Salary or Social Security ?

January 1, 2014

I'm trying to figure my Social Security payout if I start when I'm 62 instead of full retirement at 66. The difference is several hundred dollars, but over my lifetime it would be the same amount in the end. I would receive $1508 a month if I started at 62. Jeez, this is more than I make each month at Warwicks (take home pay is about $900.) The crucial hurdle is going to be whether I will qualify for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Initial research, with my salary at 22,000, would be yes, I would get coverage at very little cost. 

My health care insurance coverage under social security would give me an annual salary of $18,000. I could continue to make up to $15,000 a year and still get SS benefits, which would mean I would have to cut back on the number of days I work at Warwicks. I don't want to work at all after I start getting Social Security, but in order not to create a huge hoopla about leaving the store altogether, if I cut to 2 days a week it won't impact my eventually dropping those two days altogether. 

I know if I said, “I'm retiring” people at work would make a big deal about it and I find attention on myself to be anathema. I will do anything to avoid drawing attention to myself, even continue working at a job that I hate. I don't really hate what I'm doing at the store, but I hate the fact that I'd rather be home than at the store, standing on my feet all day, doing nothing productive (for myself. My work at the store is as productive as it needs to be for the job I'm doing.)

I think the powers that be would be fine with my taking fewer hours. This would eliminate their expense of my health insurance. All this is still contingent on whether I can get the insurance mentioned earlier. If not, I would have to continue working until I qualify for Medicare, at 65 (three more years! Argh.) What bothers me the most about working there is making mistakes, not understanding a customer (because my hearing is worsening), figuring out what the person wants on the phone, putting a book in the wrong place on the hold shelf, giving someone the wrong change, being called on to recommend books and then drawing a blank for the person. Individually these all seem like picayune issues, but taken as a whole it is almost debilitating. I wake up dreading the day, wondering what mistakes I'll make today. I don't like looking like a failure.

If I worked two days a week, Friday and Saturday, say, then I would still have my foot in the door if I needed to expand on those days in the future. I would also make myself available in a pinch (or would I?) if they were short staffed for any reason. This would make me more valuable to them. 

This is all mute if I can't get insurance through the government. I need to send scans of two documents to the health care web site for them to officially consider my application. It all hinges on that. Otherwise I work three more years.

I don't think my temperament would handle another three years.