Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Yeah, I recently looked up my expected SS benefits. 

If I work until 70 and don't take benefits until then, I'll get the max SS benefit. Which is less than my current monthly take-home pay including taxes, 401k contributions, ESPP contributions, HSA contributions, and excluding any non-monthly compensation (like annual incentive pay). 

So yeah, I don't expect it to replace my income. Not even close. 

Just as an FYI in case this helps anyone or clears something up:

Don't forget that you can sign up for Medicare at 65, and if you aren't covered on a group insurance plan, you should.  You will be increasingly penalized (with higher premiums, I believe) the longer you wait to get on it.  I know, it doesn't make sense, you'd think it should work the other way around, but that's how it is. 

Alternatively, many people mistakenly believe they have to sign up at 65 or they'll be penalized.  The government kind of does send that message, imo, but that impression is mistaken.  You're only penalized for signing up after age 65 if you aren't covered on a group plan.  So if you work until you're 67 and you want to keep your company insurance until then, you won't have adverse consequences resulting from that.  

Welp, still gainfully employed as of 9:15 AM. 

Darn.  Sorry to hear that.  Fingers crossed for a better outcome tomorrow!

For @Gigem , the answer to "What am I working for?" at this point, is "Because they won't lay me off."  

I haven't decided yet if I just ride this thing out or what.  I've had 4 bosses since June (no joke).  I may have mentioned it in this thread or another that we had a major restructuring so things are very chaotic. 

For a small fee, I'll badmouth you to your company, and maybe they'll think harder about handing you that severance package.  

It (by which I mean, Parts A and B) definitely has its advantages to Medicare replacement plans (Part C).  One of the downsides is....I think....no OOP max.  Depending on the situation, that could get hairy. 

It also has an unintuitive deductible structure for Part A, hospital services.  It's not annual, but rather based on "hospital benefit periods," which I think basically translates to "per hospital stay."  So you can have multiple deductibles per year. 

That said, I've mentioned some of the very real, undesirable drawbacks to the replacement plans. 

From what I've seen with our patients at the clinic I used to work for, and my grandmother, people with Medicare (A & B) + secondary coverage, often through a continuation of their job's insurance in retirement, but also there's independent plans you can sign up for, have the best of all worlds.  They have their cake and eat it too, so to speak^*.  The only tradeoff I'm aware of is you have to be able to afford the premiums for that situation.  Many of our patients could not, and that's why we had so many people on Part C plans.  They could afford the monthly costs (which are often $0), but they faced many unwanted challenges when it came to actually accessing healthcare. 




* I suppose Medicare + an HSA like @MarqHusker talks about could be comparable, again, depending on the circumstances and health of the patient.  I don't personally know anyone who had an HSA, and I wouldn't have been involved in that aspect of their billing/coverage anyway.  Ergo, I'm not too familiar with the ups and downs of HSA's.  

My IRA is balanced aggressively, at the moment, and it is fairly heavy on the tech stocks contained within the fund.  Suits me just fine either way, I'm still pretty far out from retirement.  I know a bad market is coming sometime between now and then, it's just a matter of when.  I'm happier with the fund's performance having requested the "aggressive" approach.  It's performed like gangbusters the last several years, well above the projected performance of some more moderate risk balances, and I'm happy with that. 

As I approach retirement, I'll likely rebalanced "safer" more and more.  I guess.  I don't really know what the best strategy is.  I figure I've some time to figure it out.  

"Doing the math," as you say, says that the market you retire into is a big deal.  The first several years make a difference in how long your retirement may last and also how much you're able to wisely withdraw from it.  Someone who retire into a boom should, on average, be better off long-term than someone who retires into a recession.  Don't know if there's much to be done about that.  When I'm done working, I'm done.  I don't see myself putting in extra years if the market outlook isn't good.  We'll see.