."
"Do you have a Roth IRA?
How come you don'thave a Roth IRA?"
All right, we got to stoplistening to Retirement Equals
Freedom for a little bit, buddy.
Dave Schmidt (05:45):
"Mr.
Smith, what wasyour RMD this year?"
Yeah, in his honor though,we'll just do a little.
Alex (05:52):
Hashtag tax nerd.
Dave Schmidt (05:54):
It's there for what he's ready, when
he's able to re-listen ourpodcast, he'll hear himself.
Josh Bretl (06:01):
So I was listening to our podcast
from our last one, and wetalked about your dad a lot.
Now there's been abig gap between the
recording of our podcast.
And so the last one werecorded, we recorded, God, a
month and a half ago, I think.
Dave Schmidt (06:15):
It was early, mid October.
Josh Bretl (06:17):
Yeah.
And your father was just cominginto town, or he was just in
town, and we had all these plansto have him on and he talked
about being our biggest fan.
So I was going to try andsurprise you today and have him
call in via a phone call, butI figured I'll do that later
. And then I went to text himlast night and I was like, I
(06:37):
don't even know if this is thesame cell phone number or not.
And some random person'sgoing to be called into
our podcast tomorrow.
Dave Schmidt (06:44):
Well, hey, we'd have a new subscriber
at least, then, becausethey would sit through the
whole thing and love us.
Josh Bretl (06:51):
When we're back in person, I figured it out.
I know how to do it.
Yeah.
Dave Schmidt (06:54):
He is still distraught he was not able
to enjoy his Thanksgivingfeast because all I could
think about was, "Ugh,I let them down again."
Josh Bretl (07:03):
Well Big Mike, I'm not letting Alex listen to the
podcast, and Dave apparentlystill lets you listen to it.
So you are now officiallyour number one fan.
Dave Schmidt: Congratulations, dad. (07:13):
undefined
You've made it.
Josh Bretl (07:16):
But speaking of you getting COVID at
a family wedding, how wasyour big family wedding
Dave Schmidt (07:23):
Awesome.
It was awesome.
It exceeded everyone'sexpectations.
On this side of thefamily, it's my mom's side.
We just don't get togetheroften, for whatever reason.
So it was like a family reunion.
Despite the six degreeweather right there on
Lake Geneva, because theygot married literally on
(07:45):
this cool little venuethat is on the lake almost.
Despite the temp,it was awesome.
Super smooth, lot of fun.
Great DJ playing allof our nineties jams.
It was epic.
But Josh, you'll be proudto know that I once again
whipped out the tie aroundthe head, and inspired
(08:06):
dozens of others to join me.
And so...
Josh Bretl (08:08):
That is our signature move, David.
I mean, my friends from collegewho you don't know all that
well, they think it's all me.
And I'm like, no, there'sa group of us that can do
the tie around the head, so.
Dave Schmidt (08:19):
And people think it's for looks.
It's actually,it's dual purpose.
It does help with sweat, too.
As you and I,we're big sweaters.
You know what, Josh, I got totell you, listening to episode
26, I'm like, we're going to doa part two to social security.
And I'm thinking, what elsecould we possibly cover?
You hit all the bases.
(08:40):
And I'm reading through thenotes and I'm like, just
when I thought there wasn'tany more to talk about,
Erin and Josh come up witha whole episode about it.
Josh Bretl (08:50):
Well, Erin does our show notes, and
her knowledge of thisinformation is second to none.
And so she types our show notesup and I'm reading through them.
I talk about socialsecurity all the time.
And I listened to our lastpodcast, and I think we
both thought this wouldbe a two episode series.
I actually, looking at this andI go, oh, I think if I talked
about all of what's on theseshow notes, we're going to
(09:12):
bore the snot out of people.
So we're going to breakthis into three episodes of
social security, I think.
Dave Schmidt (09:18):
Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you, listener.
Josh Bretl (09:22):
So last week we talked about, the last
episode, I should say.
We talked about the history ofsocial security, what is it?
I mean, it's beenaround since the 1930s.
It has become an integralpart of people's retirement.
And today, my intention wasto talk about the decision
making process as to when youshould take social security.
Because the number onequestion we get in our
(09:45):
office is "When should Itake my social security?"
And it's not a blackand white answer.
But today I wanted to go intohow the calculation works.
I'm always someone who wantsto know how something works
and the decisions behind it.
And if I haven't completelybored the snot out of you Dave,
then maybe we can get intothe decision making, what you
(10:05):
should actually think about.
But maybe that really funpart might be a part three.
So we'll see howthat comes in here.
Dave Schmidt (10:12):
I'm never bored.
Josh Bretl (10:13):
Does that make sense?
Dave Schmidt (10:13):
Yeah.
As long as I'm with youJosh, I'm never bored.
Josh Bretl (10:17):
Let me go back, and I want start with thought
that I have regularly.
And if you go into Google,the Google machine and you
type in, the Google, socialSecurity calculator, or if
you type in, when shouldI take Social security?
Let me do this right now.
I'm going to type in my computersocial security calculator.
(10:39):
I literally get 690million results.
And in theory, what thatcalculator is doing is that
is telling you how to getthe most money from the US
government from social security.
And most people thinkthat's all I want to do.
How do I take as much aspossible from Uncle Sam?
Well, there's twoproblems to that.
(11:00):
The first problem is...
Two.
Dave Schmidt (11:02):
Two, right.
I was saying numberone is, because yeah.
Josh Bretl (11:06):
Yeah.
Number one is the fact that thatcalculator is going to ask you
how long you're going to live.
If you're married, how longyour spouse is going to live.
It's going to ask you howmuch income you need for
the rest of your life.
It may, if it's a goodcalculator, ask you about
your other sources of income.
There's lots of things inthose calculators that are
(11:29):
really difficult to determine.
The day you're goingto die and how much you
need and stuff like that.
So first off, it's thosecalculators are very imprecise.
It's not a precise tool.
And the second thing isyour goal, I always tell
people, is not to take themost money from Uncle Sam.
(11:49):
You may think that's yourgoal, but by taking the most
money from Uncle Sam, you mayactually be putting yourself
in a worse situation, becauseit may put you to a detriment.
Dave Schmidt (11:59):
Sure.
Josh Bretl (11:59):
I always tell people your goal is always to have the
most secure retirement possible.
And you have to thinkabout those differently.
So what is the goal ofthe calculator versus
what is your goal?
So those calculators are great.
We use them in our office oncewe understand what the tools
we need going forward are, orwhat the thought process is.
But, you have to be verycareful in how you use them.
(12:24):
But let's talk about howsocial security works,
how it's calculated, okay?
