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Jesse Cramer

Social Security Tax Mistakes 🧮

Published about 5 hours ago • 1 min read

Good morning!

Today's email includes:

-- fun wisdom from the late Charlie Munger

-- a plethora of great content about Social Security

13 Munger-isms for a Smarter Life

Let's turn to the wisdom of Charlie Munger.

Drawing primarily from Poor Charlie's Almanack, this podcast episode explores 13 of Munger's ideas that can improve how we approach investing, retirement planning, and life more broadly.

From compounding knowledge and learning from those who came before us....

To embracing patience, inversion, and emotional discipline...

To the power of incentives and mental models.

Check out the episode below.

Social Security: Combined Income / Provisional Income and Taxability

Social Security is taxed in a peculiar and arcane manner.

It involves terms like "provisional income"...

It differentiates between money being "subject to taxes" (85!) vs. being "taxed at" specific rates.

Then, there's a confusing multi-step formula with multiple tiers.

Why does it matter?

It’s good to get clarity that not all of your Social Security is subject to taxes.

More importantly, this discussion sets us up for more nuanced tax planning topics. This is where the rubber meets the road for retirees.

The Top 3...

I enjoyed this content recently. I hope you do too. And in the spirit of today's Social Security post, here are 3 more insightful Social Security articles...

​When Will SS Reserves Hit Zero?​

What does the latest trustees' report say about the Social Security trust fund hitting zero?

And what will the system look like after that happens?

​How Do We Save SS?​

All is not lost.

We have time - and ideas - to fix Social Security system.

But there's no magic bullet.

The ideas to fix Social Security all involve (2) main ideas:

Raise taxes. Cut benefits.

​Can Younger Folks Count on SS At All?

Friend-of-the-blog Nick Maggiulli recently shared his thoughts on the topic.

I was glad (call it confirmation bias) to see his thoughts matching my own:

"While I wouldn’t plan my retirement around my Social Security check, assuming it won’t be there is the bigger mistake."

I Help People Retire (Even) Better

I'm a Partner at a fee-only fiduciary retirement planning firm.

We work with clients all over the USA.

If you know someone who needs help, visit PlanWithJesse.com and let's start a conversation.

Until Next Week...

Thank you for reading, listening, and writing back. People like you send me questions every day.

I'd love to hear from you. ​​

All the best,

Jesse Cramer

Jesse Cramer

Smart ideas about money and retirement.

Retirement is a different game. You’ve spent decades building wealth. Now comes the harder part - turning it into a paycheck that lasts. I’m Jesse Cramer. I help DIY investors turn their savings into a clear, cohesive retirement plan. Join 4000+ weekly readers and 20,000+ podcast listeners.

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