Like many baby-boomers today, you may be faced with an upcoming retirement and a lack of a retirement savings account due to the rough economic times of the past few years.
A recent CBS MoneyWatch article tackles this problem by suggesting resourceful ways to make retirement work for you.
One bold idea is to pair up with another married, retiring couple, pooling together Social Security income for a manageable budget. Social Security income at age 66 will be $2,000 per month, with an additional $1,000 per month for the spouse, resulting in a $36,000 per year income.
If you find a like minded couple, consider moving into a three bedroom house together, making the combined household income $72,000. This is higher than the 2009 national average income.
Another tactic is to delay retirement until age 70, in which case your monthly Social Security income will increase to $2,640 per month. In this situation, your spouse would not need to delay past age 66 to receive the $1,000 per month. "You'd want to file and suspend your Social Security income at age 66, so your spouse can start the $1,000 monthly spousal benefit income at age 66," advised the article.
At age 70, your combined income would be $43,680 per year following this plan. If you were to pair up with another married couple, that Social Security income would increase to $87,360 per year.
Your circumstances may not be right for such an arrangement, but this is just one example of creative and resourceful ways to head into retirement in this economic climate.
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