And I sent you twoacronyms, David.
Dave Schmidt (12:30):
Yep.
Josh Bretl (12:31):
What was the first one that I sent you?
Dave Schmidt (12:35):
FRA, which stands for full retirement age.
Josh Bretl (12:38):
Let's talk about FRA real quick.
FRA, these are tworeally important numbers.
FRA full retirement age is theage at which social security
says you should "retire."
It's the age at which they doall of their calculations for.
So if you were born before1954, or before 1955, I
(12:59):
should say, your age is 66.
Anyone born in1954 is already 66.
But, if you were bornbetween 1954 and 1960,
they start increasing that.
So it might be 66 andtwo months, 66 and six
months, 66 and 10 months.
All the way out until 1960where your FRA goes to 67.
For you and I, ourFRA is 67 years old.
(13:21):
Now, I don't think it'sgoing to stay that way,
but that's where it is.
Dave Schmidt (13:24):
So they can change it, then?
They can changewhenever they want?
Josh Bretl (13:27):
Yes.
They have changed that.
Remember, that's the numberthat I told you on last episode
that has been 65 forever,and they just upped it to 67.
But right now, that FRAnumber is what they use
to calculate your...
Dave, what's the next acronym?
Dave Schmidt (13:43):
PIA.
Josh Bretl (13:45):
PIA stands for primary insurance amount.
And PIA is the amount of socialsecurity you'll receive at FRA.
Dave Schmidt (13:54):
FRA.
Josh Bretl (13:55):
It's the amount you'll receive at, and
I'm going to use the age67 just to make it easy.
Dave Schmidt (13:59):
Okay.
Josh Bretl (13:59):
So it's the amount you'll receive at age 67.
So, how do they calculateyour primary insurance amount?
Because it all startswith that number.
That's the big calculationthat goes into it.
So the first thing theydo is they take all of
your earnings that you'veearned your entire life.
And every year, in fact,if you look at your social
(14:20):
security statement, I encourageyou to do that, it will show
you all of your earnings.
Now, they used to break itdown year by year by year.
Now they have it a littlebit more grouped together.
But they'll show you allyour earnings in there.
And they take your35 highest years.
So if you worked for 50 years,they take your 35 highest.
(14:40):
If you worked for 20 years, youget all 20 years, plus 15 zeros.
Dave Schmidt (14:46):
And if you work six months, like I have?
Josh Bretl (14:49):
No, you have to work at least 10 years
for social security.
Dave Schmidt (14:51):
Oh,
Josh Bretl (14:54):
But, you're self-employed, you do
pay into social security.
So you do have thosenumbers as well.
But that is, they'relooking at your FICA tax.
So the way they calculatethis is how much is
on your FICA income.
They take those 35 highestyears, and they add them all up.
So they get a sum, andthey divide it by 420.
(15:16):
Now why 420?
Because 420 is the numberof months in 35 years.
And that gives us what theycall an average monthly
earnings, or an averageindex monthly earnings.
Now, that is not theamount you receive.
They take that number,and they put it into a
secondary calculation.
And that secondary calculationwill really determine
(15:38):
how much you receive.
So what they do is thelower amounts receive more
and the higher it goes up,it's a lower percentage
of your overall income.
And that calculation givesyou your primary insurance
amount, which is the amountyou'll receive at 67.
Dave Schmidt (15:54):
And this is always, always calculated
on an individual basis,not spousal or partner.
Josh Bretl (16:00):
We'll get to spousal in a second, but
it's all an individual basis.
All right, so we have yourprimary insurance amount
now, so that's the amountyou'll receive at 67.
But, on your social securitystatement, you can start social
security as early as age 62,or you can start as late as age
You would think, "Hey, I want totake it as early as possible."
(16:23):
Well, if you start beforeyour primary insurance amount,
they're going to reducethe amount you receive.
And that reduction comesto about 7% a year.
It's not precise, butit's about 7% a year.
So every year you start,you're reducing your lifetime
benefits by about 7% a year.
And if you wait longer,you get what they call
(16:46):
delayed retirement credits.
And you can wait all theway to 70 and they will
give you an extra 8% a yearfor every year you wait.
So if you wait until 70,you're going to get a heck of
a lot more, but you've givenup three years of income.
Dave Schmidt (17:01):
Right.
Josh Bretl (17:01):
Does that make sense?
Dave Schmidt (17:02):
No, it makes sense.
We addressed this in aprevious episode in last
episode, how you and I beingpeak physical specimens, we
can wait as long as possibleto get social security.
Josh Bretl (17:12):
Yeah.
Oh, without a doubt.
I think I'm going tolive until 125, so.
Dave Schmidt (17:17):
Oh, minimum.
Minimum.
Josh Bretl (17:21):
So one of the considerations that you
should take into play is howlong you're going to live.
And let me put this intoperspective for you.
Let's say that your age67 amount is $2,000 a
month, and your age 70amount is $3,000 a month.
Okay?
The age 70 amount sounds a heckof a lot greater than that, but
(17:44):
you have to give up three years.
Now, three years of $2,000 amonth, that's $24,000 a year.
That is $72,000 thatyou've given up.
So that extra thousand dollarsthat you're going to get every
month, in theory, it's actuallytakes more than 72 months
to make up that difference,because you have time, value,
(18:05):
and money and all thosethings that come into play.
So there's a break eventhat comes into it.
And for the average person,that break even comes
to about 82 years old.
Now, that's not a perfectmath, but that's an
average that we see.
So you have to live long enoughto make up the difference.
And the same is trueif you start early.
I mean, if you start earlier,you're going to get less,
(18:27):
but you'll get it for alonger period of time.
So one of the decisionsyou have to make is how
long are you going to live?
And are you ingood health or not?
And that's not a decisionyou have to make and you have
to stick with it, becauseyour health could change.
We have really good familyfriends who the plan was
always to wait until 70, andthen when one of them was
(18:49):
diagnosed with Parkinson's,we said, no, you have to turn
it on now because your lifeexpectancy just got shortened.
And it doesn't make anysense to wait, you're just
giving up that time period.
Because you don't getit back on the end.
Your kids don't get it.
Your spouse, there is somespousal things which we'll
talk about in a second.
You can't give your socialsecurity like a life
(19:10):
insurance or like an IRAyou can to your kids.
The other thing on timingwise is some people have
long life in their family.
So if you and your parentshave always lived a long
time, that's a great thing.
You may be unhealthy,you want to start early.
That's a decision that you haveto think through all the time.
So in addition to your healthand how long you're going
(19:32):
to live, there's some othervariables that go into the
decision making process, aswell, that the calculator
takes into consideration.
One of those is if you'restill working or not.
Because if you want to startcollecting before your full
retirement age, age 67 formost people, you are limited
to how much you can earn.
(19:52):
And right now that number comesto about 18,000 bucks a year.
And if you earn more thanthat, they're going to take
back 50 cents for everydollar you earn above that.
So if you earn $20,000 toomuch, they're going to take back
$10,000 of your social security.
Dave Schmidt (20:11):
Is that $18,000, is that a flat rate across
the board for all Americans,or are there some different
factors that change that number?
Josh Bretl (20:20):
It's a pretty flat rate based on age.
The year that you turnyour FRA age, the number
goes up significantly.
But no, it's a set number.
And it's about $18,000, itcould be up to $20,000 now.
It changes every year.
With the inflation thatwe've had, we could be
up to $20,000 right now.
But that's thenumber that comes in.
Dave Schmidt (20:39):
I think that's part of the reason that my dad
loves working so much right now.
It's because there's no penalty.
He's working 30 hours a week,making 21 bucks an hour and
he's like, "This is great."
Josh Bretl (20:50):
right.
Because once you reach FRAor especially once you're
over 70, you can work andearn as much as you want.
I mean, I guaranteeyou Warren Buffet's
getting social security.
You can't earn too muchat that point in time.
Dave Schmidt (21:01):
How about his younger brother, Jimmy?
Josh Bretl (21:03):
Jimmy?
He's wasting away again.
Margaritaville.
Dave Schmidt (21:08):
I thought I'd catch you up on that one.
I didn't catch you.
Josh Bretl (21:11):
Really quickly, I was trying to go through a
Jimmy Buffett song in my head.
And I should have went toCheeseburger in Paradise,
but I went with Wasted AwayAgain in Margaritaville.
But the last variable I wantto touch on this morning is
if you're married or not.
Because the other rule isfor spouses, you don't only
have to think about your ownscenario, you have to think
(21:33):
about your spouse's scenario.
Because if one spousepasses away, what happens
is you lose the lower ofthe two social securities.
So it doesn't matterwhose is lower, the
lower one just goes away.
And the surviving spouse getsto keep the higher amount.
So those are the decisions thatkind of go into the calculator.
(21:57):
Next week, or on our nextepisode, I should say, I want
to discuss some of the decisionsthat the calculators don't take
into consideration, and I wouldsay are equally as important.
But if I talk about those now,there will be people driving off
the road, they are so excited.
Dave Schmidt (22:16):
We just can't.
Josh Bretl (22:16):
No, no.
And you yell at me anytimea podcast goes more than 30
minutes, and I'm going toguess this is what already is.
Dave Schmidt (22:22):
I think we're creeping way
past that right now.
But no, I was thinkingabout something.
Yeah, okay.
I found it.
Hey, Mr.
Josh.
Hey Mr.
Josh.
Let's take a break.
You've been talking for solong, and my ears are sore.
Let's not make them snore.
We already have.
Listening shouldn't be a chore.
(22:43):
So let's get to know Josh andDave and watch our ratings soar.
Oh yeah.
Josh Bretl (22:52):
We've talked about Erin already on the episode,
and she says that her son, Finn,also listens to the podcast.
He's also eight.
And but he also justlikes that song.
So if we could get him thatsong, that would be great.
Dave Schmidt (23:07):
Well, Finn, let me have my agent call
you and we can see whatwe could work out here.
Josh Bretl (23:13):
So we used to go back and forth as to who got to
pick these questions, and I'vepretty much taken this over.
I like to have control overthese questions, and that,
I think, drives you nuts.
But I went a littlebit easy today.
And I went easy on this onebecause this is a question
that I heard on a differentpodcast and it actually changed
(23:34):
my whole answer to this.
But the question is,if you could have one
superpower, what would it be?
Dave Schmidt (23:40):
So Josh, if I had one superpower?
That's just really not fair.
I have so many thingsI would love to do.
my superpower wouldbe, it's kind pretty
generic, pretty boring.
We've all heard it before,but I would still love to fly.
Maybe not for the samereasons that everybody
else would want to fly.
I just want to beable to quickly get my
coffee and get back.
(24:00):
Quickly go get mycrepes and get back.
It's so fast that Carlawouldn't even know I'm gone.
That's why I want to be fast.
Josh Bretl (24:09):
It's flying, but really fast flying, too.
This is not some lazylittle robin up....
No.
Dave Schmidt (24:14):
No.
Josh Bretl (24:15):
That's fair.
Dave Schmidt (24:15):
Talking hawk and eagle speed.
Josh Bretl (24:16):
Yeah.
Dave Schmidt (24:17):
How about you Josh?
What's your superpower?
Josh Bretl (24:19):
So, what I really want to have the ability
to do is to slow down time.
I mean, you've seen me, Irun around a nut job here.
And I always feel at theend of the day, I didn't get
enough done or I didn't achievewhat I wanted to do here.
And I don't want toslow myself down.
I want to go at my same speed,but I want the ability to
pause button or slow buttonand keep going through my life.
(24:41):
God, I would be soefficient and so effective.
It would be incredible.
Dave Schmidt (24:44):
Can you imagine the things you
would accomplish, Josh?
Josh Bretl (24:47):
We'd have daily podcasts, Dave, daily.
Dave Schmidt (24:50):
Daily podcasts.
I can't even imagine.
You would have-
Josh Bretl (24:53):
Although, I'd be talking be at normal speed
and you'd be going like this.
Dave Schmidt (24:58):
That's true.
You could make so manycocktails so quickly.
Josh Bretl (25:03):
Yeah, people wouldn't even
know what hit them.
Like, "Hey, this cocktail wasn'tin my hand a few seconds ago."
Dave Schmidt (25:06):
Exactly.
Dave relates to retirees.
Yeah.
So Josh, do I have away to relate to this?
Of course I do.
In fact, I thought about itlast night watching basketball.
I can relate to this wholehuge decision of social
(25:28):
security for retireesand soon to be retirees.
Josh Bretl (25:31):
The seriousness in your face.
Dave Schmidt (25:33):
Yeah, no, this is a big one.
This is deep.
Because look, tonight, I gotto make that same decision
about what to watch on TV.
Because here's the thing, Icould watch the new Wednesday
Addams show on Netflix.
I could watch the new Spiritedmovie on Apple TV with Ryan
Reynolds and Will Farrell.
Or I could justwatch the Bulls game.
All three viable options.
But here's the thing,I'm not in great health.
(25:54):
I'm having acoughing attack here.
I got to keep thatin consideration.
The movie Spiritedis a Christmas movie.
If I don't watch that soon,I may never see it again.
Not like I'm going todie, but just because
Christmas will be over.
So that's a factor.
However, I'm married.
So some retirees who aremarried, they have to take
that into consideration.
So do I.
Carla and I grew uploving the Addams family.
(26:16):
So Wednesday Addams, notonly is it made by and
directed by Tim Burton,it just looks phenomenal.
So should I watch that?
But then there's alsothis third factor.
I don't have much money here.
I probably shouldn'tbe paying for all these
streaming services.
So how about I cancelstreaming services and
just watch the Bulls game,because that's free on TV.
(26:38):
So retirees, I get it.
Huge decision for you.
Huge decision for me.
Josh, I'd love foryou to take this home.
Josh Bretl (26:48):
You know, once again, Dave,
you are so relatable.
It's unbelievable.
Dave Schmidt (26:56):
Thank you.
Josh Bretl (26:56):
And I didn't think you'd be able to do it.
And I also wonder sometimeswhy you are everyone's
favorite on this podcastwhen I hear stuff like that.
I kind of see whereyou're going with it.
The timing of it is there, andit's a life changing decision
that you're only going tomake once in your entire life.
Dave Schmidt (27:18):
I just coughed and spit water all over the place.
Yeah.
Oh my God, I'm a mess.
My screen is dowsedwith water right now.
Josh Bretl (27:33):
Dave, you amaze me sometimes in how you are
able to relate to retirees.
Dave Schmidt (27:39):
Thank you.
Josh Bretl (27:39):
And your thought process in regards to which
show you should watch isobviously deep on your mind.
And I'm going to take thisin a whole nother world.
There's many studies thathave been done that say
people spend more timeplanning their vacations
than they do their finances.
(28:01):
And in your case, I thinkyou spend a lot more time
planning what shows youwatch than your finances.
But I think we're a little bitof amiss on the outcome and the
potential risk that's there.
I understand your concerns,but those retirees, I think,
are a little bit more concernedin regards to how long their
(28:23):
money's going to last and makingsure that they don't have to ask
somebody for help later in life.
Specifically, their childrenwho don't want them to move
back into their basement.
In your case, you're reallyjust upsetting your wife, who I
don't want to make mad either.
But I think that she'llunderstand more than if
someone makes the wrongsocial security decision.
(28:44):
But I do understand, inyour mind, how important
of a decision that is.
So on behalf of all theretirees, thank you-
Dave Schmidt (28:53):
Sure.
Josh Bretl (28:54):
For your concern.
Dave Schmidt (28:56):
Absolutely.
Now, do you haveany advice for me?
Josh Bretl (28:59):
Yeah, watch the Bulls.
It's live.
You love the Bulls.
Dave Schmidt (29:02):
I do love the Bulls.
Josh Bretl (29:03):
Hands down.
Dave Schmidt (29:04):
I do love the bulls.
Josh Bretl (29:04):
I mean, it has nothing to do with
the streaming services.
You're going to pay forthem no matter what.
Dave Schmidt (29:09):
True.
Josh Bretl (29:09):
You can watch Spirited with Carla
sometime this weekend.
Just watch the Bulls.
Dave Schmidt (29:14):
Okay, I think I will.
Josh, thank you.
Josh Bretl (29:18):
Our next episode, we're going to talk about
what I consider to beactually more important that
we just talked about today.
And those are the biggervariables that go into when
to collect social securitythat those calculators don't
take into consideration, butyou as a retiree need to.
Dave Schmidt (29:35):
If Apple doesn't feature us on their
must listen list, I don'tknow what's wrong with the
world, to be honest with you.
Josh Bretl (29:42):
Oh, I agree.
I mean, it's unfathomableif they don't do that.
Dave Schmidt (29:46):
Unfathomable.
Cool.
I think after this podcastwhat I'm going to do is go take
a big bite out of my bagel.
So friends, listeners,especially you, Deb,
from Josh and I from ourhearts, we like to say bye.
And I'm going to coughagain in just a second.
Alex (30:10):
Hashtag tax nerd.
Your goal, I always tell people, is not to take
the most money from Uncle Sam.
You may think that's yourgoal, but by taking the most
money from Uncle Sam, you mayactually be putting yourself
in a worse situation, becauseit may put you to a detriment.
Dave Schmidt (00:18):
Have you been counting down the hour
since our last episode?
Well, it's here.
Part two of what promisesto be a Retirement Equals
Freedom ratings bonanza.
Josh walks us through someof the variables you'll wanna
factor into the decisionabout when to start receiving
your social security.
(00:39):
Sooner or later?
Well, it depends on your age,health history, and how much
you require to live comfortably.
It also depends on how muchyou're earning because you
could suffer big penaltiesif you try to tap social
security while earning morethan 18,000 bucks per year.
But wait, there's more.
Listen in as we tease apart three to our series
(01:03):
on social security.
This is The RetirementEquals Freedom Podcast.
Your host, Josh Bretl, is theowner of FSR Wealth Strategies.
And it's Josh, who for thelast few decades, has been
helping fine folks like youthrive in their retirement.
And me?
Well, I'm Dave.
Josh's longtime friend,co-host of the podcast and
(01:26):
fan of the new WednesdayAddams show on Netflix.
So now let me let you letme end this introduction
so you can enjoy parttwo of social security.
FSR Wealth Management is aregistered investment advisor
located in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Information and opinionscontained in this audio
have been arrived atby FSR Wealth advisors.
All information herein isfor informational purposes
(01:47):
and should not be construedas investment advice.
It does not constitute an offer,a solicitation or recommendation
to purchase any security.
FSR is not providing legal,tax, accounting, or financial
planning advice in this audio.
These views are as of thedate of this publication
and are subject to change.
Josh Bretl (02:18):
So thanks for getting COVID.
Dave Schmidt (02:20):
Yeah.
Josh Bretl (02:21):
What episode number will this be, Dave?
Dave Schmidt (02:24):
27.
Josh Bretl (02:25):
27.
And after episode four, werealized how much better
it was doing it in persontogether, sitting next to
each other, holding hands,
Dave Schmidt (02:33):
playing footsies, occasionally,
occasionally, footsies.
Josh Bretl (02:35):
Occasionally.
So you could knock the snotof the microphone every time.
But here we are.
You had to go get COVID, andnow we're sitting here doing
this remotely with each other.
Dave Schmidt (02:46):
What makes it even worse is that November,
the month of November andThanksgiving, are my favorite.
And I was sick for thevast majority of November
and tested positive onThanksgiving morning.
I mean, could it be any worse?
And to top it all off,I've had one jive turkey
from Nu Crepes all month.
I've literally lostsleep over this.
Josh Bretl (03:08):
I think the last few years we had six or seven
in the month of November.
And Niall's probably hurt.
I mean, Nu Crepes isprobably hurting right now.
Dave Schmidt (03:17):
I was wondering the same thing.
So I'm going to send ananonymous donation their
way and just be like...
Josh Bretl (03:25):
You don't donate to anything.
Dave Schmidt (03:27):
That's right.
Yeah, it's true.
Well, see if you orderit today, then just throw
one in the freezer andI'll heat it up later.
Josh Bretl (03:35):
Didn't you do that last year?
Didn't I freeze onefor you last year?
Or did you freeze one forme or something like that?
Dave Schmidt (03:40):
No, I think I like the last day of November
I bought two and just broughtone home for the next day.
Because I knew I was goingto miss it so dearly.
But yeah, recording remotelyis just, apart from trying
to get all the tech right,it's just, this is not...
Man, I got my phone infront of me as a camera.
I don't know, it'sjust not the same.
(04:01):
I miss you.
Josh Bretl (04:02):
Well, I have something sad to say.
Dave Schmidt (04:06):
Oh no.
Josh Bretl (04:06):
And it has to do with my buddy Alex,
the hashtag tax nerd.
Dave Schmidt (04:11):
Oh, shoot.
Josh Bretl (04:13):
But he's eight years old and he's becoming
a little obsessed with thepodcast and in an unhealthy way.
So my wife and I have madethe decision that he's got
to take a podcast break.
We haven't told himthat, but we're just not
letting him listen tothe podcast for a while.
And it's been a good monthor so since he's heard one.
(04:35):
And-
Dave Schmidt (04:36):
Oh no.
Josh Bretl (04:36):
I drove the kids to school today.
Zach was homesick, so I droveAlex and Maggie to school.
And I was listening to ourlatest podcast and they
saw it up on my radio andthey both said, "Can we
listen to the podcast?"
I was like, "No we can't."
Dave Schmidt (04:51):
oh no.
Let's dig in a littledeeper though Josh.
What about the podcast ismaking him obsessed and
bringing out things thatyou don't necessarily like?
Josh Bretl (05:01):
You know how eight year olds talk about Pokemon
and sports and stuff like that?
Dave Schmidt (05:08):
Yeah.
Josh Bretl (05:09):
Alex loves to have what he thinks are
very serious conversationsabout IRAs and taxes.
And it's just...
socially inappropriate.
He's asking peoplequestions that are socially
really inappropriate.
And I mean, I ask peoplequestions about money for
(05:31):
a living, and I know howuncomfortable people get.
And here's this little eightyear old going up like,
"Do you have a Roth IRA?
How come you don'thave a Roth IRA?"
"This is Mr.
So and So."
"Do you have a Roth IRA?
How come you don'thave a Roth IRA?"
All right, we got to stoplistening to Retirement Equals
Freedom for a little bit, buddy.
Dave Schmidt (05:45):
"Mr.
Smith, what wasyour RMD this year?"
Yeah, in his honor though,we'll just do a little.
Alex (05:52):
Hashtag tax nerd.
Dave Schmidt (05:54):
It's there for what he's ready, when
he's able to re-listen ourpodcast, he'll hear himself.
Josh Bretl (06:01):
So I was listening to our podcast
from our last one, and wetalked about your dad a lot.
Now there's been abig gap between the
recording of our podcast.
And so the last one werecorded, we recorded, God, a
month and a half ago, I think.
Dave Schmidt (06:15):
It was early, mid October.
Josh Bretl (06:17):
Yeah.
And your father was just cominginto town, or he was just in
town, and we had all these plansto have him on and he talked
about being our biggest fan.
So I was going to try andsurprise you today and have him
call in via a phone call, butI figured I'll do that later
. And then I went to text himlast night and I was like, I
(06:37):
don't even know if this is thesame cell phone number or not.
And some random person'sgoing to be called into
our podcast tomorrow.
Dave Schmidt (06:44):
Well, hey, we'd have a new subscriber
at least, then, becausethey would sit through the
whole thing and love us.
Josh Bretl (06:51):
When we're back in person, I figured it out.
I know how to do it.
Yeah.
Dave Schmidt (06:54):
He is still distraught he was not able
to enjoy his Thanksgivingfeast because all I could
think about was, "Ugh,I let them down again."
Josh Bretl (07:03):
Well Big Mike, I'm not letting Alex listen to the
podcast, and Dave apparentlystill lets you listen to it.
So you are now officiallyour number one fan.
Dave Schmidt: Congratulations, dad. (07:13):
undefined
You've made it.
Josh Bretl (07:16):
But speaking of you getting COVID at
a family wedding, how wasyour big family wedding
Dave Schmidt (07:23):
Awesome.
It was awesome.
It exceeded everyone'sexpectations.
On this side of thefamily, it's my mom's side.
We just don't get togetheroften, for whatever reason.
So it was like a family reunion.
Despite the six degreeweather right there on
Lake Geneva, because theygot married literally on
(07:45):
this cool little venuethat is on the lake almost.
Despite the temp,it was awesome.
Super smooth, lot of fun.
Great DJ playing allof our nineties jams.
It was epic.
But Josh, you'll be proudto know that I once again
whipped out the tie aroundthe head, and inspired
(08:06):
dozens of others to join me.
And so...
Josh Bretl (08:08):
That is our signature move, David.
I mean, my friends from collegewho you don't know all that
well, they think it's all me.
And I'm like, no, there'sa group of us that can do
the tie around the head, so.
Dave Schmidt (08:19):
And people think it's for looks.
It's actually,it's dual purpose.
It does help with sweat, too.
As you and I,we're big sweaters.
You know what, Josh, I got totell you, listening to episode
26, I'm like, we're going to doa part two to social security.
And I'm thinking, what elsecould we possibly cover?
You hit all the bases.
(08:40):
And I'm reading through thenotes and I'm like, just
when I thought there wasn'tany more to talk about,
Erin and Josh come up witha whole episode about it.
Josh Bretl (08:50):
Well, Erin does our show notes, and
her knowledge of thisinformation is second to none.
And so she types our show notesup and I'm reading through them.
I talk about socialsecurity all the time.
And I listened to our lastpodcast, and I think we
both thought this wouldbe a two episode series.
I actually, looking at this andI go, oh, I think if I talked
about all of what's on theseshow notes, we're going to
(09:12):
bore the snot out of people.
So we're going to breakthis into three episodes of
social security, I think.
Dave Schmidt (09:18):
Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you, listener.
Josh Bretl (09:22):
So last week we talked about, the last
episode, I should say.
We talked about the history ofsocial security, what is it?
I mean, it's beenaround since the 1930s.
It has become an integralpart of people's retirement.
And today, my intention wasto talk about the decision
making process as to when youshould take social security.
Because the number onequestion we get in our
(09:45):
office is "When should Itake my social security?"
And it's not a blackand white answer.
But today I wanted to go intohow the calculation works.
I'm always someone who wantsto know how something works
and the decisions behind it.
And if I haven't completelybored the snot out of you Dave,
then maybe we can get intothe decision making, what you
(10:05):
should actually think about.
But maybe that really funpart might be a part three.
So we'll see howthat comes in here.
Dave Schmidt (10:12):
I'm never bored.
Josh Bretl (10:13):
Does that make sense?
Dave Schmidt (10:13):
Yeah.
As long as I'm with youJosh, I'm never bored.
Josh Bretl (10:17):
Let me go back, and I want start with thought
that I have regularly.
And if you go into Google,the Google machine and you
type in, the Google, socialSecurity calculator, or if
you type in, when shouldI take Social security?
Let me do this right now.
I'm going to type in my computersocial security calculator.
(10:39):
I literally get 690million results.
And in theory, what thatcalculator is doing is that
is telling you how to getthe most money from the US
government from social security.
And most people thinkthat's all I want to do.
How do I take as much aspossible from Uncle Sam?
Well, there's twoproblems to that.
(11:00):
The first problem is...
Two.
Dave Schmidt (11:02):
Two, right.
I was saying numberone is, because yeah.
Josh Bretl (11:06):
Yeah.
Number one is the fact that thatcalculator is going to ask you
how long you're going to live.
If you're married, how longyour spouse is going to live.
It's going to ask you howmuch income you need for
the rest of your life.
It may, if it's a goodcalculator, ask you about
your other sources of income.
There's lots of things inthose calculators that are
(11:29):
really difficult to determine.
The day you're goingto die and how much you
need and stuff like that.
So first off, it's thosecalculators are very imprecise.
It's not a precise tool.
And the second thing isyour goal, I always tell
people, is not to take themost money from Uncle Sam.
(11:49):
You may think that's yourgoal, but by taking the most
money from Uncle Sam, you mayactually be putting yourself
in a worse situation, becauseit may put you to a detriment.
Dave Schmidt (11:59):
Sure.
Josh Bretl (11:59):
I always tell people your goal is always to have the
most secure retirement possible.
And you have to thinkabout those differently.
So what is the goal ofthe calculator versus
what is your goal?
So those calculators are great.
We use them in our office oncewe understand what the tools
we need going forward are, orwhat the thought process is.
But, you have to be verycareful in how you use them.
(12:24):
But let's talk about howsocial security works,
how it's calculated, okay?
And I sent you twoacronyms, David.
Dave Schmidt (12:30):
Yep.
Josh Bretl (12:31):
What was the first one that I sent you?
Dave Schmidt (12:35):
FRA, which stands for full retirement age.
Josh Bretl (12:38):
Let's talk about FRA real quick.
FRA, these are tworeally important numbers.
FRA full retirement age is theage at which social security
says you should "retire."
It's the age at which they doall of their calculations for.
So if you were born before1954, or before 1955, I
(12:59):
should say, your age is 66.
Anyone born in1954 is already 66.
But, if you were bornbetween 1954 and 1960,
they start increasing that.
So it might be 66 andtwo months, 66 and six
months, 66 and 10 months.
All the way out until 1960where your FRA goes to 67.
For you and I, ourFRA is 67 years old.
(13:21):
Now, I don't think it'sgoing to stay that way,
but that's where it is.
Dave Schmidt (13:24):
So they can change it, then?
They can changewhenever they want?
Josh Bretl (13:27):
Yes.
They have changed that.
Remember, that's the numberthat I told you on last episode
that has been 65 forever,and they just upped it to 67.
But right now, that FRAnumber is what they use
to calculate your...
Dave, what's the next acronym?
Dave Schmidt (13:43):
PIA.
Josh Bretl (13:45):
PIA stands for primary insurance amount.
And PIA is the amount of socialsecurity you'll receive at FRA.
Dave Schmidt (13:54):
FRA.
Josh Bretl (13:55):
It's the amount you'll receive at, and
I'm going to use the age67 just to make it easy.
Dave Schmidt (13:59):
Okay.
Josh Bretl (13:59):
So it's the amount you'll receive at age 67.
So, how do they calculateyour primary insurance amount?
Because it all startswith that number.
That's the big calculationthat goes into it.
So the first thing theydo is they take all of
your earnings that you'veearned your entire life.
And every year, in fact,if you look at your social
(14:20):
security statement, I encourageyou to do that, it will show
you all of your earnings.
Now, they used to break itdown year by year by year.
Now they have it a littlebit more grouped together.
But they'll show you allyour earnings in there.
And they take your35 highest years.
So if you worked for 50 years,they take your 35 highest.
(14:40):
If you worked for 20 years, youget all 20 years, plus 15 zeros.
Dave Schmidt (14:46):
And if you work six months, like I have?
Josh Bretl (14:49):
No, you have to work at least 10 years
for social security.
Dave Schmidt (14:51):
Oh,
Josh Bretl (14:54):
But, you're self-employed, you do
pay into social security.
So you do have thosenumbers as well.
But that is, they'relooking at your FICA tax.
So the way they calculatethis is how much is
on your FICA income.
They take those 35 highestyears, and they add them all up.
So they get a sum, andthey divide it by 420.
(15:16):
Now why 420?
Because 420 is the numberof months in 35 years.
And that gives us what theycall an average monthly
earnings, or an averageindex monthly earnings.
Now, that is not theamount you receive.
They take that number,and they put it into a
secondary calculation.
And that secondary calculationwill really determine
(15:38):
how much you receive.
So what they do is thelower amounts receive more
and the higher it goes up,it's a lower percentage
of your overall income.
And that calculation givesyou your primary insurance
amount, which is the amountyou'll receive at 67.
Dave Schmidt (15:54):
And this is always, always calculated
on an individual basis,not spousal or partner.
Josh Bretl (16:00):
We'll get to spousal in a second, but
it's all an individual basis.
All right, so we have yourprimary insurance amount
now, so that's the amountyou'll receive at 67.
But, on your social securitystatement, you can start social
security as early as age 62,or you can start as late as age
You would think, "Hey, I want totake it as early as possible."
(16:23):
Well, if you start beforeyour primary insurance amount,
they're going to reducethe amount you receive.
And that reduction comesto about 7% a year.
It's not precise, butit's about 7% a year.
So every year you start,you're reducing your lifetime
benefits by about 7% a year.
And if you wait longer,you get what they call
(16:46):
delayed retirement credits.
And you can wait all theway to 70 and they will
give you an extra 8% a yearfor every year you wait.
So if you wait until 70,you're going to get a heck of
a lot more, but you've givenup three years of income.
Dave Schmidt (17:01):
Right.
Josh Bretl (17:01):
Does that make sense?
Dave Schmidt (17:02):
No, it makes sense.
We addressed this in aprevious episode in last
episode, how you and I beingpeak physical specimens, we
can wait as long as possibleto get social security.
Josh Bretl (17:12):
Yeah.
Oh, without a doubt.
I think I'm going tolive until 125, so.
Dave Schmidt (17:17):
Oh, minimum.
Minimum.
Josh Bretl (17:21):
So one of the considerations that you
should take into play is howlong you're going to live.
And let me put this intoperspective for you.
Let's say that your age67 amount is $2,000 a
month, and your age 70amount is $3,000 a month.
Okay?
The age 70 amount sounds a heckof a lot greater than that, but
(17:44):
you have to give up three years.
Now, three years of $2,000 amonth, that's $24,000 a year.
That is $72,000 thatyou've given up.
So that extra thousand dollarsthat you're going to get every
month, in theory, it's actuallytakes more than 72 months
to make up that difference,because you have time, value,
(18:05):
and money and all thosethings that come into play.
So there's a break eventhat comes into it.
And for the average person,that break even comes
to about 82 years old.
Now, that's not a perfectmath, but that's an
average that we see.
So you have to live long enoughto make up the difference.
And the same is trueif you start early.
I mean, if you start earlier,you're going to get less,
(18:27):
but you'll get it for alonger period of time.
So one of the decisionsyou have to make is how
long are you going to live?
And are you ingood health or not?
And that's not a decisionyou have to make and you have
to stick with it, becauseyour health could change.
We have really good familyfriends who the plan was
always to wait until 70, andthen when one of them was
(18:49):
diagnosed with Parkinson's,we said, no, you have to turn
it on now because your lifeexpectancy just got shortened.
And it doesn't make anysense to wait, you're just
giving up that time period.
Because you don't getit back on the end.
Your kids don't get it.
Your spouse, there is somespousal things which we'll
talk about in a second.
You can't give your socialsecurity like a life
(19:10):
insurance or like an IRAyou can to your kids.
The other thing on timingwise is some people have
long life in their family.
So if you and your parentshave always lived a long
time, that's a great thing.
You may be unhealthy,you want to start early.
That's a decision that you haveto think through all the time.
So in addition to your healthand how long you're going
(19:32):
to live, there's some othervariables that go into the
decision making process, aswell, that the calculator
takes into consideration.
One of those is if you'restill working or not.
Because if you want to startcollecting before your full
retirement age, age 67 formost people, you are limited
to how much you can earn.
(19:52):
And right now that number comesto about 18,000 bucks a year.
And if you earn more thanthat, they're going to take
back 50 cents for everydollar you earn above that.
So if you earn $20,000 toomuch, they're going to take back
$10,000 of your social security.
Dave Schmidt (20:11):
Is that $18,000, is that a flat rate across
the board for all Americans,or are there some different
factors that change that number?
Josh Bretl (20:20):
It's a pretty flat rate based on age.
The year that you turnyour FRA age, the number
goes up significantly.
But no, it's a set number.
And it's about $18,000, itcould be up to $20,000 now.
It changes every year.
With the inflation thatwe've had, we could be
up to $20,000 right now.
But that's thenumber that comes in.
Dave Schmidt (20:39):
I think that's part of the reason that my dad
loves working so much right now.
It's because there's no penalty.
He's working 30 hours a week,making 21 bucks an hour and
he's like, "This is great."
Josh Bretl (20:50):
right.
Because once you reach FRAor especially once you're
over 70, you can work andearn as much as you want.
I mean, I guaranteeyou Warren Buffet's
getting social security.
You can't earn too muchat that point in time.
Dave Schmidt (21:01):
How about his younger brother, Jimmy?
Josh Bretl (21:03):
Jimmy?
He's wasting away again.
Margaritaville.
Dave Schmidt (21:08):
I thought I'd catch you up on that one.
I didn't catch you.
Josh Bretl (21:11):
Really quickly, I was trying to go through a
Jimmy Buffett song in my head.
And I should have went toCheeseburger in Paradise,
but I went with Wasted AwayAgain in Margaritaville.
But the last variable I wantto touch on this morning is
if you're married or not.
Because the other rule isfor spouses, you don't only
have to think about your ownscenario, you have to think
(21:33):
about your spouse's scenario.
Because if one spousepasses away, what happens
is you lose the lower ofthe two social securities.
So it doesn't matterwhose is lower, the
lower one just goes away.
And the surviving spouse getsto keep the higher amount.
So those are the decisions thatkind of go into the calculator.
(21:57):
Next week, or on our nextepisode, I should say, I want
to discuss some of the decisionsthat the calculators don't take
into consideration, and I wouldsay are equally as important.
But if I talk about those now,there will be people driving off
the road, they are so excited.
Dave Schmidt (22:16):
We just can't.
Josh Bretl (22:16):
No, no.
And you yell at me anytimea podcast goes more than 30
minutes, and I'm going toguess this is what already is.
Dave Schmidt (22:22):
I think we're creeping way
past that right now.
But no, I was thinkingabout something.
Yeah, okay.
I found it.
Hey, Mr.
Josh.
Hey Mr.
Josh.
Let's take a break.
You've been talking for solong, and my ears are sore.
Let's not make them snore.
We already have.
Listening shouldn't be a chore.
(22:43):
So let's get to know Josh andDave and watch our ratings soar.
Oh yeah.
Josh Bretl (22:52):
We've talked about Erin already on the episode,
and she says that her son, Finn,also listens to the podcast.
He's also eight.
And but he also justlikes that song.
So if we could get him thatsong, that would be great.
Dave Schmidt (23:07):
Well, Finn, let me have my agent call
you and we can see whatwe could work out here.
Josh Bretl (23:13):
So we used to go back and forth as to who got to
pick these questions, and I'vepretty much taken this over.
I like to have control overthese questions, and that,
I think, drives you nuts.
But I went a littlebit easy today.
And I went easy on this onebecause this is a question
that I heard on a differentpodcast and it actually changed
(23:34):
my whole answer to this.
But the question is,if you could have one
superpower, what would it be?
Dave Schmidt (23:40):
So Josh, if I had one superpower?
That's just really not fair.
I have so many thingsI would love to do.
my superpower wouldbe, it's kind pretty
generic, pretty boring.
We've all heard it before,but I would still love to fly.
Maybe not for the samereasons that everybody
else would want to fly.
I just want to beable to quickly get my
coffee and get back.
(24:00):
Quickly go get mycrepes and get back.
It's so fast that Carlawouldn't even know I'm gone.
That's why I want to be fast.
Josh Bretl (24:09):
It's flying, but really fast flying, too.
This is not some lazylittle robin up....
No.
Dave Schmidt (24:14):
No.
Josh Bretl (24:15):
That's fair.
Dave Schmidt (24:15):
Talking hawk and eagle speed.
Josh Bretl (24:16):
Yeah.
Dave Schmidt (24:17):
How about you Josh?
What's your superpower?
Josh Bretl (24:19):
So, what I really want to have the ability
to do is to slow down time.
I mean, you've seen me, Irun around a nut job here.
And I always feel at theend of the day, I didn't get
enough done or I didn't achievewhat I wanted to do here.
And I don't want toslow myself down.
I want to go at my same speed,but I want the ability to
pause button or slow buttonand keep going through my life.
(24:41):
God, I would be soefficient and so effective.
It would be incredible.
Dave Schmidt (24:44):
Can you imagine the things you
would accomplish, Josh?
Josh Bretl (24:47):
We'd have daily podcasts, Dave, daily.
Dave Schmidt (24:50):
Daily podcasts.
I can't even imagine.
You would have-
Josh Bretl (24:53):
Although, I'd be talking be at normal speed
and you'd be going like this.
Dave Schmidt (24:58):
That's true.
You could make so manycocktails so quickly.
Josh Bretl (25:03):
Yeah, people wouldn't even
know what hit them.
Like, "Hey, this cocktail wasn'tin my hand a few seconds ago."
Dave Schmidt (25:06):
Exactly.
Dave relates to retirees.
Yeah.
So Josh, do I have away to relate to this?
Of course I do.
In fact, I thought about itlast night watching basketball.
I can relate to this wholehuge decision of social
(25:28):
security for retireesand soon to be retirees.
Josh Bretl (25:31):
The seriousness in your face.
Dave Schmidt (25:33):
Yeah, no, this is a big one.
This is deep.
Because look, tonight, I gotto make that same decision
about what to watch on TV.
Because here's the thing, Icould watch the new Wednesday
Addams show on Netflix.
I could watch the new Spiritedmovie on Apple TV with Ryan
Reynolds and Will Farrell.
Or I could justwatch the Bulls game.
All three viable options.
But here's the thing,I'm not in great health.
(25:54):
I'm having acoughing attack here.
I got to keep thatin consideration.
The movie Spiritedis a Christmas movie.
If I don't watch that soon,I may never see it again.
Not like I'm going todie, but just because
Christmas will be over.
So that's a factor.
However, I'm married.
So some retirees who aremarried, they have to take
that into consideration.
So do I.
Carla and I grew uploving the Addams family.
(26:16):
So Wednesday Addams, notonly is it made by and
directed by Tim Burton,it just looks phenomenal.
So should I watch that?
But then there's alsothis third factor.
I don't have much money here.
I probably shouldn'tbe paying for all these
streaming services.
So how about I cancelstreaming services and
just watch the Bulls game,because that's free on TV.
(26:38):
So retirees, I get it.
Huge decision for you.
Huge decision for me.
Josh, I'd love foryou to take this home.
Josh Bretl (26:48):
You know, once again, Dave,
you are so relatable.
It's unbelievable.
Dave Schmidt (26:56):
Thank you.
Josh Bretl (26:56):
And I didn't think you'd be able to do it.
And I also wonder sometimeswhy you are everyone's
favorite on this podcastwhen I hear stuff like that.
I kind of see whereyou're going with it.
The timing of it is there, andit's a life changing decision
that you're only going tomake once in your entire life.
Dave Schmidt (27:18):
I just coughed and spit water all over the place.
Yeah.
Oh my God, I'm a mess.
My screen is dowsedwith water right now.
Josh Bretl (27:33):
Dave, you amaze me sometimes in how you are
able to relate to retirees.
Dave Schmidt (27:39):
Thank you.
Josh Bretl (27:39):
And your thought process in regards to which
show you should watch isobviously deep on your mind.
And I'm going to take thisin a whole nother world.
There's many studies thathave been done that say
people spend more timeplanning their vacations
than they do their finances.
(28:01):
And in your case, I thinkyou spend a lot more time
planning what shows youwatch than your finances.
But I think we're a little bitof amiss on the outcome and the
potential risk that's there.
I understand your concerns,but those retirees, I think,
are a little bit more concernedin regards to how long their
(28:23):
money's going to last and makingsure that they don't have to ask
somebody for help later in life.
Specifically, their childrenwho don't want them to move
back into their basement.
In your case, you're reallyjust upsetting your wife, who I
don't want to make mad either.
But I think that she'llunderstand more than if
someone makes the wrongsocial security decision.
(28:44):
But I do understand, inyour mind, how important
of a decision that is.
So on behalf of all theretirees, thank you-
Dave Schmidt (28:53):
Sure.
Josh Bretl (28:54):
For your concern.
Dave Schmidt (28:56):
Absolutely.
Now, do you haveany advice for me?
Josh Bretl (28:59):
Yeah, watch the Bulls.
It's live.
You love the Bulls.
Dave Schmidt (29:02):
I do love the Bulls.
Josh Bretl (29:03):
Hands down.
Dave Schmidt (29:04):
I do love the bulls.
Josh Bretl (29:04):
I mean, it has nothing to do with
the streaming services.
You're going to pay forthem no matter what.
Dave Schmidt (29:09):
True.
Josh Bretl (29:09):
You can watch Spirited with Carla
sometime this weekend.
Just watch the Bulls.
Dave Schmidt (29:14):
Okay, I think I will.
Josh, thank you.
Josh Bretl (29:18):
Our next episode, we're going to talk about
what I consider to beactually more important that
we just talked about today.
And those are the biggervariables that go into when
to collect social securitythat those calculators don't
take into consideration, butyou as a retiree need to.
Dave Schmidt (29:35):
If Apple doesn't feature us on their
must listen list, I don'tknow what's wrong with the
world, to be honest with you.
Josh Bretl (29:42):
Oh, I agree.
I mean, it's unfathomableif they don't do that.
Dave Schmidt (29:46):
Unfathomable.
Cool.
I think after this podcastwhat I'm going to do is go take
a big bite out of my bagel.
So friends, listeners,especially you, Deb,
from Josh and I from ourhearts, we like to say bye.
And I'm going to coughagain in just a second.
Alex (30:10):
Hashtag tax nerd.
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